TY - JOUR
T1 - Determinants of voluntary disclosure of segment information
T2 - A re-examination of the role of diversification strategy
AU - Aitken, Michael
AU - Hooper, Cameron
AU - Pickering, Joanne
PY - 1997/5
Y1 - 1997/5
N2 - This paper explores the determinants of management's decision to voluntarily disclose segment information. It is an extension of McKinnon and Dalimunthe (1993) who investigate the role of six hypothesised determinants. Their results indicate that firm size, industry membership, ownership diffusion, and the level of minority interest are related to the voluntary disclosure of segment information. However, they find that leverage and diversification into related versus unrelated industries are not related to this disclosure. It is the diversification finding that motivates our work. This paper explores the effect of differences in data, differences in samples, and differences in the measurement of diversification on the McKinnon and Dalimunthe (1993) results. Using an alternative definition of diversification, we find diversification strategy, firm size, and the level of minority interest to be related to segment disclosure while the results for ownership diffusion and industry are mixed. We find no support for a leverage effect.
AB - This paper explores the determinants of management's decision to voluntarily disclose segment information. It is an extension of McKinnon and Dalimunthe (1993) who investigate the role of six hypothesised determinants. Their results indicate that firm size, industry membership, ownership diffusion, and the level of minority interest are related to the voluntary disclosure of segment information. However, they find that leverage and diversification into related versus unrelated industries are not related to this disclosure. It is the diversification finding that motivates our work. This paper explores the effect of differences in data, differences in samples, and differences in the measurement of diversification on the McKinnon and Dalimunthe (1993) results. Using an alternative definition of diversification, we find diversification strategy, firm size, and the level of minority interest to be related to segment disclosure while the results for ownership diffusion and industry are mixed. We find no support for a leverage effect.
KW - Diversification
KW - Segment reporting
KW - Voluntary disclosure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0001985303&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-629X.1997.tb00315.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1467-629X.1997.tb00315.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001985303
SN - 0810-5391
VL - 37
SP - 89
EP - 109
JO - Accounting and Finance
JF - Accounting and Finance
IS - 1
ER -