Voluntary Disclosure

Concept of voluntary Disclosure

The law requires all companies to disclose their financial information, together with additional information either in annual, half-yearly and quarterly financial reports. In this case, the description that best fits such law a requirement is a typical example of mandatory disclosure of information. Apart from the mandatory disclosure of information, the annual report contains the voluntary disclosure of information. Notably, there are other opportunities that can be used for voluntary disclosure including conference calls, press releases, websites, and other corporate reports (Sharma, 2013). There are several definitions on voluntary disclosure, but this paper borrows a definition postulated by a FASB committee, which defined voluntary disclosure as, disclosures, mainly outside financial statements, which are not explicitly required by GAAP or an SEC rule.

Notably, in practice, the difference amid mandatory disclosure and voluntary disclosure is not crystal. For instance, it is possible for companies to...
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