Factors Influencing Voluntary Disclosure in the Annual Reports of Portuguese Foundations

The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of Portuguese Foundation's characteristics on their annual report disclosure practices. Data were collected from 142 Foundations in Portugal, which represents 50.9% of the Portuguese foundational sector. Supported by a Structural Equation Model (SEM), this study evaluates cause-effect relationship between Voluntary Disclosure, Board Structure, Organizations' Characteristics and the existence of Auditing. Findings reveal that Organizations' Characteristics influence the forms of Auditing, and on its turn, Auditing has a positive indirect impact on Voluntary Disclosure. Contrary to expectations, Board Structure does not affect Voluntary Disclosure. This paper fills a void in the literature by examining the impact of Foundations' characteristics on their voluntary disclosure of financial and non-financial information.