Institutional Ownership, Risk Disclosure, and Potential Benefits: From the Perspective of Internal Control and Firm Risk

Abstract

This study investigates risk reporting practices of Chinese listed manufacturing companies. More specifically, it empirically examines the relationship between the percentage of institutional shareholding, the disclosure of risk related information and the impact of risk disclosure on internal control and firm risk. Three risk disclosure attributes indicative of good risk related information disclosure are employed in this research. As hypothesized, we find that firms with higher institutional ownership provide more informative disclosure on distinct risk factors and take more actions in response to the risk factors. Results drawn from the potential benefits of risk reporting suggest that risk disclosure has positive effects on the quality of internal control. We also find that risk disclosure can effectively decrease future downside systemic risk.

Keywords

institutional ownership / risk disclosure / internal control / firm risk