Corporate governance voluntary disclosures in developing countries: evidence from Jordanian banks

Abstract

The main objective of the current study is to determine the corporate governance mechanisms and company’s characteristics that effect on the level of voluntary disclosure provided by Jordanian banking listed companies; it represents a sample period from 2007 to 2010 within an agency theory framework. The current research employed a disclosure index method that includes 80 items to investigate the level of corporate governance voluntary disclosure into the annual reports of 15 Jordanian banking listed companies. The findings illustrate that the mean per company is 59.52% of the items included in the index. The study indicates that there is no relationship between voluntary disclosure and corporate governance. In addition, the findings suggested that there is a significant positive relationship between the level of voluntary disclosure and the size of the company, financial leverage and the number of the bank’s branches. It is believed that the findings of the study represent a significant contribution to knowledge.