Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2225-8329

The Impact of Disclosure Tone on Forecasting the Going Concern of Firms: The Mediating Role of Narcissism

Ahmed Kamal Metawaa, Samah Tarek Hafez, Tasneem Jawad Aljoudah

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARAFMS/v15-i2/25379

Open access

This research aimed to examine the relationship between the disclosure tone and the forecasting of firms' going concern, with a focus on the mediating role of narcissism. The study analyzed a sample of 66 companies, comprising 453 firm- year observations from entities listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange during the period from 2017 to 2023. The researcher employed a manual analysis of financial statements alongside regression and path analysis techniques. The findings revealed a statistically significant positive and direct impact of the disclosure tone on the forecasting of firms' going concern. Moreover, narcissism, as measured by the NAR_Score (based on signature size), was found to mediate the relationship between the disclosure tone and the forecasting of firms' going concern. However, this mediating effect was not observed when narcissism was measured using the NAR_Index.

Akbarlou E., Zeynali M., Sarokolaei M., Zadeh R. (2022) “ Investigating the Relationship between Managers' Narcissism and the Optimistic Tone of Financial Reporting: The Adjusting Role of Earnings Management”, Empirical Studies in Financial Accounting, Vol: 18, Issue 72, P.P: 169-192. https://doi.org/10.22054/qjma.2021.59285.2237
Allee K. D., & DeAngelis M. D. (2015), "The structure of voluntary disclosure narratives: Evidence from tone dispersion", Journal of Accounting Research, Vol:53(2), P.P:241–274.
Altman, E. (1968) “Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis and the Prediction of Corporate Bankruptcy”, The Journal of Finance, Vol: 23, No: 4, PP: 589-609. https://doi.org/10.2307/2978933
Aly, D., El-Halaby S., & Hussainey K. (2018), "Tone disclosure and financial performance: evidence from Egypt", Accounting Research Journal, Vol. 31( 1), P.P: 63 – 74.
American Psychiatric Association "APA", (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5). American Psychiatric Pub.
Arena, C., Bozzolan, S., & Michelon, G. (2013) “Why Are Managers Optimistic?. An Investigation of Corporate Environmental Disclosure Tone”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol:22 (6), P.P:346-361.
Asay H. S., Libby R., & Rennekamp K. M. (2018), "Do features that associate managers with a message magnify investors’ reactions to narrative disclosures?", Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol:68, P.P:1– 14.
Boudt, K., Thewissen, J., & Torsin, W., (2018) "When does the tone of earnings press releases matter?", International Review of Financial Analysis, 57, 231–245.
Brouwer, P. (2018) “CEO Narcissism and Firm Valuation: The Effects of CEO Narcissism on Investor Sentiment (Issue July)”, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Master Thesis in Financial Economics.
Buchholz, F., Jaeschke, R., Lopatta, K. and Maas, K. (2018) “The use of optimistic tone by narcissistic CEOs”, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol:31, No: 2, P.P: 531-562. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-11-2015-2292
Chatterjee, A. & Hambrick, D. (2007) “It’s all about me: Narcissistic chief executive officers and their effects on company strategy and performance”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol:52(3), P.P:351-386. https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.52.3.351
Chen, L., Krishnan, G. & Yu, W. (2018) "The relation between audit fee cuts during the global financial crisis and earnings quality and audit quality", Advances in Accounting, Vol:43, P.P:14-31.
Cragun, O., R., Olsen, K., J., & Wright, P., M. (2020) “Making CEO Narcissism Research Great: A Review and Meta-Analysis of CEO Narcissism”, Journal of Management, Vol:46(6), PP:908–936. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206319892678
Davis, A. K., & Tama?Sweet, I. (2012) “Managers’ use of language across alternative disclosure outlets: Earnings press releases versus MD&A”, Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol:29, No.3, PP:804-837.
Davis, A.K., Piger, J.M., Sedor, L.M., (2006) "Beyond the Numbers: An Analysis of Optimistic and Pessimistic Language in Earnings Press Releases", Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Paper 2006-005. URL:https://doi.org/10.20955/wp.2006.005
Elsayeda, M. & Elshandidy, T. (2020) “ Do narrative-related disclosures predict corporate failure? Evidence from UK non-financial publicly quoted firms”, International Review of Financial Analysis. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v71y2020ics105752192030199x.html
Febriana A., Mardijuwono, A. (2020) “Relationship of Managerial bility on Going Concern Audit Opinion”, International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, Vol: 13, Issue 8.
Freud, S. (1914) "On narcissism: An introduction". In J. Sandler, E. S. Person, & P. Fonagy (Eds.), Freud’s “On narcissism: An introduction”, Yale University Press, PP: 3–32.
Gala, V., & Julio, B. (2016) “Firm Size and Corporate Investment”, Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/fnce_papers/30.
Ham, C., Seybert, N., & Wang, S. (2018) “Narcissism is a bad sign: CEO signature size, investment, and performance”, Review of Accounting Studies, Vol:23(1), P.P:234–264.
Henry E., (2006) "Market reaction to verbal components of earnings press releases: Event study using a predictive algorithm", Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Vol:3(1), P.P:1–19.
Henry, E., (2008) "Are investors influenced by how earnings press releases are written?", The Journal of Business Communication, Vol:45(4), P.P:363– 407.
International Monetary Fund (IMF). (July 2024). World Economic Outlook, p. 1. Full report available at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2024/07/16/world-economic-outlook-update-july-
Iqbal, J., Riaz K., (2021), "Predicting future financial performance of banks from management’s tone in the textual disclosures", Quality & Quantity, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01216-5.
Jalbert, T., Jalbert, M., & Furumo, K. (2013) “The relationship between CEO gender, financial performance and financial management”, Journal of Business and Economics Research, Vol:11(1), P.P:25–33.
Kang, T., Park, D.-H. and Han, I. (2018) “Beyond the numbers: the effect of 10-K tone on firms’ performance predictions using text analytics”, Telematics and Informatics, Vol: 35(2), P.P: 370-381.
Kashanipour, M., Aghaee M.A., & Mohseni Namaghi D. (2019), "Information Disclosure Tone and Future Performance", Accounting and Auditing Review, Vol:26(4), P.P:570-594.
Kraft, P. (2022) “The double-edged sword of CEO narcissism: A meta-analysis of innovation and firm performance implications”, The Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol: 39, Issue: 6, PP: 749-772.
Li, F., (2010) "The information content of forward?looking statements in corporate filings-A Bayesian machine learning naïve approach". Journal of Accounting Research, 48(5), 1049-1102.
Lu, Y., Cahan S., & Ma D., (2019) "Is CSR performance related to disclosure tone in earnings announcements?", Accounting Research Journal, Vol: 32( 2), P.P: 129 – 147
Marquez-Illescas, G., Zebedee, A.A. & Zhou, L. (2019) “Does CEO Narcissism Affect Disclosure?”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol: 159, P.P: 401–417, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3796-3
Mashayekh, S., Habibzade, M. & Hasanzade Kucho, M. (2020) “The Effect of CEO Narcissism on Voluntary Disclosure”, Accounting and Auditing Review, Vol:27(4), P.P:649- 671.
Mayew, W., Sethuraman M., Venkatachalam M. (2012) "MD&A Disclosure and the Firm’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern", The Accounting Review, Vol: 90(4), P.P:1621–1651.
O’Reilly, C. A., Doerr, B., Caldwell, D. F., & Chatman, J. A. (2014) “Narcissistic CEOs and executive compensation”, Leadership Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.08.002
Olsen, K. J., Dworkis, K. K., & Young, S. M. (2014). "CEO narcissism and accounting: A picture of profits". Journal of Management Accounting Research, Vol:26, P.P:243–267. https://doi.org/10.2308/jmar-508684o
Resick, C., J., Whitman, D., S., Weingarden, S., M. & Hiller, N., J. (2009) “The Bright-Side and the Dark-Side of CEO Personality: Examining Core Self-Evaluations, Narcissism, Transformational Leadership, and Strategic Influence”, Journal of Applied Psychology. PP: 1365-1381.
Salehi, M., Rouhi, S. & Faramarzi, M. (2020) “Managers and Auditors Narcissism on the Management Teams Stability and Relative Corporate Performance ”, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 71, No. 4, PP: 1490-1514.
Shirokova, G., Galieva, N., Doktorova, D., White, J. V., and Marino, L. (2024), “Strategic entrepreneurial behaviors and firm performance: the moderating role of narcissism and Machiavellianism”, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol: 31 No:1, PP: 191-225. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-10-2022-0409
Suryani, Ani Wilujeng and Fauz, Dinda Tustika Apta (2024) "BEYOND THE NUMBER: TONE ANALYSIS IN ANNUAL REPORTS", Jurnal Akuntansi dan Keuangan Indonesia, Vol. 21: Iss. 1, Article 2. DOI: 10.21002/jaki.2024.02.
Tailab, M., & Burak, M., J., (2018) “Is the rhetorical tone in a MD&A consistent with financial performance?”, Journal of Finance and Accountancy, Vol:23, P.P:18.
Wilken, L. (2023) “The Effect of CEO Narcissism on Firm Performance”, MSc Economics and Business Administration – Finance and Strategic Management, Master’s Thesis, P.P:1:98.
World Bank. (WB). (June 2024). Global Economic Prospects Report, p. 77. Full report available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstreams/aea649aa-ddb9-4837-b6a1-1698519786d4/download

Metawaa, A. K., Hafez, S. T., & Aljoudah, T. J. (2025). The Impact of Disclosure Tone on Forecasting the Going Concern of Firms: The Mediating Role of Narcissism. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 15(2), 245–263.