Discussion of “Textual analysis and international financial reporting: Large sample evidence”

Lang and Stice-Lawrence (2015) find that firms which have adopted IFRS exhibit higher quality textual characteristics in their annual reports. In addition, they find that the textual characteristics of these annual reports are associated with firm economic outcomes. In this discussion, we first examine different explanations for each of these findings. We then examine the association between the length of U.S. 10-K filings and institutional ownership in U.S. firms. In addition, we use a case study to illustrate the challenges in establishing a causal relation between textual characteristics and economic outcomes. Lastly, we provide suggestions for areas of future research.