The investment account holders disclosure level in the annual reports of Islamic banks: construction of IAHs disclosure index

This paper aims to measure the IAHs disclosure level in the annual reports of Islamic banks. To do this, we develop a specific IAHs disclosure index based on Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards. We use manual content analysis of 49 fullfledged Islamic banks‟ annual reports over the period 2011-2015 across 10 countries. The findings of this study show that the overall level of IAHs disclosure is 28 per cent. Indeed, the sampled Islamic banks provide fewer disclosures related to IAHs. The present study contributes to enrich the knowledge of Islamic accounting literature by exploring directly the IAHs disclosure level in the annual reports of Islamic banks via self-constructed IAHs disclosure index based on AAOIFI accounting standards. It can help regulators in different countries to understand and strengthen the IAHs disclosure practices in Islamic banks by imposing AAOIFI disclosure requirements in terms of IAHs reporting.