Corporate Disclosure of Non-financial Information and Ownership by Foreign Shareholders

         
Author Name KODAMA Naomi  (Consulting Fellow, RIETI) /TAKAMURA Shizuka  (Consulting Fellow, RIETI)
Creation Date/NO. December 2014 14-J-054
Research Project Impact of Diversity and Work-life Balance
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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between corporate disclosure of non-financial information and ownership by foreign shareholders using panel data of listed companies in 2003-2011. The results employing fixed effects model show that companies which disclosed non-financial information significantly raised their percentage of foreign investors, and the tendency is especially true in the period after the 2008 financial crisis, although the average ownership ratio by foreign investors in Japanese companies has been decreasing. In addition, we find that the companies which disclosed non-financial information maintain a stable performance as measured by the return on assets, return on equity, and Tobin's Q.

These results imply that improvements in company disclosure contribute to improving corporate governance and decreasing information asymmetry for outside investors. The disclosure of non-financial information containing female participation in management may help improve corporate governance and broaden the investor base.