Potential Benefits of Corporate Disclosure through Web (A Study of Small Investors)

The benefit of corporate disclosure through web in financial decision making includes visual/graphic presentation of information, two–way interaction, increased information accessibility, and mass communication. These benefits assist in enhancing corporate accountability to stakeholders by providing new dimensions to disclosure. The key to success of disclosure through web is to understand the information needs of the investor in the right perspective and hence satisfy them. The present study analyzed the opinions of small investors about corporate disclosure practices on the Internet. On an overall basis, majority of respondents agreed that the information which is generally found in the traditional printed form annual reports be disclosed on corporate websites. Respondents also predicted that companies will use the Internet to meet the challenges of business globalisation by preparing and disseminating the financial statements in global reporting language. In this paper, majority of aspects of corporate disclosure through web have been brought together and gaps in disclosure aspects of online financial reports have been identified.