THE IMPACT OF FIRM CHARACTERISTICS ON THE LEVEL OF VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE:

This study aims to examine the impact of some bank characteristics (age, size, profitability and leverage) on the extent of voluntary disclosure in annual reports of listed banks in Borsa Istanbul. All (13) listed banks represent the sample of the study. The study adopted the deductive approach by developing hypotheses based on the relevant theories and results of prior studies. The study also applied the panel data strategy to analyze the collected data from annual reports across five years (2013-2017). The results indicated that there is a positive relationship between each bank characteristic (age, size, profitability and leverage) and the level of voluntary disclosure. The results also show that profitability has a big impact on the level of voluntary disclosure followed by leverage, whereas, age and size have a small effect.