Corporate mandatory disclosure practices in Bangladesh

This study reports the results of an empirical investigation of the extent of mandatory disclosure by 94 listed companies in Bangladesh. It also reports the results of the association between company-specific characteristics and mandatory disclosure of the sample companies. The results indicate that companies in general have not responded adequately to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the regulatory bodies. It has been found that companies, on average, disclose 44% of the items of information, which leads to the conclusion that prevailing regulations are ineffective monitors of disclosure compliance by companies. Company age appears to be an insignificant factor for mandatory disclosure. And there is little support for industry size as a predictor of mandatory disclosure except where size is measured by sales. Then it is marginally significant. Profitability was also found to have no effect on disclosure. And status, i.e., whether a company is modern or traditional also has no effect on mandatory disclosure.