Global Management Review Vol 14, Issue 2, July - December 2020 LongitudinaL ReadabiLity anaLysis of LetteR-to-shaRehoLdeRs PubLished by indian Listed banking ComPanies Abstract Accounting narratives such as Letter-to-Shareholders (LtS) or MD&A have gained prominence among the accounting research community. Researchers have started analyzing these narratives through a computational linguistic lens. Among many of the narratives segments of Annual Reports, LtS, even though unaudited, is considered one of the critical narrative segments for investors and analysts alike. Clatworthy and Jones (2003) have mentioned that accounting narratives, such as LtS, are widely used and are considered vital while making investment decisions. Narratives in general and accounting narratives in specific are considered useful, provided they are ‘Readable.’ In this backdrop, the readability analysis of accounting narratives has gained currency. The present study is a longitudinal readability analysis of the LtS published by listed banking companies in India. In total, 301 LtS, which were published between FY 2007 – 08 to 2018 – 19, were analyzed using relevant readability metrics. The study results reveal that the LtS, as published by the sample companies during the sample period, could be categorized as ‘Difficult’ to read. Further, the readability has declined over the sample period, and the LtS has become more complex to read. Comparative readability analysis between LtS of public sector banks and private sector banks reveals that the readability of LtS, which were published by public sector banks is much lower than the private sector banks. The banks which were the part of any of the sectoral indices have published LtS, which were less readable than the LtS of banks, which are not part of any sector index. Based on this study’s finding, it could be stated that the listed banking companies could be more proactive in published LtS that are more readable. The increase in readability would be more beneficial to the retail investors and better investment decisions by them. Keywords: Readability Analysis, Longitudinal Study, Letter-to-Shareholders, Banking Companies, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Index, and Bog Index. Pardhasaradhi Madasu Associate Professor (Finance Area), Department of Finance, Siva Sivani Institute of Management, Hyderabad, India