CEO Characteristics and Materiality Disclosure: Evidence from Annual Reports
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32662/gaj.v9i2.5203Abstract
This study examines whether CEO characteristics influence the extent and relevance of materiality disclosure in annual reports. Using secondary data from 1,454 firm-year observations of 346 large non-financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2020 to 2024, the study measures materiality disclosure using word count (WC) and a relevance score (RELEVANCE). The analysis applies descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multivariate regression with industry and year fixed effects. The results show that CEO political connections have a negative and significant association with WC but no significant association with RELEVANCE. CEO military connections have no significant effect on WC but have a negative and significant effect on RELEVANCE. Celebrity CEOs show a positive effect on WC only in one model, providing no robust support for the hypothesized effect. CEO busyness has no significant effect on WC but has a negative and significant effect on RELEVANCE. Overall, CEO characteristics affect different dimensions of materiality disclosure, indicating that disclosure quantity and relevance should be assessed separately. The findings contribute to the literature on CEO characteristics and corporate reporting and provide implications for boards, companies, and regulators concerned with the quality of materiality disclosure.
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