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Annual Report Narratives and the Cost of Equity Capital: U.K. Evidence of a U-shaped Relation

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  • Vasiliki Athanasakou
  • Florian Eugster
  • Thomas Schleicher
  • Martin Walker

Abstract

We hypothesize and test for a U-shaped relation between the cost of equity capital and the level of disclosure in annual report narratives. Using a computer-generated word-count-based index of the level of disclosure in U.K. annual report narratives, we document a negative relation with the cost of equity capital at low levels of disclosure, and a positive relation at higher levels of disclosure, together implying the presence of an optimal level of disclosure. We interpret the positive relation at higher levels of disclosure as evidence of uninformative clutter increasing the cost of equity capital. Additional analyses indicate the presence of both firm-level learning and regulatory corporate reporting initiatives as factors shaping adjustments towards optimum levels of disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Vasiliki Athanasakou & Florian Eugster & Thomas Schleicher & Martin Walker, 2020. "Annual Report Narratives and the Cost of Equity Capital: U.K. Evidence of a U-shaped Relation," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 27-54, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:29:y:2020:i:1:p:27-54
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2019.1707102
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    Cited by:

    1. Mousa, Gehan A. & Elamir, Elsayed A.H. & Hussainey, Khaled, 2022. "The effect of annual report narratives on the cost of capital in the Middle East and North Africa: A machine learning approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Iatridis, George Emmanuel & Pappas, Kostas & Walker, Martin, 2022. "Narrative disclosure quality and the timeliness of goodwill impairments," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(2).
    3. Hu, Jun & Long, Wenbin & Dai, Ming & (Troy) Yao, Daifei, 2022. "Does international experience of managers bring financing benefits? Evidence from the cost of equity capital," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).
    4. Rjiba, Hatem & Saadi, Samir & Boubaker, Sabri & Ding, Xiaoya (Sara), 2021. "Annual report readability and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Ho-Tan-Phat Phan & Francesco De Luca & Lea Iaia, 2020. "The “Walk” towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Does Mandated “Talk” through NonFinancial Disclosure Affect Companies’ Financial Performance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Elshandidy, Tamer & Ahmed, Yousry, 2023. "Stock price informativeness of risk disclosure: Does time orientation matter?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 149-162.
    7. Nguyen, Quyen & Diaz-Rainey, Ivan & Kuruppuarachchi, Duminda, 2023. "In search of climate distress risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Francesco De Luca & Andrea Cardoni & Ho-Tan-Phat Phan & Evgeniia Kiseleva, 2020. "Does Structural Capital Affect SDGs Risk-Related Disclosure Quality? An Empirical Investigation of Italian Large Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, February.
    9. Michele Gendelsky de Oliveira & Graça Azevedo & Jonas Oliveira, 2021. "The Relationship between the Company’s Value and the Tone of the Risk-Related Narratives: The Case of Portugal," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-28, May.
    10. Dzieliński, Michał & Eugster, Florian & Sjöström, Emma & Wagner, Alexander F., 2022. "Climate Talk in Corporate Earnings Calls," Misum Working Paper Series 2022-6, Stockholm School of Economics, Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum).
    11. Athanasakou, Vasiliki & Boshanna, Abdlmutaleb & Kochetova, Natalia & Voulgaris, Georgios, 2024. "Strategy and business model disclosures in annual reports: The role of legal regime," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    12. Tariq H. Ismail & Yousra R. Obiedallah, 2022. "Firm performance and cost of equity capital: the moderating role of narrative risk disclosure quality in Egypt," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Muhammad Nadeem, 2022. "Board Gender Diversity and Managerial Obfuscation: Evidence from the Readability of Narrative Disclosure in 10-K Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 153-177, August.

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