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Do Corporate Governance Characteristics Affect Non-Financial Risk Disclosure in Government-owned Companies? The Italian Experience

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  • Alessandra Allini
  • Francesca Manes Rossi
  • Riccardo Macchioni

Abstract

While a considerable amount of research has already been carried out into the corporate governance determinants of non-financial risk disclosure in companies in the private sector, such determinants in the annual reports of listed Governmentowned Companies (LGCs) have yet to be investigated fully. This study attempts to complete the picture. Italian LGCs have been selected for analysis and agency theory has been applied in the public sector under the accountability paradigm. The research investigates whether non-financial risk disclosure provided in the Management Commentary (MC) of Italian LGCs may be affected by ownership concentration, corporate governance mechanisms and company-specific features. The issue is of particular importance in a country where Government intervention has significantly affected its economic development since the nineteenth century. Our findings show that there is a relationship between the level of non-financial risk disclosure and Board diversity, leverage and sector. Our findings also reveal some useful insights concerning policy makers and standard setters.

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  • Alessandra Allini & Francesca Manes Rossi & Riccardo Macchioni, 2014. "Do Corporate Governance Characteristics Affect Non-Financial Risk Disclosure in Government-owned Companies? The Italian Experience," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 5-31.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:frfrfr:v:html10.3280/fr2014-001001
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    2. Alessandra Allini & Adele Caldarelli & Rosanna Span?, 2017. "La disclosure nei Piani della Performance delle universit? italiane. Intenti simbolici verso approcci sostanziali di legittimazione," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 37-59.
    3. Alessandra Allini & Adele Caldarelli & Rosanna Span? & Annamaria Zampella, 2019. "Legitimating efforts in Performance Plans. Evidences on the thoroughness of disclosure in the Italian Higher Education setting," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(1), pages 143-168.
    4. Fabio Albuquerque & Eveline Monteiro & Maria Albertina Barreiro Rodrigues, 2023. "The Explanatory Factors of Risk Disclosure in the Integrated Reports of Listed Entities in Brazil," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Abdelrehim, Neveen & Linsley, Philip & Verma, Shraddha, 2017. "Understanding risk disclosures as a function of social organisation: A neo-Durkheimian institutional theory-based study of Burmah Oil Company 1971–1976," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 103-116.
    6. Salem Boumediene & Fatma Ezzahra Abdallah & Salma Ben Moussa & Emna Boumediene, 2022. "Internal Corporate Governance Mechanisms And Risk Disclosure: Evidence From Tunisia," Accounting & Taxation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 14(1), pages 15-30.
    7. Andreas Seebeck & Julia Vetter, 2022. "Not Just a Gender Numbers Game: How Board Gender Diversity Affects Corporate Risk Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 395-420, May.
    8. Alessandra Allini & Francesca Manes Rossi & Khaled Hussainey, 2016. "The board's role in risk disclosure: an exploratory study of Italian listed state-owned enterprises," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 113-120, March.

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