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Drivers of innovation capital disclosure in intellectual capital statements: Evidence from Europe

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  • Bellora, Lucia
  • Guenther, Thomas W.

Abstract

Innovation is one of the major determinants of competitive success. As a result, there is demand for information on the innovation activities of firms among investors, other stakeholders and the public. Using content analysis, this paper examines the innovation capital disclosure (INCD) characteristics (i.e. disclosure quantity and quality) in the intellectual capital statements (ICS) of 51 European for-profit firms. Additionally, the relationships between INCD characteristics and industry, firm size, region of registered office and the disclosure guidelines adopted are analysed. Our content analysis detects an average of 29.16 items on innovation capital (INC) per ICS. These are mainly qualitative, non-financial and historically orientated. Furthermore, as expected, industry, firm size, region and disclosure guidelines drive the quantity of disclosure. Prior empirical studies of voluntary disclosure in documents other than ICS have also suggested a relationship between firm size and disclosure quality. Interestingly, our results for INCD in ICS do not support this relationship. This provides tentative evidence for a similar qualitative level of innovation capital disclosure across firm size. Furthermore, our findings show mostly homogeneous disclosure patterns across the regions in Europe, suggesting that multinational efforts towards fostering INCD has made the ICS phenomenon more a European than a local phenomenon.

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  • Bellora, Lucia & Guenther, Thomas W., 2013. "Drivers of innovation capital disclosure in intellectual capital statements: Evidence from Europe," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 255-270.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:45:y:2013:i:4:p:255-270
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2013.06.002
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    2. Edit Lippai-Makra & Zsolt Rádóczi & Zsuzsanna Ilona Kovács, 2019. "Intellectual capital disclosure of Hungarian and Czech Listed firms," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(3), pages 43-59.
    3. Dargenidou, Christina & Jackson, Richard H.G. & Tsalavoutas, Ioannis & Tsoligkas, Fanis, 2021. "Capitalisation of R&D and the informativeness of stock prices: Pre- and post-IFRS evidence," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    4. Matthews, Lane & Heyden, Mariano L.M. & Zhou, Dan, 2022. "Paradoxical transparency? Capital market responses to exploration and exploitation disclosure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    5. Zheyuan Zhang & Huiying Wu & Sammy Xiaoyan Ying & Jiaxing You, 2023. "Corporate Innovation and Disclosure Strategy," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(1), pages 76-133, March.
    6. Ott, Christian, 2020. "The risks of mergers and acquisitions—Analyzing the incentives for risk reporting in Item 1A of 10-K filings," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 158-181.

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