Determinants of Voluntary Disclosure: A Study in the Brazilian Banking Sector

Disclosure theory assumes the wide availability of information to users, increasing the level of corporate transparency and reducing information asymmetry common to the business environment. This research aims to investigate the factors influencing the level of voluntary disclosure by companies in the Brazilian banking sector. Corporate reputation (REP), firm size (TAM), performance (DES), and internationalization (ADR) were the variables used as factors influencing the level of disclosure. The sample was composed of the 100 largest Brazilian banks in relation to total assets in 2012. The methodology technique used multiple linear regression. The evidence revealed that the corporate reputation and the size of the companies had a significant and positive relationship with the level of voluntary disclosure. In this sense, the larger the company and higher the standard of corporate reputation, the higher the level of corporate disclosure. Performance and internationalization were not statistically significant.