Intangibles Disclosure Information on Internet by Multinational Corporations

Abstract

Rapid developments in information and communications technology, especially with regard to Internet, have caused a substantial impact on the delivery and dissemination of business information. Internet reporting is expected to bring significant benefits to reporting companies, including facilitating access to potential investors an other stakeholders, disseminating information more quickly, more widely and at less cost, providing a platform to integrate different technologies and reducing the cost of providing hard copy annual reports. In this paper, we have examined the extent and the way companies use Internet to provide information about their intangibles. We have established for the Standard & Poor's GLOBAL 100 Index companies, different Internet intangibles disclosure indexes, and we have contrasted which variables explain the disclosure of this intangible information on Internet. Results show that the region of origin, especially in the European companies, and the intensity of the intangible expenditures are the main factors that explain the differences in the extent of corporate intangible disclosure on Internet.

Keywords: internet, intangibles, disclosure index, corporate reporting, voluntary disclosure

JEL Classification: M41, M14, M45