Title: Intellectual capital disclosure in the context of corporate governance

Authors: Kin Gan; Zakiah Saleh; Masoud Abessi; Ching Choo Huang

Addresses: Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Melaka City Campus, 110 Off Jalan Hang Tuah, 75300, Melaka, Malaysia ' Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Yazd, Safaeiah, University Blvd., Yazd, 89168, Iran ' Faculty of Accountancy, Accounting Research Institute, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Level 14, Menara SAAS, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: The study uses content analysis to explore the relationship between board features, audit committee and ownership structures on intellectual capital (IC) disclosure whilst controlling for firm specific characteristics such as firm-size, profitability, leverage and type of auditor. This study also attempts to provide empirical evidence on the influence of corporate governance on voluntary IC information in a developing nation drawing from both the agency and institutional theories. It was found that ownership structure (family-controlled, government-owned and diffused ownership) and audit committee (size of audit committee and financial experts of audit committee members) are able to explain the behavioural practices of the voluntary disclosure of IC. Audit committee and ownership structure were found to influence IC disclosures, suggesting IC disclosures among Malaysian companies can be enhanced by incorporating such information in the corporate governance report. This paper also suggests that guidelines on IC disclosure can perhaps be initiated as a complement to the existing corporate governance report.

Keywords: corporate governance; ownership structures; intellectual capital; Malaysia; company boards; audit committees; firm size; profitability; leverage; auditors; developing nations; agency theory; institutional theory; family businesses; government-owned businesses; diffused ownership; families; financial experts; committee members; behavioural practices; voluntary disclosure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2013.052077

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2013 Vol.10 No.1, pp.52 - 70

Published online: 29 Jan 2014 *

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