This study aims to investigate not only Narrative Disclosure Tone predictive power, but also who has this power within companies to predict future performance in the UK context (executive vs. governance). We conduct a computerized textual analysis to measure the tone of UK annual reports narratives. Our results contribute to accounting and financial reporting literature by showing that corporate narrative tone can predict future performance. However, answering our main question about who has this predictive power, we found executives’ reporting tone has the power to predict a company’s future performance but not governance tone. Considering the moderation effect of the 2014 financial reporting guidance, we found this guidance increases corporate narrative tone power in general and executive tone in particular in predicting future performance. Moreover, the current study contributes to financial reporting literature by providing a UK evidence, which operates under the principles-based approach with more flexibility in financial reporting than the US context that follows the rules-based approach. Finally, this study has practical implications for regulators and external users of financial reporting.

本研究不仅旨在调查叙述性披露语气的预测能力，还旨在调查公司内部谁拥有这种能力来预测英国背景下的未来业绩（执行与治理）。我们进行计算机文本分析，以衡量英国年度报告叙述的基调。我们的研究结果表明，企业叙事基调可以预测未来业绩，从而为会计和财务报告文献做出贡献。然而，在回答关于谁具有这种预测能力的主要问题时，我们发现高管的报告语气可以预测公司未来的业绩，但不能预测公司的治理语气。考虑到 2014 年财务报告指南的调节作用，我们发现该指南在预测未来业绩时总体上提高了企业的叙述语气，尤其是高管的语气。此外，当前的研究通过提供英国的证据为财务报告文献做出贡献，该证据在基于原则的方法下运作，与遵循基于规则的方法的美国背景相比，在财务报告方面具有更大的灵活性。最后，这项研究对监管者和财务报告的外部用户具有实际意义。