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A note on comparative language interrogation for content analysis: The example of English vs. German

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  • Campbell, David
  • Cornelia Beck, A.
  • Shrives, Philip

Abstract

This paper raises and explores a number of issues relevant to the content analysis of voluntary disclosures in general but international content comparisons in particular. Using the example of voluntary environmental narratives in the annual reports of the top 30 British and German companies for the year ending 2002, content analysis was undertaken to determine the validity of volumetric comparison by recording word and sentence counts using both German and English translations of disclosures published by the German companies themselves. The study had two main outcomes. First, it found that the English rendering of German environmental narrative is generally accurate (suggesting that companies do not discriminate by reporting jurisdiction) and is most commonly, but not exclusively, translated at the coding resolution of the sentence. Second, the study concludes that German–English comparative international volumetric content analyses should be carried out using same language versions where possible due to differences in syntactic and textual renderings in the two languages yielding unrepresentative volumetric separation statistics.

Suggested Citation

  • Campbell, David & Cornelia Beck, A. & Shrives, Philip, 2005. "A note on comparative language interrogation for content analysis: The example of English vs. German," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 339-350.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:37:y:2005:i:3:p:339-350
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2005.04.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Freedman, Martin & Jaggi, Bikki, 1982. "Pollution disclosures, pollution performance and economic performance," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 167-176.
    2. Wiseman, Joanne, 1982. "An evaluation of environmental disclosures made in corporate annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 53-63, January.
    3. Craig Deegan & Michaela Rankin & Peter Voght, 2000. "Firms' Disclosure Reactions to Major Social Incidents: Australian Evidence," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 101-130, March.
    4. Carol Adams & Nongnooch Kuasirikun, 2000. "A comparative analysis of corporate reporting on ethical issues by UK and German chemical and pharmaceutical companies," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 53-79.
    5. Ingram, Rw & Frazier, Kb, 1980. "Environmental Performance And Corporate Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 614-622.
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    Cited by:

    1. Stolowy, Hervé & Jeanjean, Thomas & Erkens, Michael, 2011. "The economic consequences of increasing the international visibility of financial reports," HEC Research Papers Series 957, HEC Paris.
    2. Moreno, Alonso, 2024. "Impression management in bilingual corporate reporting: An analysis of textual characteristics in Spanish and English," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    3. Jeanjean, Thomas & Lesage, Cédric & Stolowy, Hervé, 2010. "Why do you speak English (in your annual report)?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 200-223, June.
    4. Beck, A. Cornelia & Campbell, David & Shrives, Philip J., 2010. "Content analysis in environmental reporting research: Enrichment and rehearsal of the method in a British–German context," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 207-222.
    5. Elshandidy, Tamer & Shrives, Philip J., 2016. "Environmental Incentives for and Usefulness of Textual Risk Reporting: Evidence from Germany," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 464-486.
    6. Bellora, Lucia & Guenther, Thomas W., 2013. "Drivers of innovation capital disclosure in intellectual capital statements: Evidence from Europe," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 255-270.
    7. Elshandidy, Tamer & Fraser, Ian & Hussainey, Khaled, 2015. "What drives mandatory and voluntary risk reporting variations across Germany, UK and US?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 376-394.
    8. Weetman, Pauline, 2006. "Discovering the ‘international’ in accounting and finance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 351-370.
    9. Thomas Jeanjean & Hervé Stolowy & Michael Erkens, 2012. "Economic consequences of adopting English for annual reports," Post-Print hal-00690931, HAL.
    10. Thomas Jeanjean & Hervé Stolowy & Michael Erkens, 2010. "Really “Lost in translation”? The economic consequences of issuing an annual report in English," Post-Print hal-00479511, HAL.

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