What drives mandatory and voluntary risk reporting variations across Germany, UK and US?

Citation

Elshandidy T, Fraser I & Hussainey K (2015) What drives mandatory and voluntary risk reporting variations across Germany, UK and US?. British Accounting Review, 47 (4), pp. 376-394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2014.06.001

Abstract
This paper utilises computerised textual analysis to explore the extent to which both firm and country characteristics influence mandatory and voluntary risk reporting (MRR and VRR) variations both within and between non-financial firms across Germany, the UK and the US, over the period from 2005 to 2010. We find significant variations in MRR and VRR between firms across the three countries. Further, we find, on average, that German firms tend to disclose significantly higher (lower) levels of risk information mandatorily than UK (US) firms. German firms, on average, tend to reveal considerably higher (lower) levels of VRR than US (UK) firms. Our results document that MRR and VRR variations are significantly influenced by systematic risk, the legal system and cultural values. We also find that country and firm characteristics have higher explanatory power over the observed variations in MRR than over those in VRR.

Keywords
Automated content analysis; Firm and country characteristics; Mandatory and voluntary risk reporting variations; Repeated measures multilevel analysis

Journal
British Accounting Review: Volume 47, Issue 4

People

Professor Ian Fraser

Emeritus Professor, Accounting & Finance