Integrated reporting and performance: a cross-country comparison of GCC Islamic and conventional banks

Abstract

Purpose In the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries, the integrated reporting (IR) concept has attracted considerable attention from banks. In as much as IR is not a legal requirement anywhere in the GCC, however, the incidence of disclosure by banks across the GCC varies considerably and asymmetries exist in the content of disclosure released by banks within, as well as across, these jurisdictions. This study aims to examine the relationship between IR disclosure and financial, operational and market performance in both Islamic and conventional banks. Design/methodology/approach This study examines five years (2012-2016) of IR from 59 banks in GCC countries with 295 observations. The integrated report index (IRI), as the independent variable, is regressed separately against three performance indicators [return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q (TQ)] as dependent variables. In addition, the following two types of control variables are inserted in the regression equations in this study: macroeconomic (two indicators) and bank characteristics (three indicators). Findings The findings elicited from the empirical results demonstrate that, on the one hand, IR in conventional banks positively affects market performance, while negatively affecting operational and financial performance. On the other hand, the results for Islamic banks show that IR negatively affects market performance, with no discernible effect on neither financial nor operational performance. In the GCC banking sector, for the most, empirical results conflict with expectations implied by signaling theory and capital need theory. From this study, evidence suggests that GCC bank performance would not improve were IR disclosure rendered mandatory. However, that conclusion is stronger with respect to Islamic than with respect to conventional banks in the region. Originality/value The study provides insights into the effect of voluntary disclosure of IR as gauged by various measures of performance across Islamic and conventional banks located in a range of GCC countries. This study accordingly provides perspective on the extent to which IR can and does play a role in contributing to bank performance.