ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with the question of how financial reporting in the Netherlands developed during the four decades following the Second World War, given that, during that period, financial reporting throughout the Western World was undergoing an important transformation. From the longitudinal data on Dutch companies, it appeared that companies were not necessarily consistent in their disclosure over time. Even though a general tendency towards to consistent disclosure could be established, a number of companies went through quite distinct phases in terms of apparent willingness to increase disclosure. Differences in disclosure among industries could only be established in general terms. Trading companies tended to disclose less than manufacturing companies, and within the group of manufacturing companies there was a slight association between industry ‘strength’ and extent of disclosure. A summary assessment of Dutch financial report disclosure in the postwar period would therefore be that it was different from that in other countries.
