The information value of corporate governance reporting for the financial stakeholders

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the information value in corporate governance reporting in a user-perspective, and will focus on the Corporate Governance Code issued by the Norwegian Corporate Governance Board. The thesis will hopefully reveal if there are gaps in what information the end-users, represented by different types of analysts, and what is actually provided of information by the companies. The study aims to identify if the corporate governance reporting is used, in which way it is used, if analysts use alternative sources and if the Norwegian Corporate Governance Code is sufficient in order to fulfil its purpose. The main goal of the thesis is to provide an insight, and hopefully be a tool in improving the Corporate Governance Code. Our findings reveals that there are significant differences in the perception of the information value of the corporate governance reporting between different kind of analysts, whereas investment analysts seems somewhat sceptical to this kind of reporting and its ability to gain market confidence. And institutional investors seem more actively using the reports in their analytical work, and are more in favour of emphasising these reports in their valuations of companies.