Explaining Pension Fund Product and Governance Disclosure in Australia

Fund disclosure is an important communication tool between trustees and fund members for product comparison and credibility verification. We examine what drives Australian not-for-profit superannuation funds to disclose their fund product information to the market. Our research derives a model that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAustralasian accounting, business & finance journal Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 49 - 68
Main Authors Tan, Monica Guo-Sze, Cam, Marie-Anne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Wollongong University of Wollongong 01.01.2013
Subjects
Annual reports
Corporate governance
Costs
Decision making
Disclosure
Employees
Fees & charges
Fund disclosure
Institutional investments
Literature reviews
not for profit superannuation fund
Pension funds
Portfolio investments
Portfolio management
Studies
Superannuation
Trustees
Australia
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Summary:Fund disclosure is an important communication tool between trustees and fund members for product comparison and credibility verification. We examine what drives Australian not-for-profit superannuation funds to disclose their fund product information to the market. Our research derives a model that shows how the proprietary costs of disclosure and fund governance drive the disclosure of information about trustee, investment agents, fees, and overall practices. The research findings indicate that disclosure costs have a significant negative influence on voluntary disclosure, while board size has a weak positive relation with disclosure. Board independence is an unreliable and insignificant explanatory variable for voluntary disclosure. We discuss how the multi-layer agency relationship and institutional factors in the superannuation funds industry influence the power of these factors and their effects on voluntary disclosure. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1834-2000
1834-2019
DOI:10.14453/aabfj.v7i3.4