The Determinants and level of Voluntary Disclosure in Corporate Annual Reports: An Empirical Analysis of Ghanaian listed firms.

Today's global economy is dependent on large corporations. When governance mechanisms fail and owners and management are unaware of the company's financial and non-financial status, the repercussions are felt not only locally but globally as well. Using a longitudinal non-parametric method, this study investigates the factors influencing the level of transparency of Ghanaian publicly traded companies from 2016 to 2020. Data was collected from audited annual reports accessible on corporate websites and checked against SEC data. Twenty-two (22) listed companies met the inclusion criteria for the sample. The Arellano-Bond and Hansen-difference tests necessitated the employment of the two-step forward orthogonal deviation mandated by GMM regression. The results demonstrated that lagged dependent variable, board size, audit type, business age, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have a positive effect on voluntary disclosures in Ghana. The institutional ownership connection is negative. When demanding voluntary disclosure, regulatory authorities must create policies that include these crucial aspects. The study is a useful guide to practitioners, policymakers, stakeholders, and academics with policy development, investment, and the promotion of intuitive studies.