Title: Forward-looking disclosures using a new library: evidence from GCC banks

Authors: Gehan A. Mousa; Elsayed A.H. Elamir

Addresses: College of Business Administration, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain ' College of Business Administration, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract: The study provides an in-depth analysis of a certain type of disclosure, which is a forward-looking disclosure (FOLD) for annual reports of a sample of listed conventional banks in the GCC countries. It investigates whether some firm characteristics namely: firm size, firm performance, financial leverage and firm age are determinants of the level of FOLD. A library of FOLD has been developed to measure the level of FOLD in the banks' annual reports. Multiple linear regression analysis and multivariate multiple regression have been run for FOLD model. The results of multivariate multiple regression report that firm size, firm performance and firm age have a significant effect on the level of FOLD. Another interesting finding, from running multivariate multiple regression with interaction analysis, is firm leverage has a significant effect on the level of FOLD if it joins with other independent variables such as firm size and firm performance.

Keywords: forward-looking disclosures; FOLD; firm characteristics; opportunities and expectations; risks and uncertainty; related financial information.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEM.2021.118341

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, 2021 Vol.13 No.4, pp.337 - 358

Received: 28 Feb 2020
Accepted: 02 Jan 2021
Published online: 21 Oct 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article