Intellectual Capital Measurement and Disclosure : A New 'Paradigm' in Financial Reporting

In today's knowledge-based economy, measurement and disclosure (M&D) of intellectual capital (IC) are crucial for enhancing business performance and competitiveness. In the global world, M&D of IC are useful means to keep investors well-informed and reduce information asymmetry. At present, very few leading corporations in India have disclosed IC information on a 'voluntary' basis. Traditional accounting practices, therefore, will need to assimilate innovations that seek to meaningfully represent the 'true-value' of the intangible assets of the company. This is an exploratory study of IC M&D by 8 Indian companies over 5-year period, using 'content' analysis and market-value-added (MVA) as research methodologies. The annual reports of companies were collected from their respective websites. As part of present study, various statistical techniques have been used to analyze the data. The findings show that the sample companies, on an average, reported a positive value of IC, along with wide-disparity, low-level of ICD. Unfortunately, the omission of IC information may adversely influence the quality of decisions made by shareholders, or lead to material misstatements. Finally, we recommend to "the international accounting bodies, to take the lead by establishing a harmonized ICD standard, and provide guidance to the big listed-companies for proper measurement and disclosure of IC, both for internal and external users."