Continuous disclosure in Australia: the empirical uncertainties

The continuous disclosure regime is said to be at the heart of the company disclosure framework in Australia because it provides equal and timely access to material company information. The primary continuous disclosure obligation applying to listed Australian companies is ASX Listing Rule 3.1. The article outlines an empirical study that examined compliance with Listing Rule 3.1 using Guidance Note 8 on disclosure of expected earnings as a benchmark. The study found compliance with the guidance was poor. The proportion of companies with significant earnings changes that provided an earnings forecast was low, and there were no statistically significant associations between the provision of forecasts and the absolute changes in year-on-year earnings. The article concludes that continuous disclosure is a vital part of the Australian company disclosure framework. However, the current obligations require strengthening and the inherent limitations of the regime need to be acknowledged.