{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T17:46:16Z","timestamp":1754156776781,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,5]],"date-time":"2024-02-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1707091200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["ARLA"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>The paper aims to understand why and how <jats:italic>paratextual<\/jats:italic> elements are included in annual reports, hence how meaning is made through the workings of language and imagery.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>A comprehensive framework of analysis, combining Genette\u2019s <jats:italic>paratextual<\/jats:italic> elements with Barthes\u2019 rhetoric and denotation and connotation concepts, is applied to the case study of the dstgroup, a Portuguese engineering and construction group.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study demonstrates the potential of the annual report as a communication tool between an organisation and its stakeholders. The framework of analysis evidences that the <jats:italic>paratextual<\/jats:italic> elements highlight and supplement accounting information and that the denotative and connotative meanings associated with them make visible and enhance intangible features of the organisation.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>The paper extends theories from other interdisciplinary fields to accounting communication and proposes a comprehensive framework that combines the writings of Genette and Barthes. By exploring the Portuguese under-researched context, it also adds to the literature by analysing the rationales and choices of the preparers on the inclusion of <jats:italic>paratextual<\/jats:italic> elements in annual reports.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/arla-03-2023-0050","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,1]],"date-time":"2024-02-01T21:21:44Z","timestamp":1706822504000},"page":"147-169","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Building meanings through annual reports"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"37","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4377-6357","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"L\u00eddia","family":"Oliveira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6579-1681","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Caria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Patr\u00edcia","family":"Gomes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"key2024030605170006400_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpa.2022.102464","article-title":"Exploring the craft of visual accounts through arts: fear, voids and illusion in corporate reporting practices","volume":"94","year":"2022","journal-title":"Critical Perspectives on Accounting"},{"volume-title":"Crise e Castigo: Os desequil\u00edbrios e o resgate da economia portuguesa","year":"2016","key":"key2024030605170006400_ref002"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2024030605170006400_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"120","DOI":"10.1108\/09534810810847075","article-title":"The dark tower: using visual metaphors to facilitate emotional expression during organizational change","volume":"21","year":"2008","journal-title":"Journal of Organizational Change Management"},{"key":"key2024030605170006400_ref004","unstructured":"Barthes, R. 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