Title: Discovering the nature and extent of human capital disclosure, and investigating the drivers of reporting: evidence from an emerging market

Authors: Ali Uyar; Merve Kılıç

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Fatih University, Buyukcekmece Kampusu, 34520, Buyukcekmece, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of International Trade and Management, Canik Başarı University, 55080 Canik, Samsun, Turkey

Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to: 1) discover the nature and extent of human capital (HC) reporting practices of manufacturing companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), Turkey; 2) identify the factors associated with HC reporting. The study was conducted by analysing the contents of annual reports for the year 2010. The findings provide evidence of a positive association between HC disclosure level and the variables such as type of industry, firm size, auditing firm size, listing age. However, profitability, leverage, proportion of independent directors on the board, and ownership diffusion were found to have insignificant association with the extent of HC disclosure. The paper contributes to the HC disclosure literature by providing empirical evidence of the nature and extent of HC reporting in an emerging market context, and its drivers.

Keywords: human capital reporting; intellectual capital disclosure; emerging markets; Turkey; manufacturing industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAF.2013.053118

International Journal of Accounting and Finance, 2013 Vol.4 No.1, pp.63 - 85

Received: 02 May 2012
Accepted: 07 Dec 2012

Published online: 12 Jul 2014 *

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