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Article
Publication date: 6 January 2022

Heba Abou-El-Sood and Dalia El-Sayed

The authors investigate whether abnormal tone in corporate narrative disclosures is associated with earnings management and earnings quality, in an emerging market context. Based…

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Abstract

Purpose

The authors investigate whether abnormal tone in corporate narrative disclosures is associated with earnings management and earnings quality, in an emerging market context. Based on agency theory and opportunistic/impression management perspective, this study examines whether executives manage disclosure tone to support their opportunistic behavior, when using earnings management.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a sample of earnings press releases of publicly traded firms in the MENA region during 2014–2019. It employs textual analysis to measure disclosure tone. The authors estimate abnormal disclosure tone after controlling for firm characteristics. Discretionary accruals proxy for earnings management and are estimated using Modified Jones model. Earnings quality is measured using accounting-based and market-based proxies: earnings smoothness, persistence, predictability and value relevance/informativeness.

Findings

Results show a positive association between abnormal disclosure tone and earnings management. Additionally, results show that earnings persistence is higher for firms with lower levels of abnormal disclosure tone. Results are sustained for earnings smoothness, but not for predictability and value relevance/informativeness.

Research limitations/implications

Results provide initial evidence of management's use of tone management jointly with earnings management. This adds to prior studies adopting the opportunistic perspective of disclosure tone, through showing that discretionary tone in narrative disclosures can be strategically used by management to influence investors' perceptions.

Practical implications

The results provide valuable insight to board of directors, auditors and market participants on the possible biases emerging from tone of narrative disclosures in corporate reports. For regulators and standard-setters, results shed light on the need for regulations and rules beyond financial statements, to guide disclosure of narrative information in different corporate reports.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the rare evidence that investigates textual disclosure characteristics to uncover management's opportunistic practices and assess earnings quality. Where majority of studies concentrate on developed markets, this study provides novel evidence of emerging markets by examining the association between abnormal disclosure tone and earnings management/earnings quality. Also, it validates the tone management model proposed by Huang et al. (2014) for capturing tone manipulation.

Details

Journal of Applied Accounting Research, vol. 23 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-5426

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 February 2018

Frerich Buchholz, Reemda Jaeschke, Kerstin Lopatta and Karen Maas

The purpose of this paper is to examine how CEO narcissism can be related to the usage of an abnormal optimistic tone in financial disclosures. Drawing on upper echelons theory…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how CEO narcissism can be related to the usage of an abnormal optimistic tone in financial disclosures. Drawing on upper echelons theory, this paper suggests a link between CEO characteristics, such as narcissism, and accounting choices, such as optimistic financial reporting language.

Design/methodology/approach

To measure the narcissistic trait of a CEO, the study builds on a model using a set of 15 archival indicators. The usage of an abnormal optimistic tone is assessed quantitatively when looking at firms’ 10-K filings, where “abnormal” refers to tone that is unrelated to a firm’s performance, risk, and complexity. This approach allows for the use of firm-fixed effects for a sample of US listed firms over the period 1992-2012.

Findings

The results show that CEO narcissism is significantly positively related to abnormal optimistic tone in 10-K filings. If a highly abnormal optimistic tone is present, the level of CEO narcissism is positively related to the likelihood of future seasoned equity offerings and larger future investments in research and development.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are relevant for shareholders and stakeholders as well as auditors and legislators. All stakeholders should be aware of the overly optimistic reporting language resulting from CEO narcissism and need to make allowances for it when assessing firm performance based on financial disclosures.

Originality/value

This study is the first to show in a large-scale sample how CEO narcissism can be related to a firm’s use of optimistic language, and thus contributes to the question of how personality traits affect an organization’s financial reporting strategy.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 October 2022

Zhong-Lu Teng and Jin Han

This study aims to provide evidence on the association between abnormal tone and audit fees, as well as between abnormal tone and audit report lag.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to provide evidence on the association between abnormal tone and audit fees, as well as between abnormal tone and audit report lag.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a fixed-effects model to examine the relationship between abnormal positive tone and audit engagement (audit fees and audit report lag). Following Blanco et al., the authors used propensity score matching to examine the robustness of the findings.

Findings

Abnormal positive tone affects the audit process. An abnormal positive tone in annual reports is associated with greater audit effort and higher audit fees.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the determinants of audit fees and audit lag by analyzing the impact of an abnormal positive tone on audit engagement. The literature analyzing the determinants of audit engagement often focuses on the quality of non-textual information. This study analyzes the impact of the quality of textual information (measured by abnormal tone) on audit engagement, which provides evidence of the association between textual disclosure and audit.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 38 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 May 2022

Salah Kayed and Rasmi Meqbel

This paper aims to examine whether firms meeting or just beating an earnings benchmark engage in tone management in earnings conference calls to complement earnings management in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether firms meeting or just beating an earnings benchmark engage in tone management in earnings conference calls to complement earnings management in the UK context. It also investigates whether the audience tone in beating or just meeting earnings fails to predict future performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was performed using a sample of non-financial UK firms listed in the FTSE 350 index over the period 2010–2015.

Findings

The findings show that firms that exercise more earnings management to meet or just beat earnings are positively associated with the abnormal tone during earnings conference calls. The outcomes also reveal that the audience’s tone of firms meeting or just beating an earnings benchmark fails to predict future performance. This confirms the effectiveness of the tone management in managing the perception of audience.

Practical implications

This study highlights the need for increased accountability by firms on earnings conference call. It also supports academics and practitioners in understanding the management discretion used in reporting and communication during the earnings conference call. Overall, the results of this study are beneficial for regulators, policymakers and professionals, regarding confirming the need for the earnings conference calls to be regulated.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the association between earnings management and tone management in the UK earnings conference calls. It adds to the existing literature by examining the self-serving behaviour of managerial tone during earnings conference calls within a sitting in which meeting or just beating a benchmark is used. Unlike several studies that explain the behaviour of tone as a signalling strategy, this study reveals that the tendency of impression management behaviour can explain the tone management.

Details

Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-2517

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 October 2023

Kyungeun Kwon, Mi Zhou, Tawei Wang, Xu Cheng and Zhilei Qiao

Both the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the popular press have routinely criticized firms for the complexity of their financial disclosures. This study aims to…

Abstract

Purpose

Both the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the popular press have routinely criticized firms for the complexity of their financial disclosures. This study aims to investigate how financial analysts respond to the tone complexity of firm disclosures.

Design/methodology/approach

Using approximately 20,000 earnings conference call transcripts of S&P 1,500 firms between 2005 and 2015, the authors first calculate the abnormal negative tone, the measure of tone complexity; then use such tone measure in econometric models to examine analyst forecast behavior. The authors also test the robustness of the results under different model specifications, tone word lists and alternative tone measure calculations.

Findings

Consistent with the notion that analysts respond to the information demand from investors and incur more costs and effort to analyze firm disclosure when the tone is more complex, the authors find that higher tone complexity is positively and significantly associated with more analyst following, longer report duration, more forecast revisions, larger forecast error and larger forecast dispersion. In addition, the authors find that tone complexity has a long-term impact on analyst following but has a limited long-term impact on analyst report duration, analyst revision, forecast error and dispersion.

Originality/value

This study complements existing literature by highlighting the information role of financial analysts and by providing evidence that analysts incorporate the management tone disclosed during conference calls to adjust their forecasting behaviors. The results can be used by policymakers as evidence and support for further improving firm communication from a new dimension of disclosure tone.

Details

Asian Review of Accounting, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1321-7348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2024

Sourour Hamza and Anis Jarboui

This paper explores how the disclosure quality, measured by the abnormal tone of environmental and social report, may determine the environmental, social and corporate governance…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores how the disclosure quality, measured by the abnormal tone of environmental and social report, may determine the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance of the firm. This study also investigates the impact of the moderator “board of directors” to explore the extent to which a well-balanced board of directors may affect this association within an impression management strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

This work uses a sample of 616 firm-year observations using a sample of French firms indexed on SBF120 index from 2010 to 2017. To test the developed hypotheses, the GLS regression is applied and to control for endogeneity issue and sample selection bias, the authors used, respectively, the two stage least square (2SLS) procedure and the Heckman model.

Findings

Findings suggest that a well-balanced board of directors moderates the relationship between the ESG performance and the disclosure quality. The positive effect of abnormal tone management on ESG is weakened by the presence of a good structure of the board, attenuating impression management initiatives.

Research limitations/implications

The research provides evidence of the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting quality, in particular disclosure tone management, on the level of ESG performance in the French context. As the board of directors may have a major impact on weakening impression management strategies in particular tone management practices, in order to improve CSR report quality, the authors recommend French companies to ensure a well-balanced board of directors.

Originality/value

This study helps investors to comprehensively evaluate the information disclosed on CSR reports. It unveils that a strong board composition induces better quality of CSR report and brings better ESG performance. Thus, the study results point to the importance of a well-balanced board of directors and the regulation of the narrative disclosure of CSR information.

Details

EuroMed Journal of Business, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1450-2194

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 February 2021

Beibei Yan, Özgür Arslan-Ayaydin, James Thewissen and Wouter Torsin

Prior research shows that managers with lower ability release less accurate management earnings forecasts and have more earnings restatements, lower earnings persistence and lower…

Abstract

Purpose

Prior research shows that managers with lower ability release less accurate management earnings forecasts and have more earnings restatements, lower earnings persistence and lower quality accruals estimations. Yet, whether the impact of managerial ability (MA) on financial reporting can be extended to the narrative section of firms' financial disclosures needs to be theoretically and empirically examined. The authors theorize in this paper that managers with low ability opportunistically inflate the tone to increase outsiders' perceptions of their ability. The authors also examine the relation between MA and the informativeness of tone to predict future firm performance and explain investors' reaction at earnings announcement.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collect 24,000 earnings press releases of 1,149 distinct firms between 2004 and 2013. Content analysis is used to proxy the tone of the disclosures. The authors use the score developed by Demerjian et al. (2012) to measure MA. The authors then employ panel data regressions to examine the impact of MA on disclosure tone.

Findings

The authors find that low-ability managers inflate the disclosure tone to positively influence labor market's perceptions about their ability. This effect is magnified for younger and shorter-tenured managers, for firms with more intense monitoring and during bear markets. The authors also find that the tone of earnings press releases of low-ability managers results in a lower stock price reaction. Supplementary analyses show that the results do not only hold for the tone, but also can be extended to other linguistic features such as the numerical intensity and the readability of earnings press releases. The results are robust to alternative library specifications and other corporate disclosures such as CEO letters to shareholders or 10-K filings.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that managers worry about how firm performance influences the labor market assessment of their ability. In particular, the authors find that managers of low ability are willing to opportunistically manipulate the content of corporate disclosures to improve this perception and build their reputation.

Originality/value

The authors contribute by providing theoretical and empirical evidence on how managers attempt to steer assessments of their ability by manipulating corporate disclosures. Consistent with prior business research suggesting that one's ability is a key feature that affects managers' propensity to engage in ethical practices, such as tax avoidance or manipulation of financial information, this study shows that less able managers tend to inflate the tone of the earnings announcements and that this ability-driven bias is likely to be magnified by career concerns.

Details

Asian Review of Accounting, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1321-7348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 May 2021

Ly Thi Hai Tran, Thoa Thi Kim Tu, Tran Thi Hong Nguyen, Hoa Thi Lien Nguyen and Xuan Vinh Vo

This paper examines the role of the annual report’s linguistic tone in predicting future firm performance in an emerging market, Vietnam.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the role of the annual report’s linguistic tone in predicting future firm performance in an emerging market, Vietnam.

Design/methodology/approach

Both manual coding approach and the naïve Bayesian algorithm are employed to determine the annual report tone, which is then used to investigate its impact on future firm performance.

Findings

The study finds that tone can predict firm performance one year ahead. The predictability of tone is strengthened for firms that have a high degree of information asymmetry. Besides, the government’s regulatory reforms on corporate disclosures enhance the predictive ability of tone.

Research limitations/implications

The study suggests the naïve Bayesian algorithm as a cost-efficient alternative for human coding in textual analysis. Also, information asymmetry and regulation changes should be modeled in future research on narrative disclosures.

Practical implications

The study sends messages to both investors and policymakers in emerging markets. Investors should pay more attention to the tone of annual reports for improving the accuracy of future firm performance prediction. Policymakers should regularly revise and update regulations on qualitative disclosure to reduce information asymmetry.

Originality/value

This study enhances understanding of the annual report’s role in a non-Western country that has been under-investigated. The research also provides original evidence of the link between annual report tone and future firm performance under different information asymmetry degrees. Furthermore, this study justifies the effectiveness of the governments’ regulatory reforms on corporate disclosure in developing countries. Finally, by applying both the human coding and machine learning approach, this research contributes to the literature on textual analysis methodology.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2019

Prapaporn Kiattikulwattana

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information content in letters to shareholders in terms of business content, tone and types of business vocabulary.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information content in letters to shareholders in terms of business content, tone and types of business vocabulary.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses multiple regression models to test the information content concerning business content, tone, and types of business vocabulary in letters to shareholders. Two textual analyses in accounting research dictionaries are used. Loughran and McDonald’s (2011) dictionary is used as a scheme to identify the positive and negative words, and Kothari et al.’s (2009) dictionary is used to identify the business vocabulary.

Findings

Letters to shareholders contain incremental information for investors. First, the results show that the market reacts negatively to the content of these letters. The more that business content is disclosed, the lower the abnormal returns. It can be seen that investors catch additional information from letters to shareholders. Second, investors in negative unexpected earnings firms tend to not trust the concentration of positive tone in the letters. Third, some types of business vocabulary in the letters have an influence on investors’ decisions. In addition, larger amounts of business content are seen to be negatively related to firms’ future performance.

Practical implications

Due to the effect of the content of letters to shareholders, the Securities Exchange Commission may wish to consider the results of this study before setting new disclosure regulations. Specifically, some inside information might have a negative effect on market returns.

Originality/value

The study indicates that letters to shareholders are a disclosure venue between companies and investors, where investors react to certain business vocabulary. Some business words are associated with lower future performance. Therefore, the market reacts negatively when these words are reported in the letters.

Details

Asian Review of Accounting, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1321-7348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 May 2021

Sourour Hamza and Anis Jarboui

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent corporate social responsibility (CSR) is used as a symbolic strategy of greenwashing. Analyses focus on the relationship…

1998

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent corporate social responsibility (CSR) is used as a symbolic strategy of greenwashing. Analyses focus on the relationship between CSR and disclosure tone management practice in sustainable reports derived from social impression management incentives.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on a sample of French listed firms (SBF 120) over a seven-year period (2010–2016), i.e. 539 firm-year observations.

Findings

Multivariate analysis indicates a significant relationship between CSR and disclosure tone management. The obtained results show that firms that are less concerned with tone management in sustainable reporting process consider more socially responsible issues. Findings support the socially substantive initiatives and the transparency perspective of CSR.

Research limitations/implications

The negative association between CSR and tone management highlights the firm’s transparency. However, there could be other discretionary practices which may determine impression management strategies. Thus, future research may consider other discretionary behavior associated with CSR to mislead users.

Practical implications

All actors (government, green-association, investors, etc.) interested in CSR and greenwashing issues have to bring initiatives to reinforce the monitoring and reporting procedures.

Originality/value

This study investigates the association between CSR and disclosure tone management for the French context since the specificity of its regulatory framework of CSR disclosure. Thus, corporate narrative reporting users may be required to consider impression management practices (i.e. tone management) and read between the lines.

Details

Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, vol. 20 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-2517

Keywords

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