IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/coacre/v17y2000i2p213-226.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing Graph Use in Corporate Annual Reports: A Time†Series Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • VIVIEN A. BEATTIE
  • MICHAEL J. JONES

Abstract

Graphs in corporate annual reports form part of a powerfully designed annual report package that offers considerable potential for “impression management.†The primary purpose of this paper is to determine whether graph use depends on corporate performance. Time†series analysis, not previously used in the financial graphs literature, allows discretionary changes in graph use by companies to be identified and related to changes in individual companies' corporate performance over time. Based on the prior financial graphs and accounting choice literature, we develop two hypotheses that relate changes in graph use to changes in corporate performance. These hypotheses focus on the aggregate and individual company levels. We base our analysis on the corporate annual reports of 137 top UK companies that were in continued existence during the five†year period from 1988 to 1992. At both the aggregate and individual company levels, we find the decision to use key financial variable (KFV) graphs, the primary graphical choice, to be associated positively with corporate performance measures. This finding is consistent with the manipulation hypothesis †that is, that financial graphs in corporate annual reports are used to “manage†favorably the reader's impression of company performance, and hence that there is a reporting bias.

Suggested Citation

  • Vivien A. Beattie & Michael J. Jones, 2000. "Changing Graph Use in Corporate Annual Reports: A Time†Series Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 213-226, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:17:y:2000:i:2:p:213-226
    DOI: 10.1506/AAT8-3CGL-3J94-PH4F
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1506/AAT8-3CGL-3J94-PH4F
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1506/AAT8-3CGL-3J94-PH4F?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay & Alan Serry, 1996. "The Use and Representational Faithfulness of Graphs in Annual Reports: Australian Evidence," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 6(12), pages 56-63, September.
    2. Graves, O. Finley & Flesher, Dale L. & Jordan, Robert E., 1996. "Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-88, January.
    3. Murphy, Kevin J. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1993. "Financial performance surrounding CEO turnover," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 273-315, April.
    4. Samuelson, William & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1988. "Status Quo Bias in Decision Making," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 7-59, March.
    5. Lewellen, Wilbur G. & Park, Taewoo & Ro, Byung T., 1996. "Self-serving behavior in managers' discretionary information disclosure decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 227-251, April.
    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. Christensen, Theodore E. & Fronk, Karson E. & Lee, Joshua A. & Nelson, Karen K., 2024. "Data visualization in 10-K filings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2).
    2. Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Cristina‐Andrea Araújo‐Bernardo, 2020. "What colour is the corporate social responsibility report? Structural visual rhetoric, impression management strategies, and stakeholder engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 1117-1142, March.
    3. Beattie, Vivien, 2005. "Moving the financial accounting research front forward: the UK contribution," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 85-114.
    4. Zhang, Xiumin & Zhang, Jinsen & Zhu, Yifan & Shen, Jie, 2023. "Presentation of social responsibility reports and the stock price crash risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    5. Gehan A. Mousa & Elsayed A. H. Elamir & Khaled Hussainey, 2022. "Using machine learning methods to predict financial performance: Does disclosure tone matter?," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 93-112, March.
    6. Machado, André & Lima, Fabiano Guasti, 2021. "Sell-side analyst reports and decision-maker reactions: Role of heuristics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Nihal Paşalı Taşoğlu & Deniz Akbulut & Aynur Acer, 2024. "The Role of Sustainability Statements in Investor Relations: An Analysis of the Annual Reports of Airline Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-24, March.
    9. Karin Eberhard, 2023. "The effects of visualization on judgment and decision-making: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 167-214, February.

    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. Beattie, Vivien & Jones, Michael John, 2001. "A six-country comparison of the use of graphs in annual reports," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 195-222, May.
    2. 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.
    3. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    4. Dedman, Elisabeth & Lin, Stephen W. -J., 2002. "Shareholder wealth effects of CEO departures: evidence from the UK," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 81-104, January.
    5. Dineli Mather & Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay, 2005. "An investigation into the measurement of graph distortion in financial reports," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 147-160.
    6. Margaret Milner & Wan Ying Hill, 2008. "Support for Graphicacy: A Review of Textbooks Available to Accounting Students," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 173-185.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2485-2563 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Philippe Fevrier & Sebastien Gay, 2005. "Informed Consent Versus Presumed Consent The Role of the Family in Organ Donations," HEW 0509007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Wiebke Roß & Jens Weghake, 2018. "Wa(h)re Liebe: Was Online-Dating-Plattformen über zweiseitige Märkte lehren," TUC Working Papers in Economics 0017, Abteilung für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Technische Universität Clausthal (Department of Economics, Technical University Clausthal).
    10. Leye Li & Louise Yi Lu & Dongyue Wang, 2022. "External labour market competitions and stock price crash risk: evidence from exposures to competitor CEOs’ award‐winning events," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1421-1460, April.
    11. Daly, Bonita A. & Schuler, Drue K., 1998. "Redefining a certified public accounting firm," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 549-567.
    12. Jose Apesteguia & Miguel Ballester, 2009. "A theory of reference-dependent behavior," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 40(3), pages 427-455, September.
    13. Bryce, Cormac & Dowling, Michael & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The journal quality perception gap," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(5).
    14. Brickley, James A. & Linck, James S. & Coles, Jeffrey L., 1999. "What happens to CEOs after they retire? New evidence on career concerns, horizon problems, and CEO incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 341-377, June.
    15. Boyce, Christopher & Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Hanley, Nick, 2019. "Personality and economic choices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 82-100.
    16. Ishii, Joy & Xuan, Yuhai, 2014. "Acquirer-target social ties and merger outcomes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(3), pages 344-363.
    17. Carlos Jiménez-Angueira & Nathan Stuart, 2015. "Relative performance evaluation, pay-for-luck, and double-dipping in CEO compensation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 701-732, May.
    18. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Anne Marie Knott & Rachel Croson, 2017. "Equity stakes and exit: An experimental approach to decomposing exit delay," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 278-299, February.
    19. Lovric, M. & Kaymak, U. & Spronk, J., 2008. "A Conceptual Model of Investor Behavior," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-030-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    20. Boon, L.N. & Brière, M. & Rigot, S., 2018. "Regulation and pension fund risk-taking," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-41.
    21. Andrea Baranzini & Stefano Carattini & Linda Tesauro, 2021. "Designing Effective and Acceptable Road Pricing Schemes: Evidence from the Geneva Congestion Charge," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(3), pages 417-482, July.

    More about this item

    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:wly:coacre:v:17:y:2000:i:2:p:213-226. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1911-3846 .

    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.