Keywords

disclosure regulation, textual analysis, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, financial reporting

Abstract

We document marked trends in 10-K disclosure over the period 1996–2013, with increases in length, boilerplate, stickiness, and redundancy and decreases in specificity, readability, and the relative amount of hard information. We use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to examine specific topics and find that new FASB and SEC requirements explain most of the increase in length and that 3 of the 150 topics—fair value, internal controls, and risk factor disclosures—account for virtually all of the increase. These three disclosures also play a major role in explaining the trends in the remaining textual characteristics.

Original Publication Citation

“The Evolution of 10-K Textual Disclosure: Evidence from Latent Dirichlet Allocation” (with Mark Lang and Lorien Stice-Lawrence) Journal of Accounting and Economics 64, no.2-3 (2017): 221-245.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2017

Publisher

Journal of Accounting and Economics

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Accountancy

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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Accounting Commons

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