Investor Protection and Disclosure: Quantitative Evidence

Abstract

Paper surveys research in the area of measuring the level of accounting disclosure and of exploring various issues associated with accounting disclosure. In particular, the question of how the disclosure is connected to investor protection is investigated. This issue is shown in the context of the countries’ legal systems and in the relation to corporate governance. New results presented in the paper include composition and application of Polish Corporate Disclosure Index (PCDI). PCDI has been evaluated for 48 companies listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. Subsequently PCDI was used as the regressor variable in a number of models explaining various investor protection measures. The outcome of this research is that PCDI is significantly associated with the variables representing investor protection. Higher values of PCDI are linked with the lower variability of stock prices, with the better the category of auditor as well as with the better management and the better perception of the company by the market.

Keywords: accounting disclosure, corporate disclosure, investor protection, accounting research

JEL Classification: C10, G30, M41