Accounting narratives: A review of empirical studies of content and readability

Abstract

The use of content analysis in accounting research is reviewed. Two subsets of content analysis are evaluated: 1. thematic analysis which focuses on themes within a text, and 2. syntactic analysis which centers upon the cognitive difficulty of reading the textual message. Both thematic and syntactic content analytic studies are likely to proliferate as computer technology becomes more user friendly and as accounting narratives grow in importance. However, future theoretical, methodological, and empirical research will be necessary to fill in the gaps in knowledge. The primary strength of thematic analysis of accounting narratives is its ability to identify the motivations and concerns of accounting communicators. The importance of readability research is highlighted by the fact that readability indexes could furnish objective benchmarks against which to measure the readability of accounting narratives.