The Determinants of Voluntary Disclosure in Emerging Markets: The Case of Egypt

This paper estimates the extent of voluntary disclosure and the impact of a comprehensive set of corporate governance attributes (firm size, firm age, firm profitability, firm leverage, board independent, the existence of audit committee, director ownership, block-holder ownership, Auditor Specialization and Auditor Type) on the extent of voluntary disclosure in Egypt. It is based on the measurement of disclosure to the published data generated from a checklist of 54 items to measure the levels of voluntary disclosure, which had been collected from reviewing manually the financial statements and electronic sites a sample of Egyptian companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). We also have level standard ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis to test for our sample of 100 observations to companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange in 2016. We find that the average level of voluntary disclosure is 18.38%. Our analysis also shows that the size of the firm, firm age, profitability of the firm, auditor specialisation, and ownership of director have a positive impact on voluntary disclosure. However, we find a negative relationship between firm leverage and voluntary disclosure. Our analysis also shows that board independence, audit committee, Block-holder ownership and Auditor Type have no impact on voluntary disclosure. The empirical evidence from this study improves the understanding of the voluntary corporate disclosure environment in Egypt as one of the emerging markets in the Middle East. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Firm characteristics, Voluntary Disclosure

Forward-looking Disclosure and Corporate Governance Characteristics: Evidence from China.

This paper investigates the relationship between forward-looking disclosure (FLD) and a range of corporate governance characteristics in the Chinese stock markets. It finds that the implementation of certain monitoring and control mechanisms, such as independent directors on the board of directors, can improve the extent of FLD. However, separating the roles of the CEO and the chairman of the board of directors is of little help in explaining any improvement in FLD. In contrast, ownership structure appears to play an essential role in determining FLD policies. Indeed, listed firms with high levels of foreign ownership tend to disclose more forward-looking information. Of particular interest, the association between state ownership and FLD is likely to be non-linear, and the inflection point at which the association becomes negative occurs at a state ownership over 38%. In summary, this study provides new evidence on the impact of FLD on corporate governance characteristics on in China’s unique institutional environment. Keywords: Forward-looking Disclosure, Corporate Governance Characteristics, Firm Characteristics, Information Asymmetry, and Chin

The extent of voluntary disclosure and its determinants in emerging markets: Evidence from Egypt

The primary objective of this study is to test a theoretical framework relating eight major corporate governance determinants with the extent of the voluntary disclosure provided by listed firms listed on Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). These corporate governance determinants are firm size, firm profitability, firm leverage, board size, independent directors, duality in position, block-holder ownership and Auditor Type. Using a weighted relative disclosure index for measuring voluntary disclosure, the results indicate that there is a positive significant correlation between firm size, firm profitability, firm leverage, independent directors on board, and auditor type, and the overall corporate governance voluntary disclosure extent. This result implies that these variables are the main voluntary disclosure drivers in Egypt. However, a negative significant correlation was found between block-holder ownership and voluntary disclosure, while no significant correlation was found between board size, and duality in position, and the overall corporate governance voluntary disclosure extent. The empirical proof from this study promotes the perception of the voluntary corporate disclosure environment in Egypt as one of the emerging markets in the Middle East

Diaphragmatic strengthening exercises for patients with post COVID-19 condition after mild-to-moderate acute COVID-19 infection: a randomized controlled study

Objective: To assess the clinical effects of incentive spirometry (IS) and diaphragmatic breathing (DB) in patients with post COVID-19 condition and diaphragmatic dysfunction as compared with the standard care alone. Methods: The present longitudinal randomized study included 60 patients with post COVID-19 condition and diaphragmatic dysfunction. Patients were equally randomized to receive standard care plus IS (G1), standard care plus DB (G2) or standard care alone (G3) for 8 weeks. The primary outcome is clinical improvement as evaluated by the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale. Results: Comparison between the studied groups revealed significant improvement in G1 and G2 in all parameters at the end of follow-up. However, no significant improvement was found in G3. At the end of follow-up, 15 patients (75.0%) in G1, 11 patients (55.0%) in G2, and 3 patients (15.0%) in G3 showed improvement on the mMRC dyspnoea scale. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified mild acute COVID-19 infection (p = 0.009), use of IS (p < 0.001), and use of DB (p = 0.023) as significant predictors of improvement on the mMRC dyspnoea scale. Conclusions: IS or DB training in addition to the standard care in post COVID-19 condition was associated with better clinical improvement as compared with the standard care alone