The purpose of this paper is to observe and explain signs of a historical change in the form of annual reporting of very large British industrial corporations. It is based on an argument by Sikes [1986], supported by Ewen [1988], that contemporary business management uses the annual report to reflect corporate style by means of visual metaphors of corporate character. Using data extracted from the annual reports of a small sample of British industrial corporations, the paper reports results consistent with the argument. The data indicate the annual reports of these corporations have increasingly been used as stylistic means of establishing corporate identity in a consumer-oriented world. This raises concern about the effectiveness of such reports as mechanisms of corporate governance.
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1 June 1994
Research Article|
June 01 1994
THE CHANGING FORM OF THE CORPORATE ANNUAL REPORT
Tom Lee
Tom Lee
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
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Helpful comments on this paper were received from colleagues at the Universities of Alabama and Edinburgh, Southern Methodist University, and this journal's anonymous reviewers. Alistair Preston of the University of New Mexico provided invaluable advice on the literature to which this paper relates, and Trevor Jenkins ably assisted in the data gathering. However, the usual caveat applies.
Online ISSN: 2327-4468
Print ISSN: 0148-4184
© 1994 American Accounting Association
1994
Accounting Historians Journal (1994) 21 (1): 215–232.
Citation
Tom Lee; THE CHANGING FORM OF THE CORPORATE ANNUAL REPORT. Accounting Historians Journal 1 June 1994; 21 (1): 215–232. https://doi.org/10.2308/0148-4184.21.1.215
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