Globally, the higher education (HE) sector is experiencing rapid changes. In particular, the need for transparency, full disclosure and accountability, competition, ‘commodification’, ‘corporatisation’, ‘commercialisation’, ‘managerialism’, ‘marketisation’, regulation and large student numbers have increased, whilst government funding has often decreased (Soobaroyen et al., 2014, 2016a, b; Ntim et al., 2017). Many of these reforms have been driven by the neoliberal concept of new public management (NPM), which advocates improvement in the delivery of public services through the adoption of efficient private sector practices, such as those relating to auditing, financial reporting, governance, and risk management. Meanwhile the higher education sector is ‘big business’ nationally and internationally, with the sector’s educational, social, economic and cultural importance easily evident. For example, and based on the past 6 years data collected, the public HE sector in the UK, consisting of approximately 164 higher education institutions (HEIs), together generated a total income of about £۳۵ billion a year with an average income per a UK HEI of about £۱۹۳ million, ranging from a minimum of £۱٫۴ million to a maximum of £۱٫۷ billion. They taught a total number of about 2 million students per year, ranging from a minimum of 338 to a maximum of 378,000 students – an average of just under 19,000 students per an HEI per year. Approximately, 300,000 students are of non-UK/EU (international) origins, generating about £۸ billion in total income to the UK economy. The sector has total assets of about £۲۵۰ billion, averaging about £۳۳۰ million per HEI, ranging from a minimum of about £۳ million to a maximum of over £۳ billion. The sector together employs a total of about 500,000 staff, with the average HEI spending about £۱۸۶ million a year, ranging from a minimum of £۱٫۲m to a maximum of £۱٫۱ billion. In fact, some individual HEIs, such as Cambridge and Oxford Universities, are able to generate total assets (total income) of over £۲ billion (£۱ billion) a year, which are larger than or at least similar to those generated by some of the UK FTSE 100 or US S&P 500 companies. These cultural, economic, educational and social contributions of HEIs are also evident in most countries, around the world – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. However, HEIs worldwide and especially UK ones are equally witnessing rapid changes (e.g., introduction full tuition fees in England, direct competition for students through the removal of student number cap in England, free new market entrants, and reduction in funding councils’ funds). These changes have often raised the level of operational complexity and uncertainty for senior managers, governors, councillors and trustees of HEIs and thus, threatening the long-term sustainability of the sector. Therefore, good governance, sound and sustainable financial management, and shrewd risk management will be central to UK HEIs’ ability to operate smoothly, survive and maintain successful operations, especially in the longterm. It also implies that a considerable amount of efforts need to be directed by HEI managers, governors, councillors, trustees, regulators, policy-makers and academics at ensuring that HEIs commit to sound financial and risk management, good governance, and disclosure practices. Despite the apparent increasing recognition of the importance of sound risk management and disclosure practices to the long-term sustainability of UK HEIs by policy-makers, regulators, practitioners and academics (HEFCE, 2005; Taylor, 2013), however, there is a clear dearth of a serious systematic and longitudinal research (Abraham and Cox, 2007) examining the extent to which senior managers of HEIs, especially UK ones engage with, and disclose, existing good practice recommendations relating to risk management and governance structures in their annual reports.