Human capital reporting by Malaysian services companies

Non-financial information such as human capital has become an important source of information in determining corporate value and firm wealth in the era of globalization, technological change, and knowledge-intensive economy. Human capital is a key element in improving a company's assets that can be used to increase productivity as well as to sustain competitive advantage. Currently human capital disclosure represents part of the voluntary information disclosed by companies. This study examines the human capital disclosure practices of the top 100 listed services companies in Malaysia. The study uses a qualitative approach of content analysis to analyze disclosure in companies' 2009 annual reports. The findings reveal than human capital disclosure varies across industries. Companies in the finance industry revealing the most human capital information while companies in hotel industry revealing the least information.