President's Letter Research Articles

President's Letter

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Narratives vs Numbers in the Annual Report: Are They Giving the Same Message to the Investors?

The annual report has two parts, financial statements and narrative sections. Commentators have raised doubts about the harmony of the two parts. The financial statements are audited, therefore submitted to a form of control. The narrative sections are free style, open to confusion and manipulation. Users are potentially exposed to contradictory messages producing an effect of dissonance. We do not test the presence of dissonance for the users, but the presence of contradictory information prone to produce dissonant effect. We conduct a content analysis of the president letter and we build an index of the level of optimism contained in it. Then, we compare this index with the change in key numbers or ratios from the financial statements. Our results indicate a moderate level of divergence between the narrative sections and the accounting data. However, this level is sufficient to raise questions about the necessity to regulate the discourse accompanying the financial statements.

How to Predict Companies' Future Actions-A Three-Part Series

Too often businesses concentrate on historical rather than prospective business actions. Only by anticipating the future actions and capabilities of leading companies can yo take timely action and leapfgrog into positions of superiority

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter - April 2004

President's Letter - April 2004

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

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The Smith Company

The Smith Company is a private investment company whose primary investment objective is to provide an endowment-like stream of dividends to the members of the Smith family. The company invests primarily in publicly traded equities, although it also owns a few municipal bonds. The president's letter to shareholders for the year 2000 discusses the so-called Great Internet Bubble, the returns to growth and value stocks, the company's pre-tax equity track record since the family sold its operating businessin 1974, the dividend behavior of the S&P 500, and the misuse of corporate cash.

Corporate environmental disclosures: are they useful in determining environmental performance?

Our paper focuses on the environmental disclosures made by 51 United States (US) manufacturing firms for 1992 and 1993. Content analysis of annual report disclosures, made within the president's letter, the management's discussion and analysis (MD&A), and note sections, was used in conjunction with environmental ratings of US corporations, as compiled by the Council on Economic Priorities (CEP). Our study investigated whether disclosures differed between firms who had been rated good, mixed or poor in their environmental activities and whether these disclosure differences could be used to differentiate between actual environmental performance levels. Our study also investigated how a change in disclosure standard for one section of the annual report changes disclosures in other sections of the annual report. The results are important in light of Dunlap and Scarce's (1991, p. 657) findings that public concern about the environment was at an all-time high, and Epstein and Freedman's (1994, p. 106) finding that individual investors consider annual report information about environmental activities to be more desirable than information about any other social activity.

セレラ社によるヒトゲノムの論文の掲載に関するサイエンス誌宛ての日本学術会議会長の書簡について

セレラ社によるヒトゲノムの論文の掲載に関するサイエンス誌宛ての日本学術会議会長の書簡について

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

President's Letter

President's Letter

Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland: President's letter

Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland: President's letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter

President's Letter