Investigation of footnote disclosures related to ongoing court processes: Cases from Istanbul Stock Exchange

Turkish companies started to prepare their financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) since 2005. From law perspective, Turkey is a member of Continental Europe Law Family and also characterised as heavily tax-oriented and emerging market thus, switching to IFRS means more than a technical change. Footnote disclosures constitutes an important part of financial statements prepared according to IFRS. One of the common and important issue that must be disclosed via footnotes is the ongoing court processes that potentially affects the users decision making process. The type and content of the information that will be disclosed in footnotes is not determined and a room left for professional judgment. Current study captures some firms as an example and compare them to each other in terms of footnotes that are devoted to on-going court processes and concludes. Aim of the study is to portray the footnote disclosure policies of Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) companies and making policy recommedations for regulatory institutions.