Intellectual Capital Disclosures by Indian and Australian Information Technology Companies : A Comparative Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the voluntary reporting of intellectual capital (IC) by the top 20 software and technology sector companies in a developing nation, India, and a developed nation, Australia. The paper aims to highlight the differences in IC disclosure practices of the companies operating in two different economies. The study investigates the top 20 firms by market capitalization listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in India and the Australian Stock Exchange in Australia in the year 2007-2008. Using the content analysis method, the paper reviews the annual reports of these firms to determine IC disclosure trends in India and Australia. The study has identified IC disclosure differences between Indian and Australian firms, and reports disclosures by Indian companies are on a higher scale than Australian Software and Technology Sector companies. However, levels of voluntary IC disclosure are found to be low in both the nations and most of the disclosures are declarative in nature