Voluntary Disclosure Practice of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Companies: Evidence from Bangladesh

The aim of this study is to examine the factors that influence companies to disclosure voluntary information in their annual reports of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Companies in Bangladesh. The factors examined are proportion of independent non-executive directors (INDs), board size, Profitability, ownership structure, firm size and board audit committee. The extent of voluntary disclosure level is measured using 68 items of information. Data are taken from annual reports of the listed companies in Bangladesh-2007. The result shows a positive association between board size and voluntary disclosure, total assets and voluntary disclosure. In contrast, the extent of voluntary disclosure is negatively related to proportion of INDs and ownership structure.