Mattias Sandgren (2025)
Financial and non-financial disclosure in a family business context
This dissertation examines how top executives, board members, and owners (the firm’s strategic apex) shape and use financial and non-financial disclosures, as well as the reasons underlying these strategic accounting decisions. Empirically, this is explored in the context of a financially distressed family-owned media company. The organisation communicates with its stakeholders through mandatory and voluntary reports. The recipients of the disclosed financial and non-financial information are stakeholders of varying sophistication and importance who have the ability to sanction the organisation and provide feedback to individuals, coalitions, and the organisation as a whole. Using a multi-level theoretical framework, the dissertation considers legitimacy and stigma as constraints that key individuals and coalitions must navigate when formulating disclosure strategies and tactics. Drawing on attribution theory and framing, it examines why specific content, language, and tone are chosen in disclosures, and how individuals and coalitions strategically design and use financial and non-financial disclosures to influence stakeholders.
This dissertation comprises three research papers, each employing distinct methodological and analytical approaches. The first paper conducts a systematic literature review to map and explore the role of the principal accounting officer (i.e., the accountant) in strategic accounting decisions. The second paper investigates the decision-making processes of the strategic apex when formulating a disclosure strategy during a period of financial distress. It provides an in-depth analysis of who is involved, the rationale for their involvement, how decisions are made, and the link between disclosure strategies and specific disclosure tactics. It also examines the role of stakeholder feedback on these strategic accounting decisions. The third paper examines both the use of, and the content, language, and tone of, financial and non-financial disclosures in both mandatory and voluntary reports.
This dissertation contributes to accounting research on financial and non-financial reporting decisions by revealing how and why individuals, powerful coalitions, and different stakeholder groups influence strategic accounting decisions regarding how, when, and why information is disclosed. It enhances our understanding of stakeholders’ information needs, motives, and their ability to sanction organisations, showing how framing and attributions can shape stakeholder perceptions, public opinion, and an organisation’s social position. Finally, this dissertation advances the discussion on accounting-related issues in the family business context by highlighting the role and influence of individual actors in strategic accounting decisions, providing valuable insights into the disclosure practices of family firms.
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