When Long Falls Short

Recent research from Merrill Lynch reports that companies with long reports don’t stack up in the performance area.
This was especially the case with technology firms, where researchers found strong relationship between the length of technology firm’s annual financial statements and the company’s performance in the stock market.
Often the longer the document the more messed up the business, commented Merrill Lynch, who compared the data stated in annual reports to the performance of the stock in its last financial year. Researchers found that companies with long reports had an average decline of 77 percent in their last year.
The meaning? Be wary they say, of annual reports with too many footnotes and too many explanations. ML cautioned this was less than scientific study.