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The IUP Journal of Accounting Research and Audit Practices:

Human Resource Disclosure Practices in Public Sector Companies in India

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Apr, 2019
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of Accounting Research and Audit Practices
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJARAP21904
Author Name	: Anju Verma and Kirti
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Finance
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 32

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Abstract

The Human Resource (HR) disclosure in annual report is voluntary in nature in India. Therefore, it creates inconsistency in the HR disclosure practices across companies as well as industries. The purpose of the present paper is to look at the nature and level of HR disclosure and study the effect of company characteristics on HR disclosure in annual reports of public sector companies in India. This research is motivated by the dearth of studies on HR disclosure among companies in developing countries. Initially, an 86-item Human Resource Disclosure Index (HRDI) has been constructed for a set of 500 companies listed on National Stock Exchange. From that point onward, the effect of various explanatory variables on HRDI is analyzed. Finally, HRDI has been regressed against the independent variables to find the important elements of HRDI. The outcomes of the descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis reveal that the total number of pages of annual report is positively associated with HR disclosure. Company size and profitability are partly associated, while other variables like leverage, ownership concentration, liquidity and globalization have no association with HR disclosure.

Description

“Our core corporate assets walk out every evening. It is our duty to make sure that these assets return the next morning, mentally and physically enthusiastic and energetic”. This was the opening statement by N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor in the annual report of Infosys Ltd. for the year 2007-08.

This paper emphasizes the Human Resources (HR) information that is voluntarily disclosed by listed public sector companies in their annual report. The main objective of disclosure is to satisfy the information needs of various stakeholders that enable decision making as well as accountability (Gro¨jer and Johanson, 1998; Guthrie and Petty, 2000; Eccles et al., 2001; Sveiby, 2001; Verrecchia, 2001; and Firer and Williams, 2003).