Credit risk disclosure in the annual financial statements of Bulgarian banks

The paper analyzes the credit risk disclosure in the annual financial statements of Bulgarian banks for 2015 and 2016. Banks are ranked according to the level of credit risk disclosure, in accordance with the requirements of international accounting regulations and in relation to financial and regulatory ratios linked to capital adequacy. As a result of the conducted empirical study, it is concluded that banks' management is not particularly inclined to make full disclosures and actively to declare internal qualitative and quantitative information. However, the level of disclosure of credit risk for banks in Bulgaria is high. Banks with a low degree of capital adequacy tend to make a more complete disclosure of credit risk, and vice versa. There were no indications of a link between the size of the bank assets, the existence of the bank as a public company and the disclosure of credit risk. We believe that, in the context of increased competition, the disclosure of credit risk from a formal requirement may become one of the many tools to stabilize the position of certain banks and create a positive image of the bank for public information users.