Purpose

This paper aims to examine the usefulness of disclosures provided by Egyptian firms in the management report from the viewpoint of financial analysts and institutional investors.

Design/methodology/approach

Institutional investors are surveyed to determine whether disclosures are meeting the needs of these financial statements’ users. The final sample consists of 78 financial analysts who work at stockbrokerage firms and 36 institutional investors who work in Egyptian banks and insurance companies.

Findings

The main findings reveal that investors view mandatory and voluntary disclosures differently. Some voluntary disclosures are more useful than mandatory disclosures, which highlights a gap between the regulations and users’ information needs. Moreover, the findings show that respondents consider information related to ownership structure more important than information on risks and firms’ future performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study enriches the scientific debate on the usefulness of disclosures provided in the management report. It might also encourage other researchers to focus on investigating different types of information that may have a significant influence on the decision-making process.

Practical implications

The findings will be useful to regulators to improve the current rules of disclosures. In addition, these results will also be helpful to managers because they highlight the disclosure items that are considered important by users.

Originality/value

This study provides evidence on how users perceive the usefulness of information disclosed in the management reports for their decision-making in an emerging capital market. Even though previous studies investigated the usefulness of management reports, no one of them emphasized the users’ viewpoint.