One of India's new high-technology companies is Infosys, specializing in software development. Infosys is now listed on the NASDAQ, the first Indian company to be listed in the United States. While Infosys discloses more information than most Indian companies, as required by the SEC, the company voluntarily discloses a substantial amount of additional information, including a value-added statement, an economic value-added statement, brand valuations, current cost financial statements, and an "Intangible Assets Score Sheet" (see infosys.com for the most recent example of the intangible assets score sheet).
Questions
1. Discuss the reasons why Infosys might want to disclose additional information voluntarily.
2. Explain and discuss the relevance of the information items disclosed in the intangible assets scoresheet. How would you interpret the changes from 2003 to 2004?
3. Under what circumstances could voluntary disclosures by Infosys give rise to a competitive advantage rather than disadvantage?