FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONDEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTANCY AND CORPORATE FINANCEUNIVERSITEIT GHENTSTUDENTENADMINISTRATIESint-Pietersnieuwstraat 25B-9000 GENTBELGIUM

Ph.D. Dissertation on

Submitted to the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Ghent University(Belgium) in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofDoctor in Applied Economicsby

Jahangir Alam

SupervisersProfessor Dr. Ignace DE BEELDE & Professor Dr. E. De Lembre

Financial Disclosure in Developing Countries with Special Referenceto Bangladesh

Dedicated to my parentsLate Sultan Ahmed and Mrs. Asma Khatoon

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Preface and Acknowledgement

In the age of information and communication technology it is the demand of time thatinformation should be flown properly so that users can get it without any delay ordistortion. Because full efficiency in any economy in general and in any organization inparticular can be achieved if other things go ahead well through the adequate flow ofnecessary information. This claims the transparency of information at corporate level.Good corporate governance is a widely accepted concept at any corporate levelwhereas good governance as a whole at national level is known as the combination ofall the corporate governances al different levels of a nation. Transparency in information,as a result, plays a vital role in fixing accountability to judge the effectiveness of anyorganization.Financial reporting is an outcome of activities performed by any economic entity during aparticular period of time. This includes not only the financial activities but also disclosureof different non-financial information as well as the contribution made by the concernedentities to the national interests. However, there are proponents and opponents on theextent of financial disclosures and they have their own arguments. But one point israther outdebated that financial information should be considered sensitive and henceshould be disclosed properly. Because, the usual separation of owners and managers atcorporate level may create confusion, distrust, overlapping, and conflicts between thesetwo vital groups if both the parties do not have real information on the performance ofthe entity. On the other hand, other audiences also have their own purpose for obtaininginformation about the total performance of the said entity.There are different rules, principles, norms, standards, and conventions in informationtransformation by the firms at different places with differences in nature and goal of the