Transparency, corporate governance and firm performance in The Netherlands

We explore the relations between transparency, corporate governance, and performance for Dutch exchange-listed firms over 1997-2007. Our measure for transparency is based on annual report information. In 2005 a new accounting standard (IFRS) became mandatory and applicable to the annual reports of Dutch listed firms. We investigate the effects of IFRS by comparing pre and post IFRS periods. We find that under IFRS transparency has increased substantially, and that the determinants of transparency have also changed. Pre-IFRS, disclosure is mainly driven by firm size, leverage and protective preference shares. Post-IFRS, we observe very little variation in disclosure practices.