Examines graphical presentations of quantitative data within corporate annual reports in Hong Kong. Finds that approximately 35% of companies included graphics in their annual report. Notes that half of all graphs violated sound principles of chart graphics and were therefore misleading; and misleading graphs occurred across all industrial…

Analyzes the photographs in annual reports of 25 airline firms over a 6-year period. Finds iconographic portrayal of women in subservient, less-serious roles than men. (SR)

Responds to a 1993 article in this journal. Places that article's general conclusion (that profitable corporations have more readable narrative texts than unprofitable ones) within the broader context of the readability research and corporate reporting literature. (SR)

Examines how metadiscourse is used to create a positive corporate image in 137 CEOs' letters, showing how CEOs use nonpropositional material to realize rational, credible, and affective appeals. Reveals the essentially rhetorical nature of CEOs' letters by comparing the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse in their letters and directors'…

Responds to an article in this same issue (which commented on these authors' 1993 article in the same journal). Suggests cultural context as another possible factor that may have caused results in the various studies under discussion to be different. (SR)

Tests the relationship between corporation performance and the readability of annual reports. Shows that annual reports of good performers were easier to read than those of poor performers--good performers used strong writing, unlike poor performers but did not use significantly more jargon or modifiers. (SR)

Reviews linguistic structures in the annual reports of a machine tool manufacturer. Concludes that, as profits decreased and the news became more negative, linguistic structures (including verb structures, thematic structures, context and cohesion, and condensations) suggested a factual, "objective" situation caused by circumstances not…

Uses the methodology of critical hermeneutics to analyze Chief Executive Officers' letters to shareholders in the United States petroleum industry during the 1970s and 1980s. Suggests these letters were deployed to produce a certain attitude toward OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) among their readers that deflected attention of…

Analyzes an annual executive letter written by the director of a small New Zealand business which focuses on problems. Shows how these problems serve three functions: to distract attention from more serious issues, to undermine the credibility of potential challengers, and to provide a context in which the writer can present himself and company…

Examines gender bias in Fortune 500 corporations' annual reports (reflected by more photographs of men than of women) and its effects on readers' perceptions of corporate climate. Concludes that the overrepresentation of males in the reports bears little relationship to perceptions of the corporation. (MM)

Examines reading ease between the English and Chinese versions of 65 corporate annual reports in Hong Kong and the English and Malay versions of 53 annual reports in Malaysia. Notes that the English passages in Malaysian annual reports are easier to read than the English passages in Hong Kong annual reports. Suggests that different language…