The Association Between the Voluntary Disclosure of Interim Reports and Company Characteristics in Jordan

This research examines the potential association between the voluntary disclosure of reports published every six months and a company’s characteristics. The focus is on selected variables that could influence the voluntary disclosure of information by ASE listed companies in Jordan. The estimation approach of the GMM dynamic panel system has used data selected from 120 ASE listed companies over a five-year period (2012 to 2016). This research also investigates the relationship between voluntary disclosure and the selected companies’ attributes, such as audit committees and the audit firm’s size as well as the company’s size, profitability, leverage, industry type, number of employees, and whether it is foreign owned or shariah approved.The results of this study showed significant differences between the selected companies in the following areas: company size, industry type, company profitability, shariah approval, audit committees, audit company size and voluntary disclosure. The study found also that there is a significant relationship between voluntary disclosure and company size, profitability, type of industry, audit firm size, the audit committee and whether the company is shariah approved. Keywords: Jordan, voluntary disclosure, half-yearly financial reporting, interim financial reports. JEL Classification: M420, G380, M410 DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-32-02 Publication date: November 30th 201