Determinants of Voluntary Disclosures on theWebsites of Firms in Ghana 1. Introduction Background to the StudyCompanies are required to make their financial statement disclosures for the benefit of all stakeholders (Nobes, 2014). The financial information helps stakeholders in making decisions about providing resources to the entity. Those decisions involve buying, selling or holding equity and debt instruments, and providing or settling loans and other forms of credit. Financial statements also give evidence of management stewardship. Management is in a fiduciary relationship with shareholders and as such it is the responsibility of management to furnish the shareholders with accurate and true information.Corporate financial reporting and in particular annual reports are important avenues for communicating company's financial and non-financial information. Furthermore, companies have become aware of the importance of presenting information about the broader range of activities including both their financial performance and non-financial performance such as corporate social responsibility (Akisik & Gal, 2011).According to Bremer and Elias (2007), poor disclosure practice of companies is to a greater extent responsible for the numerous financial scandals such as those involving Enron, WorldCom, Nortel, Parmalat and Royal Ahold, that exposed failures in corporate disclosure practices and shook the capital markets of developed countries. After these corporate scandals and financial crises, regulators, academicians, investors and other stakeholders called for greater corporate transparency in conducting business. To achieve this level of transparency, managers have to disclose corporate information beyond what they are required to disclose by regulators. This is what is often referred to as voluntary or discretionary disclosure. Adherence to corporate voluntary disclosure practices buoys up transparency and stimulates investor confidence which eventually helps to resolve the agency problem (Cheung, Jiang & Tan, 2010).Until recent past, companies used hard copies (paper) as the medium for transmitting financial information to shareholders. This medium has proved to be expensive, time consuming and limits accessibility of information to the stakeholders who are dispersed all over the world (Willis, Tesniere & Jones, 2003). The situation in Ghana is not different. It is difficult to have access to financial statements of companies in Ghana. Although these companies are mandated by law to file their financial statements with statutory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana (SECG) and the Registrar General's Department, it is not always the case. As a result, these bodies are unable to provide such information to stakeholders on request (Tsamenyi, Ennimful-Adu & Onumah, 2007).Technological advancement has made the internet a useful, timely and cost-effective tool for the communication of information to stakeholders. On the contrary, the practice of companies disclosing information on their corporate web...
We examine the co-movement between exchange rate (EXR) returns and stock (STK) returns in Africa amid COVID-19 in a time and frequency domain. Therefore, we employ the bi- and partial wavelet and the wavelet multiple correlation techniques using daily data from 13 February 2013 to 6 May 2021. Our findings divulge that COVID-19’s effect does not increase the intensity of the relationship between EXR and STK returns in Africa but causes a significant difference in the lead-lag relationship between the two assets. We find a strong likelihood for a high market integration between African markets in the long run, regardless of market conditions. Under general market conditions, South African (Namibian) equities have the lead/lag potential in the short and long run (intermediate term). Namibian stocks are the first to respond to shocks before all other remaining variables in the intermediate term, while in the long term, the South African EXR market is the last variable to experience shocks. Owing to the recently intensified alliances between African markets, investors should be wary of the specific African equities they include in their portfolios in the periods ahead. Policymakers are required to have an in-depth understanding of the nature of the co-movement between the variables to ensure timely and operative policy responses are rolled out to minimise adverse fluctuations in stocks and the local currencies.
Commodities have become a new tool for global diversification among stocks, currencies, and other assets. Their dynamics and statistical characteristics have become crucial to financial research. Furthermore, in the connected world of today, the importance of uncertainties is greater than ever. This article examines the comovements between energy commodities and the influence of uncertainty measures through the bi, partial and multiple wavelet techniques. We show the significance of uncertainties by highlighting their influence on financial decisions. To measure uncertainty, we use GEPU, OVX, and VIX. By using the wavelet approaches, we examine how energy commodities interact in both the time and frequency domains, which helps us better comprehend interdependencies. The results show that most energy commodities display high comovements in the short-, and long-terms, except with natural gas. According to the partial wavelet, OVX has the most significant impact on the connectedness amongst energy commodities. For the wavelet multiple cross-correlations, Petroleum maximises the multiple cross-correlations at most scales (short, medium and long terms) followed by Brent crude with a potential to lead or lag. These findings have substantial policy implications for policymakers as well as meaning for investors.
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