Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability

The current credit rating system gives much attention to the quantitative situation of the company's finances, whereas the soft information hidden in the company's annual reports is often ignored. This study reviews the annual reports of A-share listed companies in China from 2...

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Main Authors: Yu Gong, Muhan Shi, Dongli Han
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10818970/
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author Yu Gong
Muhan Shi
Dongli Han
author_facet Yu Gong
Muhan Shi
Dongli Han
author_sort Yu Gong
collection DOAJ
description The current credit rating system gives much attention to the quantitative situation of the company's finances, whereas the soft information hidden in the company's annual reports is often ignored. This study reviews the annual reports of A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2021 and explores the relationship between the readability of the annual reports and the credit ratings given by rating agencies. We find that the readability of annual reports significantly impacts the company's credit rating. Further heterogeneity testing reveals that this impact significantly varies across different types of companies. Therefore, credit rating agencies should pay due attention to the soft information in the annual report when rating a company to ensure accuracy in their ratings.
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spelling doaj-art-5d60791fa27a4aa291809336ec96eceb2025-08-20T02:53:13ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society2644-12682025-01-01640341210.1109/OJCS.2024.352369910818970Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of ReadabilityYu Gong0https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5442-7944Muhan Shi1Dongli Han2https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7766-9561School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, ChinaChengdu Branch, China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd., Chengdu, ChinaSchool of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, ChinaThe current credit rating system gives much attention to the quantitative situation of the company's finances, whereas the soft information hidden in the company's annual reports is often ignored. This study reviews the annual reports of A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2021 and explores the relationship between the readability of the annual reports and the credit ratings given by rating agencies. We find that the readability of annual reports significantly impacts the company's credit rating. Further heterogeneity testing reveals that this impact significantly varies across different types of companies. Therefore, credit rating agencies should pay due attention to the soft information in the annual report when rating a company to ensure accuracy in their ratings.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10818970/Annual reportreadabilitycredit ratingtext similarity
spellingShingle Yu Gong
Muhan Shi
Dongli Han
Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability
IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society
Annual report
readability
credit rating
text similarity
title Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability
title_full Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability
title_fullStr Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability
title_full_unstemmed Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability
title_short Annual Report Text Information and Credit Rating Based on the Perspective of Readability
title_sort annual report text information and credit rating based on the perspective of readability
topic Annual report
readability
credit rating
text similarity
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10818970/
work_keys_str_mv AT yugong annualreporttextinformationandcreditratingbasedontheperspectiveofreadability
AT muhanshi annualreporttextinformationandcreditratingbasedontheperspectiveofreadability
AT donglihan annualreporttextinformationandcreditratingbasedontheperspectiveofreadability