Do corporate webs substitute annual reports for corporate governance disclosures in large Indonesian family corporations

Abstract

Indonesian corporations were criticised for their poor corporate governance and disclosure practices during the 1990s financial crisis. Even though corporate governance practices have been improved, this research reveals that disclosure practices are still poor in Indonesia, particularly those practiced by family corporations. Using 21 disclosure items from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's corporate governance disclosure benchmark that are mandatory in Indonesia, I found that there are only three corporations which provide all of these required disclosures in their annual reports and none on the webs. These poor disclosure practices may be contributed by the nature of type II agency problems, or the late adoption of recent disclosure regulations in Indonesia. Furthermore, corporate webs in Indonesia do not substitute annual reports for corporate governance disclosures. It only complements annual reports, mainly for shareholders-related information.