The illusion of informing: A study of financial information in company newsletters (1954-1982)

Résumé 0

This study focuses on financial information between 1954 and 1982 in company newsletters distributed to the wage-earners of three large French steel companies: Schneider and Co., De Wendel and Co. and Usinor. The research shows that financial information appears, disappears and then reappears. These appearances are not time-dependent as they reflect company decision-making processes and managerial challenges. In periods of major restructuring, negative financial information is thus widely disclosed while in times of prosperity, company newsletters focus on the day-to-day activities of plants and do not raise accounting issues. Finally, the study provides a summary of situations in which accounting information is disclosed and of those where it disappears. Investigating the underlying industrial relations indicates that this practice can be interpreted as an attempt to alter the dynamics of labour relations game in favour of management. Overall, however, the irregular nature of disclosure means that it only offers the illusion that it is informing.