Status of Intellectual Capital Reporting in Sri Lanka - A Research Note

Abstract

To ascertain the status of intellectual capital reporting in a developing nation, this pioneering study examined annual reports of top 30 companies by market capitalization listed in the Colombo stock exchange, Sri Lanka in 1998/1999. They were analyzed using content analysis and data were recorded in a theoretically backed coding framework with 45 intellectual capital items categorized into internal, external and human capital. The findings indicated that most reported was external capital by frequency and human capital by line count. Intellectual capital was mostly reported as narratives. Only a small proportion of intellectual capital reported was quantified. Of the eight pre-defined sections, most were reported in 'other' section of the annual report. The individual items of each capital category reported by firms in Sri Lanka differed from those found in developed countries. The findings can be used as a benchmark for future studies.

Keywords: intellectual capital, external capital, internal capital, human capital, developing nations, Sri Lanka, annual reports, content analysis, reporting

JEL Classification: M4, M41, M42, M49