Human Resource Disclosures - A Comparison of Information, Providers and Users in Two Corporations

Abstract

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the relationship between information, providers and users of human resources disclosure in advanced annual reporting practice. Opposing prior disclosure research the focus of this study is not plainly limited to the pure amount of disclosure about human resource information made in corporate annual reports. The centre of attention is also to analyse and compare users’ perception of voluntarily disclosed information on human resources with providers’ intentions of making human resource information publicly available. Thus, it is aimed to establish a picture about human resource disclosures in annual reporting practice. Until now, there is no study available offering a multifaceted illustration on human resource disclosure. A comprehensive review of previous disclosure literature showed that information, providers and users have been studied separately. This study combines different aspects of prior research by applying a tripartite model studying information, providers and users together. The primary purpose of this research is to describe the practice of voluntary information on human resources in corporate annual reports by the comparison of the findings on justification, disclosure and utilisation. The results from this study contribute to better understanding, possibly reducing deficiencies between providers and users of voluntarily human resources disclosures.