Reporting intellectual capital in annual reports : evidence from Ireland

This paper examines the extent to which a sample of 11 knowledge-based Irish listed companies is adopting methodologies for reporting of intellectual capital in their annual reports. Their market and book values were compared and a content analysis of the annual reports of the 11 listed companies was conducted. With the exception of two of the 11 listed companies, significant differences in market and book values were found suggesting that knowledge-based Irish listed companies have a substantial level of non-physical, intangible, intellectual capital assets. The level of disclosure of intellectual capital attributes by the 11 listed companies studied was low.

This paper was prepared at the invitation of the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment for presentation at the OECD International Symposium Measuring and Reporting Intellectual Capital: Experiences, Issues and Prospects, Amsterdam, 9 June 1999