Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

This study uses the 1920 Moody’s Analysis of Industrial Investments to assess the extent of financial reporting by U.S. indus­trial companies. The reporting of an income statement and a balance sheet, as well as the amount of disclosure in both of these statements, is examined empirically to determine which economic factors influ­ence this reporting. The results show that corporate-governance, op­erating, and financing factors all significantly influence the reporting of financial statements and the extent of disclosure within those state­ments. However, the significant factors vary across the two financial statements and the two decisions considered (reporting a particular statement and the amount of disclosure within the statement to re­port). All factors are shown to influence significantly the decision to report both a balance sheet and an income statement and the amount of information to report in a balance sheet. The decision regarding the amount of information to report in an income statement is only influenced by corporate-governance and operating factors.

Comments

The version of record is available from the publisher at http://130.74.92.141/cdm/ref/collection/aah/id/26183. Copyright © 2010 Academy of Accounting Historians. Printed with permission. All rights reserved.

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