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 period. 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 short-term liabilities. 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 addresses the link between FLD and short-term liabilities. As such, it provides significant contributions to corporate narrative disclosure studies