Investigating the Relationship between Corporate Governance and Internet Financial Reporting (IFR): Evidence from Bahrain Bourse

Abstract

Due to globalization and advanced technology, corporate Governance and internet financial reporting (IFR) are becoming increasingly important topics as more companies are expanding globally and the economies are becoming closely interrelated. Kingdom of Bahrain as part of the developing countries had paid a lot of attention to corporate governance recently. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between corporate governance and internet financial reporting. Extensive literature review was carried out and a multi-regression analysis was used in order to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and internet financial reporting for the companies that are listed in Bahrain bourse. The findings indicate that the relationship between corporate governance and internet financial reporting is weak due to the fact that the board characteristics do not affect the level of disclosing information via the internet (IFR). However, the board size and big4 companies have a positive relationship with IFR. The study recommends that regulatory bodies should develop a guideline of disclosing information through the internet in order to enhance the corporate transparency level among Bahrain listed companies.