Perceptions of Risk Management Practices through the reading of public corporate financial documents

The demand for risk management and risk disclosure has increasingly intensified, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Despite the several advantages of risk reporting, companies may withhold information for many reasons. Accordingly, the present research investigates whether and how public disclosure supports stakeholders in understanding the risks and the risk management currently in practice. Secondly, it aims to understand whether the quality and quantity of risk disclosure is related to the maturity of the risk management systems adopted. Content analysis and questionnaires have been combined, focusing on Italian listed local utilities, which are exposed to several different risks. Results show that information mainly regard risks and specific company responses adopted and that there is not always a direct correspondence between the degree of corporate risk disclosure and the maturity of risk management practices implemented by the firm.