IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v48y2016i4p415-430.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Market reaction to the positiveness of annual report narratives

Author

Listed:
  • Yekini, Liafisu Sina
  • Wisniewski, Tomasz Piotr
  • Millo, Yuval

Abstract

This paper focuses on narratives published by UK companies, defined here as the content of annual reports excluding financial statements and notes to accounts. We endeavour to gauge the tone of these narratives by recording the frequency of positive words appearing in the text. We show that the extent of positiveness is related to market reaction around the disclosure date. This conclusion is maintained even after controlling for the financial figures that are reported simultaneously and company-specific characteristics. Consequently, narratives should not be perceived as mere impression management tools, but also as conduits for disseminating price-sensitive information.

Suggested Citation

  • Yekini, Liafisu Sina & Wisniewski, Tomasz Piotr & Millo, Yuval, 2016. "Market reaction to the positiveness of annual report narratives," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 415-430.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:48:y:2016:i:4:p:415-430
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2015.12.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838915300044
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2015.12.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atiase, Rk, 1985. "Predisclosure Information, Firm Capitalization, And Security Price Behavior Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 21-36.
    2. Gilbert, Aaron & Tourani-Rad, Alireza & Wisniewski, Tomasz Piotr, 2006. "Do insiders crowd out analysts?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 40-48, March.
    3. Grimmer, Justin & Stewart, Brandon M., 2013. "Text as Data: The Promise and Pitfalls of Automatic Content Analysis Methods for Political Texts," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 267-297, July.
    4. Bartov, Eli & Givoly, Dan & Hayn, Carla, 2002. "The rewards to meeting or beating earnings expectations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 173-204, June.
    5. Nicky J. Ferguson & Dennis Philip & Herbert Y. T. Lam & Jie Michael Guo, 2015. "Media Content and Stock Returns: The Predictive Power of Press," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    6. Thomas Schleicher & Martin Walker, 2010. "Bias in the tone of forward‐looking narratives," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 371-390.
    7. Stephanie Watts Sussman & Wendy Schneier Siegal, 2003. "Informational Influence in Organizations: An Integrated Approach to Knowledge Adoption," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 47-65, March.
    8. Parhankangas, Annaleena & Ehrlich, Michael, 2014. "How entrepreneurs seduce business angels: An impression management approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 543-564.
    9. Shiller, Robert J, 1981. "Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 421-436, June.
    10. Angela K. Davis & Jeremy M. Piger & Lisa M. Sedor, 2012. "Beyond the Numbers: Measuring the Information Content of Earnings Press Release Language," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 845-868, September.
    11. Bhandari, Laxmi Chand, 1988. " Debt/Equity Ratio and Expected Common Stock Returns: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 507-528, June.
    12. Doris M. Merkl‐Davies & Niamh M. Brennan & Stuart J. McLeay, 2011. "Impression management and retrospective sense‐making in corporate narratives," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 315-344, March.
    13. Price, S. McKay & Doran, James S. & Peterson, David R. & Bliss, Barbara A., 2012. "Earnings conference calls and stock returns: The incremental informativeness of textual tone," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 992-1011.
    14. Petty, Richard E & Cacioppo, John T & Schumann, David, 1983. "Central and Peripheral Routes to Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(2), pages 135-146, September.
    15. Lesmond, David A & Ogden, Joseph P & Trzcinka, Charles A, 1999. "A New Estimate of Transaction Costs," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(5), pages 1113-1141.
    16. Banz, Rolf W., 1981. "The relationship between return and market value of common stocks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 3-18, March.
    17. James Doran & David Peterson & S. Price, 2012. "Earnings Conference Call Content and Stock Price: The Case of REITs," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 402-434, August.
    18. Hoskin, Re & Hughes, Js & Ricks, We, 1986. "Evidence On The Incremental Information-Content Of Additional Firm Disclosures Made Concurrently With Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24, pages 1-32.
    19. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Galpin, Neal & Ray, Rina & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2009. "The Role of the Media in the Internet IPO Bubble," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 657-682, June.
    20. Cho, Charles H. & Roberts, Robin W. & Patten, Dennis M., 2010. "The language of US corporate environmental disclosure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 431-443, May.
    21. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    22. Paul C. Tetlock & Maytal Saar‐Tsechansky & Sofus Macskassy, 2008. "More Than Words: Quantifying Language to Measure Firms' Fundamentals," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1437-1467, June.
    23. Russell J. Craig & Niamh M. Brennan, 2012. "An exploration of the relationship between language choice in CEO letters to shareholders and corporate reputation," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 166-177, September.
    24. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    25. Doris M. Merkl-Davies & Niamh Brennan & Stuart McLeay, 2011. "Impression management and retrospective sense-making in corporate narratives : a social psychology perspective," Open Access publications 10197/2900, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    26. Anilowski, Carol & Feng, Mei & Skinner, Douglas J., 2007. "Does earnings guidance affect market returns? The nature and information content of aggregate earnings guidance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 36-63, September.
    27. Kenneth R. Ahern & Denis Sosyura, 2014. "Who Writes the News? Corporate Press Releases during Merger Negotiations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 241-291, February.
    28. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    29. James Cicon & Jonathan Clarke & Stephen P. Ferris & Narayanan Jayaraman, 2014. "Managerial Expectations of Synergy and the Performance of Acquiring Firms: The Contribution of Soft Data," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 161-175, July.
    30. Ball, R & Brown, P, 1968. "Empirical Evaluation Of Accounting Income Numbers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 159-178.
    31. Tomasz Piotr Wisniewski & Andrea Moro, 2014. "When EU Leaders Speak, the Markets Listen," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 519-551, December.
    32. Frazier, Kb & Ingram, Rw & Tennyson, Bm, 1984. "A Methodology For The Analysis Of Narrative Accounting Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 318-331.
    33. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    34. Frost, Ca & Pownall, G, 1994. "Accounting Disclosure Practices In The United-States And The United-Kingdom," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 75-102.
    35. Wisniewski, Tomasz P., 2004. "Reexamination of the link between insider trading and price efficiency," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 209-228, June.
    36. H.S. Shin, 1994. "News Management and the Value of Firms," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(1), pages 58-71, Spring.
    37. Carina Sponholtz, 2008. "The information content of earnings announcements in Denmark," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(1), pages 4-36, January.
    38. Elizabeth Gordon & Elaine Henry & Marietta Peytcheva & Lili Sun, 2013. "Discretionary disclosure and the market reaction to restatements," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 75-110, July.
    39. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1980. "Measuring security price performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 205-258, September.
    40. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    41. Lev, B, 1989. "On The Usefulness Of Earnings And Earnings Research - Lessons And Directions From 2 Decades Of Empirical-Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27, pages 153-192.
    42. Freeman, Robert N., 1987. "The association between accounting earnings and security returns for large and small firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 195-228, July.
    43. Shumway, Tyler, 2001. "Forecasting Bankruptcy More Accurately: A Simple Hazard Model," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 101-124, January.
    44. Mark Clatworthy & Michael Jones, 2003. "Financial reporting of good news and bad news: evidence from accounting narratives," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 171-185.
    45. Kristi Yuthas & Rodney Rogers & Jesse F. Dillard, 2002. "Communicative Action and Corporate Annual Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 141-157, November.
    46. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    47. Angela K. Davis & Isho Tama†Sweet, 2012. "Managers’ Use of Language Across Alternative Disclosure Outlets: Earnings Press Releases versus MD&A," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 804-837, September.
    48. Feng Li, 2010. "The Information Content of Forward‐Looking Statements in Corporate Filings—A Naïve Bayesian Machine Learning Approach," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5), pages 1049-1102, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Malik, Muhammad Farhan & Nowland, John & Buckby, Sherrena, 2021. "Voluntary adoption of board risk committees and financial constraints risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Soufiene Assidi, 2020. "The effect of voluntary disclosures and corporate governance on firm value: a study of listed firms in France," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(2), pages 168-179, September.
    3. Gregory D. Saxton & Dean Neu, 2022. "Twitter-Based Social Accountability Processes: The Roles for Financial Inscriptions-Based and Values-Based Messaging," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(4), pages 1041-1064, December.
    4. Marek Sylwestrzak & Anna Bialek-Jaworska & Krzysztof Opolski, 2018. "Motives for Financial Statement Fraud and Professional Ethics (Motywy falszowania sprawozdan finansowych a zasady etyczne)," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(27), pages 79-89.
    5. Maria-Silvia Sandulescu & Catalin-Nicolae Albu, 2018. "Impression Management in The Letters to Shareholders of Listed Entities: A Romanian Case Study," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 353-373, September.
    6. Chantziaras, Antonios & Koulikidou, Kleopatra & Leventis, Stergios, 2021. "The power of words in capital markets: SEC comment letters on foreign issuers and the impact of home country enforcement," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    7. Nadine Gatzert & Dinah Heidinger, 2020. "An Empirical Analysis of Market Reactions to the First Solvency and Financial Condition Reports in the European Insurance Industry," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(2), pages 407-436, June.
    8. Koulikidou, Kleopatra & Chantziaras, Antonios & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Leventis, Stergios, 2023. "Regulatory enforcement, foreignness, and language negativity: Evidence from SEC comment letters," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    9. Hansin Bilgili & Joanna Tochman Campbell & Alan E. Ellstrand & Jonathan L. Johnson, 2017. "Riding off into the Sunset: Organizational Sensegiving, Shareholder Sensemaking, and Reactions to CEO Retirement," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(7), pages 1019-1049, November.
    10. Chen, Yuh-Jen & Wu, Chun-Han & Chen, Yuh-Min & Li, Hsin-Ying & Chen, Huei-Kuen, 2017. "Enhancement of fraud detection for narratives in annual reports," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 32-45.
    11. Elsayed, Mohamed & Elshandidy, Tamer, 2021. "Internal control effectiveness, textual risk disclosure, and their usefulness: U.S. evidence," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    12. Sri Ningsih & Iman Harymawan & Nurul Fitriani & Brian Lam, 2021. "Pessimistic Tone in Earnings Announcement and CSR Disclosure: Exploring the Interacting Role of CEO Busyness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Shen, Hongtao & Yang, Qing & Luo, Le & Huang, Nan, 2023. "Market reactions to a cross-border carbon policy: Evidence from listed Chinese companies," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    14. Simon Fritzsch & Philipp Scharner & Gregor Weiß, 2021. "Estimating the relation between digitalization and the market value of insurers," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 88(3), pages 529-567, September.
    15. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2020. "Beyond narrative disclosure tone: The upper echelons theory perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. Iqbal, Javid & Saeed, Abubakr, 2023. "Managerial sentiments, non-performing loans, and banks financial performance: A causal mediation approach," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    17. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2022. "Narrative disclosure tone: A review and areas for future research," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wisniewski, Tomasz Piotr & Yekini, Liafisu Sina, 2014. "Predicting Stock Market Returns Based on the Content of Annual Report Narrative: A New Anomaly," MPRA Paper 58107, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2022. "Narrative disclosure tone: A review and areas for future research," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    3. S. P. Kothari & Charles Wasley, 2019. "Commemorating the 50‐Year Anniversary of Ball and Brown (1968): The Evolution of Capital Market Research over the Past 50 Years," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 1117-1159, December.
    4. Yan Luo & Linying Zhou, 2020. "Textual tone in corporate financial disclosures: a survey of the literature," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(2), pages 101-110, September.
    5. Christina Bannier & Thomas Pauls & Andreas Walter, 2019. "Content analysis of business communication: introducing a German dictionary," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(1), pages 79-123, February.
    6. Ingrid E. Fisher & Margaret R. Garnsey & Mark E. Hughes, 2016. "Natural Language Processing in Accounting, Auditing and Finance: A Synthesis of the Literature with a Roadmap for Future Research," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 157-214, July.
    7. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2016. "Textual Analysis in Accounting and Finance: A Survey," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1187-1230, September.
    8. Hannu, Schadewitz, 1997. "Financial and nonfinancial information in interim reports: Determinants and implications," MPRA Paper 44292, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    10. Saverio Bozzolan & Charles Cho & Giovanna Michelon, 2015. "Impression Management and Organizational Audiences: The Fiat Group Case," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 143-165, January.
    11. Kothari, Pratik & Chance, Don M. & Ferris, Stephen P., 2021. "Bragging rights: Does corporate boasting imply value creation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Arslan-Ayaydin, Özgür & Boudt, Kris & Thewissen, James, 2016. "Managers set the tone: Equity incentives and the tone of earnings press releases," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(S), pages 132-147.
    13. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2020. "Beyond narrative disclosure tone: The upper echelons theory perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    15. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    16. Rahman, Sheehan, 2023. "Narrative tone and earnings persistence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    17. Liu, Sha & Han, Jingguang, 2020. "Media tone and expected stock returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    18. Chouliaras, Andreas, 2015. "The Pessimism Factor: SEC EDGAR Form 10-K Textual Analysis and Stock Returns," MPRA Paper 65585, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Wanli Li & Tiantian Yan & Yue Li & Ziqiao Yan, 2023. "Earnings management and CSR report tone: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1883-1902, July.
    20. Kristian D. Allee & Matthew D. Deangelis, 2015. "The Structure of Voluntary Disclosure Narratives: Evidence from Tone Dispersion," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 241-274, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Annual report narrative; Content analysis; Stock market reaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:48:y:2016:i:4:p:415-430. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.