The impact of internet financial reporting on Egyptian company’s performance

Purpose - This study aims to examine the impact of internet financial reporting (IFR) on companies’ performances as measured by three performance indicators, namely, stock price, stock returns and company value. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 139 non-financial companies listed in the Egyptian stock exchange is used and classified as 108 IFR companies and 31 non-IFR companies. To test the research hypotheses, an independentt-test and multiple linear regression analyses are used. Findings - The results indicate that there are no significant differences between IFR companies and non-IFR companies for both stock price and stock return variables. Conversely, there is a significant difference between IFR companies and non-IFR companies in the company value variable. These results imply rejecting hypothesesH1andH4and accepting the hypothesis ofH7that the presence of IFR has an impact on company value. The multiple regression analyses results indicate a significant relation between the scope of IFR and stock price. Likewise, between the degree of IFR and company value. Both degree and scope of IFR have an insignificant impact on stock return, which infer that applying different performance measures can reveal different conclusions. Research limitations/implications - This research is a snapshot of IFR limited to a cross-sectional study and could not study the longitudinal data of internet reporting. Second, Marston and Polei (2004) contend that “weights contain an element of subjectivity, which cannot be completely avoided in the composition of such a score” (p. 297) and a variation in the disclosure index can lead to a modification in the results (Kaur and Kaur, 2020). This research applied a weighted index to measure the degree of IFR, which may affect the results and may change it if other indexes are applied. Moreover, the scores of the degree and scope of information disclosure are assumed to be similar every year due to the lack of information regarding the variations in content and presentation in the companies’ websites. Finally, the absence of a complete data set and stock prices for some companies in the sample. Practical implications - To enhance the quantity and quality of IFR could be implemented through setting regulations and standards to govern IFR practices companies in Egypt. Moreover, the trade-off of the requirement of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority for Egyptian companies make information available online and the secrecy culture profound in the Egyptian society (Ahmedet al., 2015) involve assigning a regulatory body for monitoring the IFR practices to ensure disseminating timely and accurate information that helps investors make rational decisions. Social implications - The researchers recommend the suggestion to have an external assurance conducted by external auditors to enhance the accuracy and credibility of the IFR information. Originality/value - Based on prior literature, no studies in Egypt compare between IFR companies and non-IFR companies concerning stock price and company value as measured by Tobin’s Q. Moreover, few research studies in Egypt covered the degree of IFR disclosure whilst not addressing the impact on the stock price. In addition, no prior study examined the scope of IFR disclosure in Egypt. Therefore, the research findings attribute to literature.