Intellectual capital disclosure and price‐sensitive Australian Stock Exchange announcements

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an alternative way by which firms can disclose their intellectual capital to external stakeholders who have an influence on their share price. Design/methodology/approach – The paper shows that, by applying the empirical “event studies” methodology for the 2004‐2005 financial year, the components of intellectual capital are used to classify price‐sensitive company announcements to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), and to examine any relationship between the disclosure of intellectual capital and the cumulative abnormal return of a firm's share price. Findings – The disclosure of intellectual capital elements in price sensitive company announcements can have an effect on the cumulative abnormal return of a firm's share price. The market is found to be most responsive to disclosures of “internal capital” elements. Research limitations/implications – The paper is limited to an analysis of the Australian stock market for a one‐year period. It does not take into account the timing of announcement as a variable nor does it consider differences in regulation or operations pertaining to other stock markets. Practical implications – Researchers and practitioners are now informed that price‐sensitive disclosures to the market containing intellectual capital elements have a marginal effect on the subsequent market valuation of a firm beyond traditional financial reports and external intellectual capital reports. Originality/value – The paper is the first to examine the disclosure of price‐sensitive stock market information from an intellectual capital perspective, using Australian data.