Corporate annual reports: research perspectives used

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Corporate annual reports are viewed through the lens of researchers of these documents. The aims are to obtain insight into how researchers view annual reports; to ascertain how the different ways of seeing the annual report relate to each other; and to draw out the gaps in this diverse research in a continuing attempt to understand its role and purpose. Selective examination of a decade of corporate annual report research (1990‐2000) reveals how researchers have sought to find visibility and meaning. Few studies address the document as a whole, in terms of the integration of the messages between the various parts of the report. Explanation of the changing structure and content of annual reports remains divided, largely because of the differing perspectives of researchers. They have revealed diversity in the ways of seeing the annual report and a tension in understanding its overall purpose and role.