Analysis of Intellectual Capital Disclosure Practices of the Annual Reports of Listed Companies in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Capital components in the Intellectual Capital (IC) namely Human Capital (HC), Organizational Capital (OC) and Social Capital (SC) have impact on enhancing the organizational wealth. The different practices of disclosing the IC in annual reports do not result the real outcome of financial position of the firm, is a key problem in Sri Lankan business organizations. Therefore, this study examines the existing IC disclosure practices of listed companies in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).The study has been done based on the secondary data covering the annual reports of listed companies in Sri Lanka. More than 20% companies have been selected from each industry and annual reports of last 3 years have been taken as the sample from each company. Main findings were that 25%of companies have mentioned about HC disclosures; 13% of companies have mentioned about OC disclosures and15% of companies have mentioned about SC disclosures in their annual reports under different sections. With the proper design, development and implementation of the best practices, it should be possible to enhance the disclosure of IC to the required levels in the annual reports.

Keywords: Intellectual Capital, Disclosure Practices, Annual Reports, Sri Lanka

JEL Classification: O16