Translating Financial Statements as a Means to Attract Foreign Investors

Commercial companies generally seek to maximise their market value. One of the means to achieve it is to attract foreign investors. Consequently, companies present information for investors not only in the language of the country of their registration, but also in other languages. They translate the information predominantly into English due to its status as a lingua franca. The aim of this study is to investigate the English translations of the consolidated financial statements of Polish listed companies and assess their textual fit to the consolidated financial statements prepared by the UK and US companies. The analysis covers the legal context of the preparation of consolidated financial statements and a corpus analysis of the language used in these documents. The results show that although there is a variation between particular translations, they are fit for the purpose of attracting foreign investors.