Corporate financial reporting : firm characteristics and the use of the Internet as a medium of communication

Abstract

The development of the Internet as a medium for the dissemination of corporate financial information creates a new reporting environment. Extensive literature examines the extent and determinants of voluntary financial reporting through traditional mediums such as paper based annual reports. This paper extends this literature by examining the extent and determinants of voluntary corporate Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) by New Zealand companies. The results indicate that some determinants of traditional financial reporting such as firm size and spread of shareholding are influential determinants of IFR. However, other characteristics such as liquidity do not significantly explain the choice to use Internet as a medium for corporate financial reporting.