Investment opportunity set, ownership control and voluntary disclosures in Malaysia

This study examines the association between investment opportunity set and voluntary disclosures. The influence of ownership control as a mediator in this relationship is also examined. The results obtained in the analyses are consistent with the predictions. This study indicates that growth firms benefit from higher level of voluntary disclosures and higher level of ownership control by outside shareholders due to their context of high agency costs. While firms with low growth options are characterized by higher level of ownership control by board and lower level of voluntary disclosures because they face a context where agency costs are low. Further, this study indicates that agency theory prescriptions regarding monitoring are more relevant in growth firms, but are redundant in low growth firms. Specifically, high growth firms are dominated by outside shareholders while low growth firms by the board.