CORPORATE REPORTING ON THE INTERNET: AN INVESTIGATION ON TURKISH LISTED COMPANIES

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the potential factors that may affect the level of corporate internet reporting of Turkish companies. The sample of the study consists of 92 firms listed on the BIST-100 index at the end of 2011. In order to investigate the companies' corporate reporting practices on the internet, corporate internet site of the companies for the year of 2012 were analyzed through content analysis. In addition to that, based on the literature review, size, industry type, profitability, leverage, ownership structure and corporate governance are considered as the independent variables that may influence the companies' corporate reporting practices on the internet. According to result of the study, 97 percent of the companies listed on the BIST-100 index disclose a significant portion of information on their corporate internet site. Results of the analysis indicate that listing on corporate governance index and leverage affect the firms' corporate reporting practices on the internet. However, size, industry type and ownership structure are the variables that its effect could be different as to content, design and total score of the corporate reporting on the internet.