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The Use and Abuse of Graphs in Annual Reports: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Study
Abstract
This study investigates the use and abuse of graphs in external financial reporting. From an analysis of the annual reports of 240 large UK companies for the year ended 1989 we document the nature and extent of graph usage. The average number of graphs per annual report is 5.9, with 65% of companies graphing at least one key financial variable. Drawing on modern theories of graphical perception we identify selectivity in the use of graphs, and non-compliance with the principles of graph construction, as potential distortions in the communication process. We find that companies with ‘good’ performance are significantly more likely to use financial graphs. Material measurement distortions occur in 30% of these graphs, with the underlying numerical data being exaggerated by an average of 10.7%. We conclude that auditors' and directors' responsibilities in this area should be made more explicit.
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Citations
Cited by
VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE OF ACCOUNTING RATIOS IN THE UK
WATSON, A., SHRIVES, P., & MARSTON, C. (2002) · The British Accounting Review · doi:10.1006/bare.2002.0213 · Cited by 561
Garcia-Retamero, R., & Cokely, E. T. (2017) · Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720817690634 · Cited by 298
Metadata
- Authors
- Beattie, V., & Jones, M. J.
- Venue
- Accounting and Business Research
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1992-09
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 88
- Pages
- 291-303
- ISSN
- 0001-4788 (ISSN-L)
- 2159-4260
- OpenAlex
- W2013061764
- Cited by
- 260
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 6.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Use and Abuse of Graphs in Annual Reports: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Study. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1080/00014788.1992.9729446
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- Beattie, V., & Jones, M. J. (1992). The Use and Abuse of Graphs in Annual Reports: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Study. Accounting and Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.1992.9729446
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
