The Impact of Corporate Governance on Risk Disclosure: Jordanian Evidence

Amneh Alkurdi, Khaled Hussaine

Abstract

This study explores the impact of Corporate Governance (CG) attributes on risk disclosure for a sample of Jordanian listed firms. The study employs two types of disclosure (voluntary and mandatory) and analyzed the firms’ annual reports for the period of 2008-2015 to extract risk-related disclosure information and CG variables. The study utilizes the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to carry out the current investigation. The findings indicate that CG attributes (including board size and independent board (non-executive directors), the separation of duties and audit committee meetings) have a statistically positive impact on Voluntary Risk Disclosure (VRD), while this was not the case with the managerial ownership attribute. Further, the results reveal that independent directors have had a significantly positive influence on Mandatory Risk Disclosure (MRD), and audit committee size has had a positive significant, effect on MRD. Finally, the findings show that leverage and profitability are among the determining factors of RD. The results suggest that firms’ managers, which exhibit greater compliance with mandatory regulations, have a greater propensity to publish RD.