Voluntary Disclosure of Accounting Ratios: With special reference to Food Beverage and Tobacco sector in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study investigates the voluntary disclosure of accounting ratios in Sri Lankan listed companies, using the corporate annual reports of the Food Beverage and Tobacco sector. Most of companies voluntarily disclose accounting ratios by presenting their financial statements and it is especially useful to their investors and other stakeholders to take their decisions. Even though there are several numbers of research and studies that have been conducted in this area all around the world, no studies have been conducted under this topic within the Sri Lankan context. Therefore, it is particularly important to understand voluntary disclosure of accounting ratios of Sri Lankan listed companies and this study aimed to examine the accounting ratios in the corporate annual reports of the Food Beverage and Tobacco sector under the new classification of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The researcher selected 47 companies which are listed in the Food Beverage and Tobacco Industry of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) which were observed over the period from 2015 to 2019. This study used count data regression (Poisson) analysis with incident rate ratios to find the association between the firms’ voluntary disclosures of accounting ratios and other firm specific characteristics of Sri Lankan listed companies. The findings of this study will be beneficial to both agents and principals in assessing associated risks.