Human capital disclosure practices of top Bangladeshi companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of human capital (HC) reporting in leading Bangladeshi firms using the HC reporting framework, thereby making a contribution to the body of knowledge in the area of HC reporting practice in a developing country context. Design/methodology/approach – Using the technique of content analysis, three years of annual reports of 32 leading manufacturing and service sector companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), selected on the basis of the market capitalization, were examined to identify any HC reporting trends. Findings – The findings reveal that the HC reporting practices of leading Bangladeshi firms are not as low as projected in relation to the total list of items reported. The most commonly disclosed HC items are information on employee training, number of employees, career development and opportunities that firms provide, and employee recruitment policies. Moreover, as a result of a degree of intervention on the part of some Bangladeshi regulators, the extent of reporting has increased during 2009/2010. Research limitations/implications – The principal limitations of the study are that it is based on a small non-random sample of firms taken from a single country and drawing solely annual reporting information. Originality/value – This is the first paper that documents HC-related disclosures in the context of a transitional economy such as Bangladesh using multi year-data. The study contributes to the HC literature by providing empirical evidence of the status of HC reporting in a developing country context.