| Voluntary disclosure will develop information quality, which will help to eliminate information asymmetry in capital market. So, more and more investors begin to attach importance to corporate voluntary disclosure. Because of the unique market environment, economic development, and traditional culture etc., most of the study results made by foreign researchers are not quite suitable for the Chinese listed companies. Therefore, we empirically examine the relationships between the extent of voluntary disclosure and the factors in three aspects of corporate character, corporate governance character, and ownership structure.Employing the basic pattern that has been widely accepted by foreign and domestic researchers, we classify voluntary information into three kinds that are strategic information, non-financial information, and financial information. And then, according to the newly revised rule,"The content and format of information disclosure by companies publicly issuing stock, rule No.2: the content and format of annual financial report (2005 revised)", we randomly select 200 companies that have only issued stock A in Shanghai Stock Exchange, and use the annual financial report in 2005 of those companies to build voluntary disclosure index (VDI). There are 11 explaining variables in this thesis. They are 4 corporate character variables, 3 corporate governance character variables and 4 ownership structure variables. After that, we set up a regression equation combining those variables and the VDI to do linear multi-regression analysis. The empirical results indicate that the voluntary disclosure level of Chinese listed companies is generally low, that DATE and IND are negatively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure, and that CEO, HERF, MAN, and GROWTH are positively related to it. Finally, in order to develop voluntary disclosure by Chinese listed companies, we suggest that the listed companies should further perfect corporate internal governance, including improving corporate profitability to reinforce core competitive ability, perfecting the independent director system, and constructing the audit committee system. Meanwhile, we also suggest that the related departments should strengthen external supervision. They should do something as follows: Firstly, actively encourage and protect corporate voluntary disclosure. Secondly, enhance supervision, develop the legal system, and increase violation cost. Thirdly, enlarge the size of the external audit institution and enhance supervision to CICPA. Last but not least, advance the educational level of investors. |
