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Purpose -The purpose of this study is to measure the extent of voluntary disclosure in the 2009 annual reports of 108 Shariah-compliant companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. The study aims to investigate three categories of voluntary disclosure: overall, conventional and Islamic disclosure. Design/methodology/approach -Voluntary disclosure was measured using a self-constructed index consisting of 132 items overall, 86 for conventional and 46 for Islamic information items. Annual reports were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests. Findings -Results suggest that the mean overall voluntary disclosure by Shariah-compliant companies is 15 percent, but 17 percent and 13 percent for the conventional and Islamic items, respectively. Voluntary disclosure of conventional items is comparable to extant studies, and higher than Islamic items.Research limitation/implications -The study uses annual reports from 2009 because they were the most recent data available on the listed companies at the beginning of the study. Since this study was undertaken before the Shariah Advisory Council of the Capital Market Authority was established on January 1, 2012, this imposes a limitation. Future study should replicate this study to assess differences with the existence of the Council. Practical implications -The findings provide evidence that Shariah-complaint companies lack voluntary disclosure, especially Islamic disclosure information. As a result, the findings should be useful to lawmakers in Kuwait for improving overall disclosure practices by Shariah-compliant companies. Preparers may use the findings to match the amount of information in their annual reports with other companies to ensure capital sourcing. Investors may use the findings for understanding disclosure behavior of Shariah-compliant companies in Kuwait. Such findings may assist them to diversify investment portfolios. Originality/value -This study contributes to extending the Kuwaiti literature on disclosure, and fills a gap in empirical studies on Shariah-compliant disclosure practices.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between board composition (i.e. non‐executive directors, family directors, role duality and board size) and bank performance, using a sample of nine listed Kuwait banks over the 2006 to 2010 period.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses ordinary least squares (OLS) and two‐stage‐least squares (2SLS) to test such a relationship and to address endogeneity in explanatory variables.FindingsThe results provide some evidence that board composition of banks relates to their performance. According to the OLS regression results, only board size and proportion of non‐executive directors negatively affect bank performance. Meanwhile, the 2SLS results indicate that role duality positively affects a bank's performance while board size affects a bank's performance negatively.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the model has explained a significant part of the variation in performance, still unexplained is a material part that represents the “noise” of the model. Data availability limited the ability to study other aspects of corporate governance mechanisms such as number of audit committee members on board. The sample size is small; thus, in future research, the sample size could be increased by including a longer period of time or different countries such as members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia).Practical implicationsGiven the importance of effective boards in monitoring bank values, more actions and rules need to take place in Kuwait to improve the efficacy of boards in protecting shareholders and their interests in Kuwaiti banks. Regulators may mandate a corporate governance code or adopt the OECD corporate governance principles as a starting point in Kuwait. Kuwaiti companies may use the findings to make appropriate choices about board appointments and best governance to improve performance. Investors also may use the findings to understand Kuwaiti companies. Such findings may assist them to diversify their investment portfolios.Originality/valueThis study asserts to provide insights on the relationship between bank performance and board composition in Kuwait. The study extends prior research and investigates the roles of board of directors in banks in the context of an emerging market characterized by weak shareholder protection and highly concentrated ownership.