Applied Economics and Finance Vol. 6, No. 5; September 2019 ISSN 2332-7294 E-ISSN 2332-7308 Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://aef.redfame.com 35 Moderating Effects of Financial Transparency on Accounting Information’ s Transmission to Share Prices: The Case Study of Non-Financial Companies Listed at BRVM Aboudou Ouattara 1 1 Senior lecturer in Finance, CESAG Business School, Boulevard du General de Gaulle x Avenue Malick Sy, BP 3802 Dakar, Senegal Correspondence: Aboudou Ouattara, Senior lecturer in Finance, CESAG Business School, Boulevard du General de Gaulle x Avenue Malick Sy, BP 3802 Dakar, Senegal. Received: May 13, 2019 Accepted: July 1, 2019 Available online: July 26, 2019 doi:10.11114/aef.v6i5.4406 URL: https://doi.org/10.11114/aef.v6i5.4406 Abstract The study of the moderating effect of non-financial companies’ financial transparency on their share values in the context of African stock exchanges is part of a dual perspective. At a first stage, it questions financial theory’s state of art on financial statement disclosure practices of listed companies and their anticipated influence on their shares’ prices. Thereafter, based on the investigation of the specific case of the WAEMU’s Regional capital market (BRVM), a financial place common to eight countries, it highlights the level of transparency in financial communication of companies listed in Africa’s capital market. In doing so, it provides a dual enrichment. First, it highlights the enrichment that researches on Africa’s context can provide to financial theory and its contribution to the reading of African Management practices. In a complementary fashion, it helps to discover the specific practices in Africa and their consequences on market functioning. It also questions the validity of the conclusions drawn from researches made in international environment in the African context. Keywords: financial transparency, financial statements, value relevance, event study, developing markets, BRVM 1. Introduction WAEMU’s economies have a regional capital market which is gradually emerging as funding support of wealth creation in the area. The stock market has an important place in this device. It aims at enabling companies to fund; and investors to invest their resources and support for their business development. This market, despite the structural difficulties that limit its expansion, has undergone significant changes in recent years. This is, among others, the transition to continuous time trading, the establishment of credit rating agencies, the IPO of companies and the noticeable evolution of its market capitalization. On 31 st of December 2016, there were 43 listed companies. It has been object of various studied that, among other things, questioned the level of informational efficiency. The findings of these researches raise the issue of the way by which financial information are used in stakeholders’ investment decision and their involvement in asset prices’ evolution in the specific context of developing capital market. The financial transparency level of companies listed in this market has not yet fully included in the studies that questioned the efficiency of the BRVM. While, observing these accounting documents reveals a strong heterogeneity in financial communication policy of listed companies. Indeed, if we put aside those that do not broadcast information, we can identify companies that apply a minimum disclosure policy and those that provide the most exhaustive information disclosure policy to guide investors decision. Depending on the nature of their business, companies listed at BRVM can be grouped into two categories: non-financial companies and Bank and financial Institutions. In the second category, we find companies whose business is subject to banking regulations and are under the supervision of the Central Bank (BCEAO). In this study, we limit ourselves to the situation of non-financial companies for two main reasons. First, it was not possible to simultaneously study both groups of companies in one paper. Indeed, enacted framework for financial information disclosure to stakeholders obey to different logics because of the nature of their activities. Their joint consideration would have required to assimilate concepts that have different meaning for each companies group or making a development for each group. In addition,