READ ME File For 'Dataset in support of the thesis "Voluntary Disclosures: Three empirical studies in corporate political disclosures"' Dataset DOI: 10.5258/SOTON/PG/D099 ReadMe Author: Mahmoud Nasr, University of Southampton https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0099-8945 This dataset supports the thesis entitled "Voluntary Disclosures: Three empirical studies in corporate political disclosures" AWARDED BY: University of Southampton DATE OF AWARD: [2026] Date of data collection: 2022–2025 Information about geographic location of data collection: NA; the data were compiled from publicly available archival sources. Licence: CC BY Related projects/Funders: Nasr, M., Zalata, A.M., Vithana, K., Guan, J. and Elmahgoub, M., 2025. CEO inside debt and corporate political disclosure. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 54, p.107378. Nasr, M., Zalata, A.M., Vithana, K., and Elmahgoub, M., 2025. Beyond the CEO: Tournament incentives and corporate political disclosure. Journal of Accounting Literature (Revise and resubmit). -------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW -------------------- This dataset contains: The variables used in the associated research papers. -------------------------- METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION -------------------------- Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: The dataset was compiled from multiple publicly available and subscription-based archival sources. Corporate political disclosure data were downloaded from the CPA-Zicklin Index website. Executive data were obtained from ExecuComp. Financial and accounting data were collected from Compustat and Bloomberg. Lobbying expenditures and contributions to 527 organizations were obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). Contributions by PACs were obtained from the FEC website, and state-level spending data were extracted from the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Methods for processing the data: Data from the different sources were cleaned, and merged at the firm-year level. The final dataset was screened for duplicate observations, inconsistencies across merged records, and missing or incomplete identifiers. Software- or Instrument-specific information needed to interpret the data, including software and hardware version numbers: The data are provided in Stata (.dta) format and require Stata-compatible software for direct use. Standards and calibration information, if appropriate: NA Environmental/experimental conditions: NA Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: Quality-assurance procedures included cross-checking variables against the original source databases, verifying consistency of firm identifiers and reporting years across merged files, inspecting the data for duplicate observations and obvious coding errors, and reviewing outliers. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Sample collection, data analysis, and submission were performed by the author of the study. -------------------------- DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION -------------------------- Number of variables: Paper one: 27 variables; Paper two: 29 variables; Paper three: 26 variables. Variable list, defining any abbreviations, units of measure, codes or symbols used: All variables are labeled in the dataset. Variable names, labels, and definitions are provided directly in the data file. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: The data file is provided in Stata (.dta) format. Date that the file was created: April, 2026