Title: The different ways of preparing management report of Italian listed companies and their determinants

Authors: Carlo Bagnoli

Addresses: Department of Business and Management, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, San Giobbe-Cannaregio, 873, Venice 30121, Italy

Abstract: The aims of this paper are: to identify the different ways used by Italian listed company in preparing management report; and to investigate their possible relation to firm characteristics. In order to achieve the first aim, the contents of 99 management reports of Italian listed companies and the words dedicated to them were identified. Based on the above elements, management reports were clustered in three groups that seem to be based on the following strategies of disclosure: ||not to inform||, ||to inform only if mandatory||, and ||to communicate||. In order to achieve the second aim, the characteristics of the companies relating to the three management report groups were compared. Afterwards, multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify the influence of firm characteristics on the specific aspects concerning the ways used in preparing management reports. Firm size, parent company relationships as well as industry seem to have significant influence.

Keywords: management reports; voluntary disclosure practices; disclosure strategies; agency problems; Italian listed companies Italy; business reporting.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2005.006894

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2005 Vol.2 No.1/2, pp.84 - 126

Published online: 20 Apr 2005 *

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