Board ownership, audit committees' effectiveness and corporate voluntary disclosures

Purpose The aim of this paper is to examine the linkages between board ownership, audit committees' effectiveness in terms of the proportion of independent non‐executive directors (INED) and expert members on the audit committee and corporate voluntary disclosures. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a sample of 124 public listed companies in Malaysia for studying differences in corporate governance characteristics which affect the financial disclosure. Findings The empirical results indicate that that board ownership is associated with lower levels of voluntary disclosures. The result is consistent with the notion that board ownership increases agency costs resulting from information asymmetry between firm management and outsider investors. The negative relationship between board ownership and corporate voluntary disclosure is, however, weaker for firms…