Readability of annual reports: Western versus Asian evidence

Abstract

Flesch, Fog and Lix readability formulas were used to measure 32 randomly selected chairmen′s address and footnote passages from the annual reports of some Hong Kong public companies for the years 1986 and 1991. Examines four issues: temporal change in readability levels, influence of industrial grouping on readability, and the relationship between corporate size or profitability on readability levels. Finds that readability is beyond the fluent comprehension levels of 90 per cent of the adult population, overall readability declined over the five‐year period; industrial classification has insignificant impact, and neither company size nor profitability are associated with improved readability levels. These Asian findings are consistent with those from similar studies in the USA, UK, Canada and New Zealand.