ERIC Number: ED258268
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1984-Apr
Pages: 12
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Stockholder Reactions to Corporate Annual Reports.
Means, Thomas Lee
A study was conducted to assess the extent to which (1) stockholders consider corporate annual reports to be informative and useful, (2) they actually read annual reports, (3) they consider annual reports to be impressive, and (4) they are motivated by the annual report to invest further in corporations in which they already own stock. After the questionnaire was designed, reviewed, and pilot tested, it was sent to 1,120 stockholders (80 stockholders for each of 14 companies); 549 returned a usable questionnaire. Then the data were analyzed. The major findings of this study are that the reactions of stockholders to corporate annual reports are generally favorable; that stockholders regard annual reports as generally informative, effective, successful, honest, open, impressive, and useful; that stockholders think the annual reports are too long, but they believe that the reports inform the reader of the financial condition of the corporation reasonably well; that the annual reports stimulate stockholders to invest; that 9 out of 10 stockholders spend at least some time examining the report; that most of the stockholders have attended college and are over 56 years old; and that stockholders react favorably to the reports regardless of age, sex, or level of education, but the time spent reading the report increases as the age of the stockholder increases. (EL)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A