Content Analysis In Accounting

This study examines intellectual capital disclosure in corporate annual reports of Indian fully listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for financial year-ends between March 2012 and February 2013. The firms chosen for the study are the top 100 firms (based on their market capitalization) from the BSE were chosen from several industry sectors containing high intellectual capital companies (IT, Food Production & Beverage, Telecommunications, Media & Publishing, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Banking & Insurance, and Business Services). Intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) comprises of tangible and intangible information as well as a significant narratives that ensures the indicators are within a strategic structure (Bukh,

According to Krippendorff (1980) definition content analysis is a research methodology for making replicable and valid inferences from data to their context. Strategizing and developing components into which content units can be classified is an essential element of content analysis (Haniffa and Cooke, 2005). Content analysis attempts to study published information reliably, objectively and systematically (Krippendorf, 1980).

According to Kerlinger (1986) who defined content analysis as a research technique of examining communication in an objective, systematic and quantitative aspect for the objective of measuring variables.
It is also termed as a research technique that exploits a set of agenda that make valid inferences from text and it is context-sensitive and so can proceed significant meanings of data (Weber (1985)). Although largely seen as a quantitative research technique, it can conclusively acquire qualitative content as well (Stempel, 1989:121). We developed an overall ICD index for each annual report as the sum of scores on each IC component. The intellectual capital disclosure index ICDIj for each company is calculated based on the disclosure index score formula used in previous literatures (Haniffa et al, 2005; 2011) as

To capture the intensity of intellectual capital content and to partly overcome the problem of using an index score, we follow Haniffa et al 2011 to add another ICD component namely intellectual capital word count (ICWC). We also attempted to analyze the level of focus exhibited in the communication i.e. Annual report through measuring the intensity of the ICD. Intensity or direction implies the measurement of the direction of the symbolic meaning contained in the message. According to Krippendorff (1980) words are a preferred measure when intended to measure the amount of total volume devoted to a topic and to ascertain the importance of that topic. Since the new component of ICWC is added to capture the intensity of the ICD in the overall ICD of the firm, in the departure from the previous studies graphical and pictorial messages were included in the word count measure. Every component of the ICD under study (Internal, External, and Human) in the form of graphical and pictorial messages were given the score of 1, so as to arrive the total volume of the ICD measuring the