The present research examines the nature and extent of voluntary disclosure (VD) among firms listed on the Palestine Exchange (PEX). Additionally, board characteristics’ impact on the VD level is investigated. The study collected information from a representative sample of 45 annual reports of companies, which accounted for 93.7% of the total Palestinian-listed companies from 2013 to 2017. A disclosure index comprising 55 items of voluntary information was created and implemented to assess VD. Fixed effect multiple regression was employed to accomplish the study’s objectives. According to the study’s findings, the mean percentage of disclosed items in the disclosure index by a company is 56.31%. Moreover, a significant relationship exists between the size of the board and the extent of VD. On the contrary, a significant adverse relationship exists between the diversity of board gender and the extent of VD. Moreover, it was found that the level of VD was not affected by board independence. The research proposes that policymakers and regulators should promote the establishment of an official Palestinian VDI, which can be utilized to evaluate and compare voluntary practices and disclosures among Palestinian firms.

Title

Springer Nature Link

Publisher

Springer

Publisher Country

Switzerland

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

None

Publication Type

Online only

Volume

--

Year

2024

Pages

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