Corporate governance and voluntary disclosure: The case of listed firms on the Athens Stock Exchange

This paper explores the effect of corporate governance on voluntary disclosure. The investigation of the research question was based on hand-collected data from annual reports for a sample of 93 non-financial listed firms on the Athens Stock Exchange for 2017. Using several items to create a voluntary disclosure index, the authors investigate the arguments that ownership structure, board of directors (board) and audit committee affect voluntary disclosure. The results indicate that some corporate governance characteristics (block ownership and board independence) reduce voluntary disclosure, while others (board and audit committee size) increase the extent of disclosure. Additionally, a positive effect on the voluntary disclosure concluded for the size of the firm and the size of the audit firm. The results have implications for capital market regulators and listed firms wishing to reduce conflicts between the firm and its related parties and to strengthen the confidence to the firm’s governance by using corporate governance structures. This paper contributes to the academic debate on the relationship between corporate governance and voluntary disclosure by assessing the effect of ownership structure, board of directors (board) and audit committee on the extent of voluntary disclosure. Key words: Corporate governance, disclosure, voluntary disclosure, ownership, board of directors, audit committee.