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Web‐Based Non‐Financial Disclosure and Cost of Finance
Author(s) -
Orens Raf,
Aerts Walter,
Cormier Denis
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of business finance and accounting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.282
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1468-5957
pISSN - 0306-686X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5957.2010.02212.x
Subject(s) - cost of capital , business , information asymmetry , finance , voluntary disclosure , equity (law) , context (archaeology) , economics , profit (economics) , paleontology , political science , law , biology , microeconomics
We study the association of Web‐based non‐financial disclosure and a firm's cost of finance within an international context (North America and Continental Europe). We examine voluntary Web placement of non‐financial disclosures using an information index covering a firm's value creation process. We find a negative association between the level of Web‐based non‐financial disclosure and the implied cost of equity capital in North America and in Continental Europe. Continental European firms with higher levels of Web‐based non‐financial disclosure also tend to benefit from a lower information asymmetry and from a lower cost of debt capital, whereas North American firms do not.