本研究旨在探討企業內部資源配置之成本僵固性與外部財報可讀性間之關聯。研究樣本為1993年至2023年美國上市公司，並以 BOG Index 衡量財報可讀性；其數值越高，代表財報越複雜、越不易閱讀。在實證研究設計上，本研究根據 Anderson et al.（2003）之基礎模型，並參酌 Chang et al.（2021）之成本僵固性擴充模型，檢視企業於營收衰退期間所呈現之銷管費用成本僵固性，是否與其財報可讀性存在關聯。實證結果顯示，在營收衰退期間，財報較不易閱讀之企業，其銷管費用向下調整幅度較小，呈現較高程度之成本僵固性。此結果較支持代理理論與管理階層混淆假說之觀點，顯示當企業面臨營收衰退且成本未能同步調整時，管理者可能透過較複雜之文字揭露，提高外部使用者理解企業資源配置決策之難度。進一步分析顯示，此一關聯主要存在於自由現金流量較高及研發密集度較低之企業，與代理問題及管理階層混淆之解釋較為一致。排除重大危機年度後，主要結果仍維持一致。整體而言，本研究提供企業內部資源調整行為與財報文字性揭露品質具關聯之實證證據。研究結果不僅指出成本僵固性與財報可讀性低落之間存在關聯，亦從代理理論與管理階層混淆假說之觀點，補充財報可讀性決定因素之相關文獻。

This study investigates the association between the cost stickiness of internal resource allocation and the readability of external financial reports. Using a sample of U.S. listed companies from 1993 to 2023, this paper measures financial report readability using the Bog Index, where a higher value indicates more complex and less readable reports. Regarding the empirical design, this study follows the fundamental model of Anderson et al. (2003) and incorporates the extended cost stickiness model of Chang et al. (2021) to examine whether the stickiness of selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses during revenue declines affect financial report readability. The empirical results show that when firms exhibit higher cost stickiness during revenue declines, the readability of their financial reports significantly decreases (i.e., the content tends to be more complex and harder to read). This finding strongly supports agency theory and the managerial obfuscation hypothesis, suggesting that managers are highly likely to strategically reduce financial report readability to weaken external monitoring and mask inefficient internal resource allocation, thereby exacerbating information asymmetry between the firm and external stakeholders. In conclusion, this study provides empirical evidence on the link between firms' internal resource adjustment behavior and the quality of textual financial disclosure. The results not only demonstrate that cost stickiness can impact the quality of corporate external disclosure but also contribute to the literature on the determinants of financial report readability from the perspectives of agency theory and managerial obfuscation.

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