An empirical investigation of preparers' and users' views on internet financial reporting disclosure items in Malaysia

Abstract

This research paper seeks to empirically investigate perceptions of preparer and user of corporate annual report on the important items of internet financial reporting (IFR) disclosed on websites of listed companies. The study employs the survey questionnaires for gathering information from the respondents on significant items that should be listed under IFR disclosure index checklist. Based on an extensive literature review, the level of IFR in this study is divided into two, namely, content dimension and presentation dimension. The results indicate that income statement of the current year is the most important items in content dimension. In addition, annual report in PDF format is perceived to be the most important items in presentation dimension. The result empirically proves that 140 items could be used for IFR disclosure index checklist to ascertain IFR's level of disclosure. The paper can be considered as the first empirical study to examine the important items of the IFR disclosure index from both views; preparers and users in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to help significant gaps in knowledge about the important items in IFR disclosure index. The findings are expected to have great use to the interested parties such as government, regulators, policy makers, standard setters, corporations, market participants, management and other institutions. This study is the first attempt to explore in depth preparers' and users' views on IFR disclosure items in Malaysia. The implication of the research findings and future research will also be discussed.