The Trend Toward Voluntary Corporate Disclosures: Reporting Frame Works, XBRL, XARL and It s Effects

The contemporary phenomenon of market globalization, competition and technical developments have resulted in companies becoming more international in their orientation and have also led to increased complexity in the business environment. While capital markets now offer unforeseen investment opportunities, one important development associated with these trends is the tendency of investors to be confronted with an abundance of information about myriad corporate activities. In addition to making the required compulsory disclosures, more and more companies are disclosing information on a voluntary business – presumably in the hopes that this extra data hasten the stock market to recognize hidden elements. In this article, we provide some insights into why the value gap is responsible for the enhanced demand for extra disclosures. We also outline some of the more important frameworks that have emerged in the contemporary literature on disclosures, and we explore the potentially critical impact of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting language) and XARL (eXtensible Assurance Reporting Language) on this topic. Finally, we present exist view about some of the likely implication of the trend toward additional voluntary disclosures.