Attributes of Corporate Risk Disclosure: An International Investigation in the Manufacturing Sector

Abstract

This paper is the first multi-country investigation of comprehensive corporate risk disclosure. Based on a detailed content analysis of 160 annual reports, we analyze the attributes and the quantity of risk disclosure and its association with the level of firm risk in the U.S., Canadian, U.K., and German settings. We find a consistent pattern where risk disclosure is most prevalent in management reports, concentrates on financial risk categories, and comprises little quantitative and forward-looking disclosure across sample countries. In terms of risk disclosure quantity, U.S. firms generally dominate, followed by German firms. Cross-country variation in risk disclosure attributes can only partly be linked to domestic disclosure regulation, suggesting that risk disclosure incentives play an important role. While risk disclosure quantity appears to be positively associated with proxies of firm risk in the North American settings, we find a negative association with leverage for Germany. This coincides with a “concealing motive” implied by an insider role of banks in the German financial setting.