Content analysis of board reports on corporate governance, internal controls and risk management: Evidence from France

Abstract

The French legislature has mandated in 2008 that the board chairperson reports on governance, internal controls, and risk management approach with the objective to enhance corporate disclosures to investors. This study examines the content of board chair reports to assess their relevance and compliance with mandated disclosure requirements. Based on a sample of 109 french publicly listed comapnies in 2009, Our results show that, with the exception of banks subject to a more stringent regulatory standard, the mandatory nature of the legislation did not translate in extended disclosures about internal controls and risk management practices. We further observe significant variations among the different indices of disclosure particularly with regards internal accounting and financial control. The multivaraite results validate the influence of the chosen internal control framework as well as firm characteristics on the content of the information disclosed about governance, internal control, and risk management practices.