Intellectual capital disclosure and the information gap: Evidence from China

Our research examines the extent and quality of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure by Chinese companies, as well as investigates if the disclosure practices of Chinese companies meet the expectation of stakeholders. A mixed methods approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative elements, was used. An IC coding index was developed as an instrument to analyze annual reports of the top 100 Chinese A-share listed companies. The results indicate that the current level of IC disclosure was quite high in both extent and quality, and there was no significant information gap between the expectation of Chinese stakeholders and the actual disclosure practice of Chinese firms. This research provides further evidence as to the state of IC disclosure in the Chinese context, and makes some contributions to the existing literature. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.