The demand for information and transparency from listed corporations

has recently increased. In spite of an increased demand for mandatory disclosures

from regulators, corporations choose to voluntarily disclose additional information

in order to satisfy demands from the capital market. However, the extent and

content of information in those voluntary disclosures vary across corporations. The

aim of this study is to explain the variation in the content of information in voluntary

disclosures by listed corporations. The analyses are based on data collected

from 431 annual reports from corporations listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange

during the years 2002 and 2005. The findings support explanations from agency

theory and positive accounting theory that size and the debt ratio are positively

correlated with the content of information in voluntary disclosures. Corporations

with a high share of management ownership disclosed less information than corporations

with a low share of management ownership. The study also shows that

variations in voluntary disclosures can be explained by factors derived from institutional

theory and ‘international capital market pressures’. The results indicate that

foreign ownership and international listing to some extent have a positive effect on

the content of information in voluntary disclosures. Industry was another factor that

had a significant influence on voluntary disclosures. One important finding is that

regulation to some extent can stimulate voluntary disclosures; our results did not

indicate an ‘unintended chilling effect’ due to too much regulation. In general, the

corporations disclosed more voluntary information after the introduction of IFRS.