Top companies' inflation concerns give way to AI, gender pay gap discourse
New analysis of 300 annual reports provides an insight into the shifting economy with inflation and high interest rates no longer top of mind.
As the nation's most influential ASX-listed businesses grappled with rapidly rising prices and higher interest rates, their annual reports quickly reflected the pressure they were under in a high inflation economy. A fresh report analysing 299 listed companies' filings now shows a rapid turn around in focus for corporate Australia.
The new benchmarking report, to be published later this week by Chartered Accountants ANZ, the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland, has uncovered a significant shift in the language used by companies in annual reports between 2023 and 2024.
Where inflationary pressures and higher rates were top of the pile in 2023, they were mentioned significantly less in 2024. Instead, the gender pay gap, artificial intelligence and scope 3 emissions took centre stage.
The report looked for trends in the commentary by stripping out dates and common words and using various techniques to find meaningful two- and three-word phrases. It excluded ESG-related disclosures, remuneration reports, accounting policies and auditor’s reports.
