A quality of segmental disclosure: a case study in Malaysia

In response to the concern of various financial information users regarding segmental disclosure, the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) issued MASB 22, Segment Reporting in 2000. It became effective for the accounting year beginning on or after 1 January 2002. This paper attempts to examine the quality of segmental disclosure of 116 public listed companies at Malaysian Bourse, previously known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, for a year between 2000 and 2002. The quality of segmental disclosure is measured using the Weighted Average Correlation (WAC) technique. The findings indicate significant changes of quality of disclosure with the introduction of MASB 22, Segment Reporting. However, the generalisation of analysis remains a concern owing to inherent limitations, such as the number in the sample and the existence of material judgments in segmental information provided by the companies under study.