Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the risk-related disclosure (RRD) practices in annual reports for 2005 Portuguese companies in the non-finance sector. Design/methodology/approach – The paper conducts a content analysis of a sample of 81 companies (42 listed and 39 unlisted). In considering corporate governance effects, the sample is reduced to the 42 listed companies that are required to disclose a corporate governance report. Findings – Implementation of IAS/IFRS and the European Union's Modernisation Directive in 2005 did not affect the quantity and quality of RRD positively. Disclosures are generic, qualitative and backward-looking. Public visibility (as assessed by size and environmental sensitivity) is a crucial influence in explaining RRD: companies appear to manage their reputation through disclosure of risk-related information. Agency costs associated with leverage are important influences also. In listed companies, the presence of independent directors improves the level of RRD. Research limitations/implications – Content analysis does not allow readily for in-depth qualitative inquiry. The coding instrument is subject to coder bias. Information about risk can be provided in sources other than annual reports. The study is confined to one year/one country and pre-dates the global financial crisis (GFC) (2008) and the implementation of IFRS 7 (2007). Originality/value – The results point to the desirability of enhancing accountability by mandating further disclosure of substantive and relevant risk-related information in company annual reports. The RRD observed are shown to be explained by a confluence of agency theory, legitimacy theory and resources-based perspectives.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the factors that affected the voluntary risk-related disclosures (RRD) in the individual annual reports for 2006 of Portuguese banks. It also explores the extent to which those reports conformed to Basel II requirements in terms of the voluntary disclosure of operational risk and capital structure and adequacy matters. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct a content analysis of the annual reports of a sample of 111 banks. Voluntary operational risk and capital structure and adequacy disclosures were assessed using a list of disclosure categories that were developed from the Third Pillar disclosure requirements of the Basel II Accord. Findings – Stakeholder monitoring and corporation reputation are crucial factors that explain the risk reporting practices observed. Voluntary risk reporting appears to enhance legitimacy for two major reasons: first, by fulfilling institutional pressures to assure the effectiveness of market discipline; and second, by managing stakeholder perception of a corporation's reputation. Originality/value – The voluntary RRD observed are shown to be explained by legitimacy theory and resources-based perspectives. This theoretical framework has not been tested hitherto in explaining the motives for banks to make voluntary RRD.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the firm’s and country-level institutional forces that determine banks’ CSR reporting diversity, during the recent global financial crisis.Design/methodology/approach: Specifically, this study assesses whether economic and institutional conditions explain CSR disclosure strategies used by 30 listed and unlisted banks from six countries in the context of the recent 2007/2008 global financial crisis. The annual reports and social responsibility reports of the largest banks in Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal were content analyzed.Findings: The findings suggest that economic factors do not influence CSR disclosure. Institutional factors associated with the legal environment, industry self-regulation and the organization’s commitments in maintaining a dialogue with relevant stakeholders are crucial elements in explaining CSR reporting. Consistent with the Dillard etal.’s (2004) model, CSR disclosure by banks not only stems from institutional legitimacy processes, but also from strategic ones.Practical implications: The findings highlight the importance of CSR regulation to properly monitor manager’s’ opportunistic use of CSR information and regulate the assurance activities (regarding standards, their profession or even the scope of assurance) to guarantee the proper credibility reliability of CSR information.Originality/value: The study makes two major contributions. First, it extends and modifies the model used by Chihet al.(2010). Second, drawn on the new institutional sociology, this study develops a theoretical framework that combines the multilevel model of the dynamic process of institutionalization, transposition and deinstitutionalization of organizational practices developed by Dillardet al.(2004) with Campbell’s (2007) theoretical framework of socially responsible behavior. This theoretical framework incorporates a more inclusive social context, aligned with a more comprehensive sociology-based institutional theory (Dillardet al., 2004; Campbell, 2007), which has never been used in the CSR reporting literature hitherto.

Purpose: – Drawn on social psychology theory of impression management (IM), the purpose of this paper is to assess the way Portuguese managers build their narratives in chairman’s statement (CS) to manage stakeholders’ perceptions on corporate image, in a period of time of scarce resources.Design/methodology/approach: – The paper’s theoretical framework draws on elements of social psychology theory of IM developed by Leary and Kowalski (1990). Through the use of the two-component model of IM (impression motivation and impression construction) the 45 CSs of Portuguese non-finance companies were content analysed to understand how managers build their voluntary communication strategies.Findings: – Results indicate that organisational outcome does not influence the adoption of IM strategies. But public visibility and consumer proximity are crucial factors in explaining them. Larger companies with high consumer proximity present themselves in a favourable way, but consistent with an overall reading of the annual report. These companies show a higher level of verbosity, consistent to the argument of retrospective rationality.Originality/value: – The present study goes beyond Merkl-Davieset al.(2011) work and obtains insightful knowledge on the influence of goal relevance of impression in three different perspectives: company’s public visibility, company’s dependency from debtholders, and consumer proximity. Moreover, the analysis uses a period of scarce resources and a European Latin country, with no tradition in publishing CSs, but that recently has changed its financial reporting practices from an institutional code-law logic to an institutional common-law logic. A research setting like this has not been studied hitherto.