Financial reporting of good news and bad news: evidence from accounting narratives

References

• Abrahamson , E. and Amir , E. 1996 . The information content of the president's letter to shareholders'. . Journal of Business Finance and Accounting , 23 ( 8 ) 1157 – 1182 .
   Google Scholar
• Abrahamson , E. and Park , C. 1994 . Concealment of negative organizational outcomes: an agency theory perspective'. . Academy of Management Journal , 37 ( 5 ) : 1302 – 1334 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Accounting Standards Board . 1993 . Operating and Financial Review. , London : ASB .
   Google Scholar
• Accounting Standards Board . 1999 . Statement of Principles for Financial Reporting. , London : ASB .
   Google Scholar
• Aerts , W. 1994 . On the use of accounting logic as an explanatory category in narrative accounting disclosures'. . Accounting, Organizations and Society , 19 ( 4/5 ) : 337 – 353 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Aerts , W. 2001 . Inertia in the attributional context of annual accounting narratives'. . The European Accounting Review , 10 ( 1 ) : 3 – 32 .
   Google Scholar
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants . 1973 . Objectives of Financial Statements. , New York : AICPA .
   Google Scholar
• Anderson , R. and Epstein , M. 1996 . The Usefulness of Corporate Annual Reports to Shareholders in Australia, New Zealand and the United States: An International Comparison. , Greenwich , Connecticut : JAI Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Arnold , J. and Moizer , P. 1984 . A survey of the methods used by UK investment analysts to appraise investments in ordinary shares'. . Accounting and Business Research , 14 ( 55 ) : 195 – 207 .
   Google Scholar
• Arthur , Andersen . 1996 . What's the Story: A Survey of Narrative Reporting in Annual Reports. , London : Arthur Andersen .
   Google Scholar
• Arthur , Andersen . 2001 . Spice up the Story: A Survey of Narrative Reporting in Annual Reports. , London : Arthur Andersen .
   Google Scholar
• Audit Practices Board . 1995 . Statement of Auditing Standard 160. , London : APB .
   Google Scholar
• Barron , O. E. and Kile , C. O. 1999 . MD&A quality and analysts ‘earnings forecasts’. . Contemporary Accounting Research , 16 ( 1 ) : 75 – 109 .
   Google Scholar
• Bartlett , S. A. and Chandler , R. A. 1997 . The corporate report and the private shareholder: Lee and Tweedie twenty years on'. . British Accounting Review , 29 : 245 – 261 .
   Google Scholar
• Beattie , V. A. and Jones , M. J. 1992 . The use and abuse of graphs in annual reports: a theoretical framework and empirical study'. . Accounting and Business Research , 22 ( 88 ) : 297 – 305 .
   Google Scholar
• Beattie , V. A. and Jones , M. J. 1997 . A comparative study of the use of financial graphs in the corporate annual reports of major US and UK companies'. . Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting , 8 ( 1 ) : 33 – 68 .
   Google Scholar
• Beattie , V. A. and Jones , M. J. 1998 . Graphical Reporting Choices: Communication or Manipulation. , London : ACCA .
   Google Scholar
• Bettman , J. R. and Weitz , B. A. June 1983 . “ Attributions in the board room: causal reasoning in corporate annual reports'. ” . In Administrative Science Quarterly June , 165 – 83 .
   Google Scholar
• Bolger , A. 3 February 1994 . “ Worries about family values'. ” . In Financial Times 3 February ,
   Google Scholar
• Breton , G. and Taffler , R. J. 2001 . Accounting information and analyst stock recommendation decisions: a content analysis approach'. . Accounting and Business Research , 31 ( 2 ) : 91 – 102 .
   Google Scholar
• Clarkson , P. M. , Kao , J. L. and Richardson , G. D. 1999 . Evidence that management discussion and analysis (MD&A) is a part of a firm's overall disclosure package'. . Contemporary Accounting Research , 16 ( 1 ) : 111 – 134 .
   Google Scholar
• Clapham , S. E. and Schwenk , C. R. 1991 . Self-serving attributions, managerial cognition, and company performance'. . Strategic Management Journal , 12 : 219 – 229 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• DeAngelo , L. 1988 . Managerial competition, information costs, and corporate governance: the use of accounting performance measures in proxy contests'. . Journal of Accounting and Economics , 10 ( 3 ) : 3 – 37 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Elsbach , K. D. and Sutton , R. I. 1992 . Acquiring organizational legitimacy through illegitimate actions: A marriage of institutional and impression management theories'. . Academy of Management Journal , 35 ( 4 ) : 699 – 738 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Epstein , M. J. and Pava , M. L. 1993 . The Shareholders' Use of Corporate Annual Reports. , Greenwich , Connecticut : JAI Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Fiol , C. M. 1995 . Corporate communication: comparing executives ‘private and public statements’. . Academy of Management Journal , 28 ( 2 ) : 522 – 536 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Frazier , K. B. , Ingram , R. W. and Tennyson , B. M. 1984 . A methodology for the analysis of narrative accounting disclosures'. . Journal of Accounting Research , 22 : 318 – 31 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Govindarajan , V. 1980 . The objectives of financial statements: an empirical study of the use of cash flow and earnings by security analysts'. . Accounting, Organizations and Society , 5 ( 4 ) : 383 – 392 .
   Google Scholar
• Graves , O. F. , Flesher , D. L. and Jordon , R. E. 1996 . Pictures and the bottom line: the television epistemology of US annual reports'. . Accounting, Organizations and Society , 21 ( 1 ) : 57 – 88 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hackston , D. and Milne , M. J. 1996 . Some determinants of social and environmental disclosures in New Zealand companies'. . Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , 9 ( 1 ) : 77 – 108 .
   Google Scholar
• Harvey , J. H. , Turnquist , D. C. , Agostinelli , G. and Antaki , C. 1988 . “ Identifying attributions in oral and written explanations' ” . In Analysing Everyday Explanation: A Casebook of Methods , London : Sage .
   Google Scholar
• Ingram , R. W. and Frazier , F. B. 1983 . Narrative disclosures in annual reports'. . Journal of Business Research , 18 ( Autumn ) : 614 – 622 .
   Google Scholar
• Jones , M. J. and Shoemaker , P. A. 1994 . Accounting narratives: a review of empirical studies of content and readability'. . Journal of Accounting Literature , 13 : 142 – 84 .
   Google Scholar
• Kaplan , S. E. , Pourciau , S. and Reckers , P. M.J. 1990 . An examination of the effect of the president's letter and stock advisory service information on financial decisions'. . Behavioral Research in Accounting , 2 : 63 – 92 .
   Google Scholar
• Krippendorff , K. 1980 . Content Analysis. , London : Sage .
   Google Scholar
• Kunda , Z. 1990 . The case for motivated reasoning'. . Psychological Bulletin , 108 ( 3 ) : 480 – 498 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lee , t. A. June 1994 . “ The changing form of the corporate annual report'. ” . In The Accounting Historians Journal June , 215 – 232 .
   Google Scholar
• Lee , T. A. and Tweedie , D. P. 1981 . The Institutional Investor and Financial Information. , London : The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales .
   Google Scholar
• MacArthur , J. B. 1988 . An analysis of the content of corporate submissions on proposed accounting standards in the UK'. . Accounting and Business Research , 18 ( 71 ) : 213 – 226 .
   Google Scholar
• McKinstry , S. 1996 . Designing the annual reports of Burton PLC from 1930 to 1994'. . Accounting, Organizations and Society , 21 ( 1 ) : 89 – 111 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Milne , M. J. and Adler , R. A. 1999 . Exploring the reliability of social and environmental disclosures content analysis.' . Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , 12 ( 2 ) : 237 – 256 .
   Google Scholar
• Neu , D. 1991 . Impression management and the public accounting profession'. . Critical Perspectives on Accounting , 2 : 295 – 313 .
   Google Scholar
• Neu , D. and Wright , M. 1992 . Bank failures, stigma management and the accounting establishment'. . Accounting, Organizations and Society , 17 ( 7 ) : 645 – 65 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ober , S. , Zhao , J. J. , Davis , R. and Alexander , M. W. 1999 . Telling it like it is: the use of certainty in public business discourse'. . The Journal of Business Communication , 36 ( 3 ) : 280 – 300 .
   Google Scholar
• Phillips and Drew . 1991 . Accounting for Growth. , London : Phillips and Drew .
   Google Scholar
• Preston , A. M. , Wright , C. and Young , J. J. 1996 . Imag[in]ing annual reports'. . Accounting, Organizations and Society , 21 ( 1 ) : 113 – 137 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Previts , G. J. , Bricker , R. J. , Robinson , T. R. and Young , S. J. 1994 . A content analysis of sell-side analyst company reports.' . Accounting Horizons , 8 ( 2 ) : 55 – 70 .
   Google Scholar
• Revsine , L. December 1991 . “ The selective financial misrepresentation hypothesis'. ” . In Accounting Horizons December , 16 – 27 .
   Google Scholar
• Riess , M. , Rosenfeld , P. , Melburg , V. and Tedeschi , J. T. 1981 . Self-serving attributions: biased private perceptions and distorted public descriptions'. . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 41 ( 2 ) : 224 – 231 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Salancik , G. R. and Meindl , J. R. 1984 . Corporate attributions as strategic illusions of management control'. . Administrative Science Quarterly , 29 ( 2 ) : 238 – 54 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Schipper , K. December 1989 . “ Commentary on earnings management'. ” . In Accounting Horizons December , 91 – 102 .
   Google Scholar
• Schlenker , B. 1980 . Impression Management. , Monterey : Brooks/Cole .
   Google Scholar
• Schwenk , C. 1990 . Illusions of management control? Effects of self-serving attributions on resource commitments and confidence in management'. . Human Relations , 43 ( 4 ) : 333 – 347 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Schwenk , C. 1993 . Management tenure and explanations for success and failure'. . OMEGA , 21 ( 4 ) : 449 – 456 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Smith , M. and Taffler , R. J. 1995 . The incremental effect of narrative accounting information in corporate annual reports'. . Journal of Business Finance and Accounting , 22 ( 8 ) : 1195 – 1210 .
   Google Scholar
• Smith , M. and Taffler , R. J. 2000 . The chairman's statement: a content analysis of discretionary narrative disclosures'. . Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , 13 ( 5 ) : 624 – 646 .
   Google Scholar
• Smith , S. T. 1992 . Accounting for Growth: Stripping the Camouflage from Company Accounts. , London : Century Business .
   Google Scholar
• Staw , B. M. , McKechnie , P. I. and Puffer , S. M. December 1983 . “ The justification of organizational performance'. ” . In Administrative Science Quarterly December , 582 – 600 .
   Google Scholar
• Steinbart , P. J. September 1989 . “ The auditor's responsibility for the accuracy of graphs in annual reports: some evidence of the need for additional guidelines'. ” . In Accounting Horizons September , 60 – 70 .
   Google Scholar
• Sutton , R. and Callaghan , A. 1987 . The stigma of bankruptcy'. . Academy of Management Journal , 30 : 405 – 436 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Tetlock , P. E. and Manstead , A. S.R. 1985 . Impression management versus intrapsychic explanations in social psychology: a useful dichotomy?'. . Psychological Review , 92 ( 1 ) : 59 – 77 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Turner , J. C. 1991 . Social Influence. , Milton Keynes : Open University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Warnock , K. 1992 . Structure and argument in accounting standards'. . Accounting and Business Research , 22 ( 86 ) : 179 – 188 .
   Google Scholar
• Watts , R. L. and Zimmerman , J. L. 1986 . Positive Accounting Theory. , Englewood Cliffs , NJ : Prentice Hall .
   Google Scholar
• Watts , R. L. and Zimmerman , J. L. 1990 . Positive accounting theory: a ten year perspective'. . The Accounting Review , 65 ( 1 ) : 131 – 56 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Weber , R. P. 1990 . Basic Content Analysis. , Second edition , London : Sage .
   Google Scholar
• Weetman , P. and Collins , W. 1996 . Operating and Financial Review: Experiences and Exploration. Edinburgh: , Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland .
   Google Scholar
• Weetman , P. , Collins , W. and Davie , E. 1997 . Operating and Financial Review: Views of Analysts and Institutional Investors. , Edinburgh : Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland .
   Google Scholar