Textual Analysis and Sentiment Analysis in Accounting

Abstract

In spite of the relatively scarce use of textual analysis and sentiment analysis techniques in finance and accounting, they have great potential in accounting, both because of the volume of documents used for the communication of information and due to the growth in the use of digital tools and social media. In that regard, these techniques of analysis may help researchers to analyse hidden clues or look for additional information to that one observed through financial information, increasing the quantity and quality of the information traditionally used, and providing a new perspective of analysis. The aim of this study is to review the use of textual analysis and sentiment analysis in accounting. After presenting the concepts of textual analysis and sentiment analysis and expose their interest in accounting, we perform a review of the previous literature on the use of these techniques in finance and accounting and describe the main techniques of sentiment analysis, as well as the procedure to be followed for the use of this methodology. Finally, we suggest three lines of future research that may benefit from the use of textual and sentiment analysis.

Keywords

• textual analysis
• sentiment analysis
• qualitative analysis
• signalling theory