The Rhetoric of Financial and Accounting Reporting. A Corpus-driven Analysis of Hedging in Company Annual Reports

The present study proposes to offer a categorization and analytical framework for the identification of the hedging strategies which frame the discourse of Company Annual Reports. Hedging is presented as one of the central features of the meta-discourse of this genre: more specifically, hedging is examined as a form of textual engagement which is expressed through a variety of explicitely-coded linguistic devices which seek to involve the reader in various active roles in relation to the text.\r\nThe study is premised on the hybrid, heterogeneous nature of Company Annual Reports in terms of discourses, text types, audience and functions. The aim of this study is therefore to identify the categories and functions of hedging that are typically associated with hybrid texts and the extent to which they are shared and socially accepted by the international financial discourse community.