Investment analysts' usage and perceived usefulness of corporate annual reports

This paper reports a study of the perceptions and beliefs of external users (investment analysts) of corporate annual reports in one of major international financial centres - Hong Kong. It was found that analyst users (1) view annual reports as having high information value particularly in terms of relevancy, (2) have a relatively high usage of annual reports and read the income statement and balance sheet most often, (3) consider the most important voluntary disclosure items to be discussions of factors affecting future financial results, future prospects of the company, main product market share, acquisition and disposal activities, and China business review, and (4) feel annual reports are somewhat useful, but the amount of information disclosed remains inadequate. Only a small percentage of users felt that the current disclosure requirements are either effective or very effective in serving investors' needs and that much improvement is still needed. The implications of these findings for management, investors, regulatory bodies and researchers are discussed.