IJMB Journal – December 2012 – Abstract

IJMB Journal – Abstracts

International Journal of Management and Business

IJMB Volume III, Issue 2

 

An Empirical Investigation of Business and Operational Risk Disclosures
Kaouthar Lajili^a, Michael Dobler^b, and Daniel Zéghal^a

^aTelfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON. K1N 6N5, Canada
Lajili@telfer.uottawa.ca^*    Zeghal@telfer.uottawa.ca
^bDresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany
Michael.Dobler@tu-dresden.de

ABSTRACT

This paper examines attributes of non-financial risk disclosures by US manufacturing companies during the financial crises. We focus on business and operational risk disclosures to distinguish between risks generally outside and within the firms’ internal control. Main findings show that in terms of disclosure, volume business risk disclosures far outweigh operational risk disclosures for each year. Risk disclosures on risk factors, on negative news, in qualitative and in forward-looking terms are most prevalent. We find an almost stable pattern of non-financial risk disclosures during the financial crisis, and that both types of non-financial disclosure are not entirely driven by the same factors. Our findings suggest that non-financial risk disclosures and particularly operational risk disclosures may not entirely meet the users’ expectations. Results have implications for regulation and future research.

Keywords: accounting regulations, business risk, content analysis, operational risk, risk disclosure.

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