Kết luậnOur study investigated the association between the extent of voluntary disclosure and levels of family ownership. The results show that at moderate to low levels of family shareholding(25% or less),the convergence of interest effect becomes dominant and the level of voluntary disclosure is lower. At high levels of family shareholding(above25%),the entrenchment effect becomes dominant and causes the level of voluntary disclosure to increase. Our results support the hypothesis that the extent of voluntary disclosure is associated with the level of family shareholding and more closely examine the nature of this relationship. The impact of family ownership on voluntary disclosure is of particular significance since HK endeavors to become one of the major international capital markets. In general, international investors make foreign investments with two fundamental objectives: to search for higher returns or to minimize risk resulting from internationally diversified portfolios. In the current global financial crisis environment, international investors are less likely to have trust in foreign firms as they are less informed about them compared to domestic firms. This situation may result in a reduction in the flow of international capital and a higher cost of capital for these foreign firms. In general, a reduction in information asymmetry can increase the investment from international investors and reduce the cost of capital for the firm. A higher level of corporate information disclosure could help reduce the information asymmetry in the capital markets, thereby lowering the risk of international investors making wrong decisions. Higher disclosure of corporate accounting information could help to attract international investors. It appears that the HK’s ability to become one of the major international capital markets and recover from the recent global financial crisis will require greater corporate information disclosure to attract international capital flows. The complex influence of family ownership on transparency levels in HK companies, as revealed by this research, needs to be carefully considered by policymakers when developing further regulation. The results also show that the appointment of an independent chairman is positively related to the level of voluntary disclosure and mitigates both the influence of independent non-executive directors and family ownership levels. Such influence of family ownership on voluntary disclosures holds for firms with a non-independent chairman. While these results must be interpreted in the context of HK’s institutional environment, the results of this study should be of interest to policymakers whose institutional environment is similar. For instance, “The ownership of listed companies in East Asia is typically concentrated in the hands of large shareholders” (Fan & Wong, 2002, 404). Claessens et al. (2000, 110) also report that “more than two thirds of corporations in East Asian countries are controlled by a single shareholder.” Given similarities in the institutional environment of firms in East Asian countries, the findings of this study should be of interest to policymakers not only in HK but also other East Asian countries. Thus, it offers policymakers not only in HK but other East Asian countries evidence to assess the adoption of control mechanisms such as INEDs on the board and independent chairman by companies characterized by the presence of highly concentrated ownership structures.6.1. LimitationsThis study relied on only one form of disclosure vehicle, the annual reports. Future research might investigate other means of disclosure such as prospectuses,press releases to security analysts,financial news and announcementsin take over documents.This research was also limited to examining the extent of voluntary disclosure cross-sectionally using 2002 data only.Futureresearchcouldexaminechangesindisclosurepracticesoveraperiodoftime.Gray,Kouhy,andLavers(1995),in the context of social reporting, indicated that disclosure practices do change over time. Longitudinal studies could address issues such as whether corporate financial information disclosure is related to a time dimension and the extent to which the significance of determining factors changes over time. Another limitation of this study is that two control variables,cross-corporate shareholding and outside owners,were not included in the model. These variables may contribute to the level of voluntary disclosure. This research was also limited by the selection of the items included in the calculation of disclosure scores, which inevitably involves some degree of subjectivity eventhough we have made attempts to reduce such subjectivity.Finally,this research was limited to examining the extent of voluntary disclosure of a sample of 273 listed firms in HK for the year 2002. Any generalizationof the research findings needs to be evaluated in the context of these sample companies.
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