Being alert to the contingency: how environmental turbulence impacts annual report readability

Abstract

This study examines the association between environmental turbulence and annual report readability. We argue that companies operating in highly turbulent environments may exhibit lower annual report readability due to the industry’s increased environmental uncertainty. Using a sample of US firms from 1993 to 2019, we find that industry technological and market turbulence are negatively related to annual report readability. This study demonstrates the importance of considering environmental turbulence in understanding annual report readability.