Impact of Stakeholder Characteristics on Voluntary Dissemination of Interim Information and Communication of its Level of Assurance

Abstract

Equity of access to information for listed entities is a key principle in an efficient and effective market. Direct mailing is a mechanism for achieving this. This study examines equity of access by identifying the half-yearly financial information, if any, voluntarily mailed out by Australian listed entities and associated stakeholder characteristics. We find that certain stakeholder characteristics (presence of audit committee and shareholder dispersion) are associated with voluntary mail-out of half-yearly financial information, along with certain control variables (size of entity, industry and audit opinion). This study further identifies that there are very few instances of the higher level of assurance (audit) being chosen, and where half-year information is disseminated there are very few instances of the level of assurance on this information being communicated to shareholders.