Voluntary Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices by Listed Australian Companies

This study examines the relationship between the voluntary disclosure of information about corporate governance practices and the intention to raise external finance. This relationship is examined by using corporate governance disclosures in the annual reports of Australian companies in 1994. Data from this year are used because in subsequent years Australian Stock Exchange regulations influenced listed companies to make disclosures about their corporate governance practices. Regression analysis indicates that the voluntary disclosure of corporate governance information is positively associated with the intention to raise equity capital, but not with the intention to raise debt capital.