Accessibility of State Financial Information: Analysis of State MD&A Size, Readability, and Timeliness

Abstract

As the summary narrative introducing the comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) issued by state or local governments in the U.S., the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) is intended to facilitate meaningful use by a broad audience. The MD&A serves as a transparency mechanism and must be accessible in terms of size, readability, and timeliness. We examine accessibility of MD&As issued by state governments in the U.S. using institutional, agency, and legitimacy theories to analyze how accessibility is related to internal (organizational) and external (environmental) factors. Our findings offer support for the importance of internal factors. The lack of support for institutional, agency, or legitimacy theory imply the lack of intentionality by states to go beyond required content to bolster accessibility for the non-expert public user. Points for practitioners • Accessibility of the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) can be measured using three dimensions: size, readability, and timeliness. • States with an elected comptroller had more accessible MD&As, suggesting that an elected comptroller, serving as the chief fiscal officer, may be more responsive to public demands compared to a political appointee. • Organizational capacity factors were most influential in explaining timeliness of MD&A issuance, with greater capacity being reflected in more spending on central agency staff and greater number of state employees.