Discretionary disclosures: reactivity and proactivity in the chairpersons’ statements of JSE-listed companies in South Africa

A review of the literature on corporate governance and narrative disclosures highlights the need for assessment of the formulation of the chairperson’s statement. This research is justified as corporate reporting today is more integrated. The significance of the study may be that even though only the chairperson’s statement is investigated, it may be a good starting point for understanding how change is ushered into an organization and from what perspective this takes place. Findings of content analysis of 100 Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed chairperson’s statements suggest that as part of the communication intended mainly for investors and other stakeholders of the company, the chairperson’s statement is written as a reactive statement to environmental factors or as a proactive statement to counter environmental factors that may affect or have affected the company’s performance. This study will be useful in helping readers to improve their understanding of a company’s efforts to communicate with them, from the chairperson’s perspective. Keywords: chairperson’s statement, JSE, disclosures, reactivity, proactivity. JEL Classification: G3, G30