The Influence of Firm-Specific Characteristics on the Extent of Voluntary Disclosure in XBRL: Empirical Analysis of SEC Filings

Abstract

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an open standard for the electronic preparation and exchange of business information. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the influence of several firm-specific characteristics on the extent of voluntary disclosure in XBRL. I define voluntary disclosure in XBRL as being an offer of information, whether financial or non-financial, in a new format via the SEC’s Voluntary Filing Program (VFP) in addition to official 10-K and 10-Q filings. The extent of voluntary disclosure is measured by a disclosure index with 54 financial and non-financial items. Based on a sample of 51 U.S. listed firms, I find that the extent of overall disclosures in XBRL is associated with firm size and firms' level of innovativeness. Moreover, the results of the study indicate that different factors are important in explaining voluntary disclosures of financial, non-financial, and general information. The results are helpful in understanding firms' disclosure behavior in XBRL under the SEC's Voluntary Filing Program.

Keywords: Financial Reporting, Voluntary Disclosure, XBRL, Annual Reports, U.S. stock exchanges, SEC

JEL Classification: G15, G30, K22, M40, M42