| Abstract [eng] |
The main purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the level of disclosure of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the influencing factors in the financial statements of the listed companies in the Baltic States. The master's thesis consists of three parts: theoretical part, methodological part and analytical part. Conclusions and recommendations are presented at the end of the work. The part of the scientific analysis briefly presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial activities of companies, the importance and benefits of disclosing such an impact in financial statements, and the problems arising from not disclosing the impact in financial statements. After the literature analysis, the author conducted a study, during which the aim was to investigate the level of disclosure of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the influencing factors in the financial statements of listed companies in the Baltic States. The research sample consists of 47 companies from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The following factors were chosen to be studied, which possibly determine the level of risk disclosure in financial statements: company size, company profitability, gender diversity of the board and level of indebtedness. The level of risk disclosure was assessed by the number of sentences found related to the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic (financial risk, non-financial risk and risk management) in the financial statements. Correlational strength of variables was assessed by performing Spearman correlations in the Gretl program. During the research, it was noticed that Estonian companies have the highest number of financial risk sentences per company in the country, while Lithuanian companies have the highest number of non-financial risk and risk management sentences per company in the country. The conducted research also revealed that only large companies tend to disclose a greater amount of information about the risks faced by the company, while companies with a large amount of liabilities and working at a loss do not tend to disclose a greater amount of risk information in financial statements. Board gender diversity does not have a significant impact on risk disclosure in financial statements. However, in order to better understand stakeholders' views on the level of disclosure, it would be worthwhile to conduct an additional study, during which it would be possible to investigate the level of investor satisfaction with the amount of risk disclosure in financial statements during financial turmoil. |
