Firm-specific characteristics and the disclosure level: Evidence from the tehran stock exchange

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between the disclosure level and firm-specific characteristics of firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Our study contributes to the firm financial disclosure literature by documenting the empirical evidence on the relationship between CEO tenure and firm disclosure. We use firms’ disclosure scores released by the Iranian Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) that measure the disclosure level of listed companies. The research data consists of 2,719 firm-year observations from 404 Iranian listed firms on the TSE for 2003-2014. Using regression analyses, we find that longer CEO tenure improves the level of disclosure. Also, we document that firm profitability, liquidity, and asset-in-place have a positive effect on the disclosure level. Moreover, we report that leverage, age, and market share have an inverse effect on the disclosure level.