| Summary: | Background: To maintain or increase the trust in the market, companies can disclose more voluntary information in the annual reports. According to prior research the annual report is the primary source of information for small shareholders and investors. Thus, it is of interest to investigate why companies chose to report the voluntary information inquired by this group. Purpose: We investigate some company-specific factors to decide whether these determine the extent of voluntary information, particularly inquired by small shareholders and investors, in the annual reports of listed Swedish companies. We also aim to discuss underlying causes for our result. Procedure: With statistical methods we have tested hypotheses on relations between company-specific factors and the extent of voluntary information in the annual reports. Results: It is significant that profitability, industry type and quotation status have relations with the extent of voluntary information inquired by small shareholders and investors. No relations have been found between the extent of voluntary disclosure and company-size, ownership dispersion, investments in tangible assets or share issues.
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