Forward-looking disclosure and short-term liabilities: evidence from Oman

The objective of the research was to examine whether forward-looking disclosure (FLD) in the narrative sections of the annual reports is associated with short-term liabilities (STLs). For this purpose, the content analysis method was conducted to measure the quality of FLD in annual report narratives. This research used a dataset consisting of 204 firm-year observations of Omani financial institutions listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange over the 2014-2019 periods. This research examined the impact of FLD on STLs by using quantitative regression models. The findings revealed that FLD is positively related to the rise of STLs. This suggests that FLD reduces information asymmetry between companies and their stakeholders. Hence, these companies will be able to raise short-term finance. It is noteworthy that this is one of the early studies that address the link between FLD and STLs. As such, it provides significant contributions to corporate narrative disclosure studies.