scholarly journals UNDERSTANDING EXPECTATION GAP IN TERMS OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING

InterConf ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
Farida Sadigova

The main purpose of financial reporting is to provide information to user groups, such as providers of finance, investors, shareholders, and others, that will be useful for them in making economic decisions. Expectation gap has been known as one of the major topics for debate in accountancy, so this paper aims to find out whether such gap exists in terms of perception of the importance of the financial information qualitative characteristics (defined in Conceptual Framework) from the perspectives of two groups (auditors and public) involved in working with and using such information. To achieve the purpose of the given paper, a survey was conducted, the results of which were used in the statistical analysis which is shown in the next sections of the paper. The survey was responded by 32 auditors and 38 representatives of public with sufficient knowledge in finance and accounting. Results of the statistical analysis show that there is some difference between auditors and public in terms of the importance perception of several elements from the financial information qualitative characteristics.

Author(s):  
Thuan Quoc Pham

Financial reporting quality is one the most interesting topics which draw a great deal of attention to researchers and scientists in the field of accounting (Céline Michailesco, 2010). In the review of research on financial information from 1980 to 2016, Pham (2016) found that characteristics of useful financial information are relatively diverse with as many as 15 attributes being identified. In addition, he also found that all research in any period has employed the characteristics published by professional associations such as American Institute of Accountants, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB as theoretical basis. Research on the quality of financial information is diverse yet have many things in common, above all is the Relevance characteristic which considered to be the basic qualitative component of the quality of financial information in financial statements. Conceptual Framework officially issued by FASB & IASB in 2010 (FASB & IASB 2010) has further confirmed Relevance is the basic quality component of financial information. Compared with previous announcements, there has been a considerable change in the criteria and attributes used to evaluate the appropriateness of Relevance characteristic of financial information in financial statements. This study aims at confirming the importance of the Relevance component in evaluating the quality of financial information, clarifyingg the characteristics of Relevance measurement before and after Conceptual Framework 2010 and constructing relevant scales as well as measuring the qualitative characteristic of Relevance among enterprises in Vietnam.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (01) ◽  
pp. 107-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline L. Birt ◽  
Kala Muthusamy ◽  
Poonam Bir

Purpose eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an internet-based interactive form of reporting language that is expected to enhance the usefulness of financial reporting (Yuan and Wang, 2009). In the UK and the USA, XBRL is mandatory, and in Australia, it is voluntarily adopted. It has been reported that in the not too distant future, XBRL will be the standard format for the preparation and exchange of business reports (Gettler, 2015). Using an experimental approach, this study assesses the usefulness of financial reports with XBRL tagged information compared to PDF format information for non-professional investors. The authors investigate participants’ perceptions of usefulness in relation to the qualitative characteristics of relevance, understandability and comparability. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses an experimental approach featuring a profit-forecasting task to determine if participants perceive XBRL-tagged information to be more useful compared to PDF-formatted information. Findings Results reveal that financial information presented with XBRL tagging is significantly more relevant, understandable and comparable to non-professional investors. Originality/value The authors address a gap in the literature by examining XBRL usefulness in Australia where XBRL adoption will be mandated within the not too distant future. Currently, the voluntary adoption of XBRL by preparers and users is low, possibly, because of a lack of awareness about XBRL and its potential benefits. This study yields significant implications for the accounting regulators in creating more awareness on the benefits of using XBRL and to create an impetus for XBRL adoption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Albana Gjoni-Karameta ◽  
Elona Fejzaj ◽  
Ahmad Mlouk ◽  
Kristina Sila

The last 20 years’ changes in accounting has led to an essential review process of national accounting standards due to the main objective of improving financial reporting information for stakeholders. Financial reporting as a communication tool has become extremely important for appropriate decision making to economic reporting entities and also financial information users such as analysts, creditors, managers, auditors and government agencies in Albania and all over the world. The absence of a generally accepted definition for qualitative financial reporting has created a gap for continuous research on this matter. The main objective of this study is to examine users’ perception of qualitative financial reporting, toward their perceptions of some selected qualitative characteristics of financial statements. This study aims to determine the attitudes of financial statements’ users toward the importance of qualitative characteristics of financial information reported on these published financial statements. The chosen   qualitative characteristics were relevance, faithful representation, comparability, timeliness, verifiability and understandability. An opinion survey was conducted on three hundred external users of financial statements, such as managers, bank officers, financial analysts, government officers and auditors. Each single characteristic has been operationalized using a structured questionnaire, and a five point Likert type scale was used. Selection process of qualitative characteristics of reported financial information will be based on the data taken from conceptual framework of international financial reporting standards published by the International Accounting Standards Board in a continuous process of improving financial reporting. This research examined primary data taken through an opinion survey directed to three hundred daily users of financial statements ‘information, reported by economic entities in Albania. Results of the study show a very strong positive correlation between users ‘perception and qualitative characteristic of faithful representation, a relatively strong positive correlation with relevance, comparability and understandability, and a moderate correlation with timeliness and verifiability. Users of financial reporting in Albania generally have a very positive attitude towards the qualitative characteristics of financial reporting.   Received: 3 July 2021 / Accepted: 23 August 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021


Author(s):  
Valentin Burca ◽  
Dorel Mates ◽  
Adriana Puscas

Abstract On the last decades the accounting system haven‘t been able to follow the dynamics of the economic systems generated by the globalization process. In order to reduce the lag between the demand of financial information and the offer of financial information, IASB has started numerous initiatives aiming the increase on the quality of the financial information. Among the current list of current IASB major projects there is also the project of revising the actual conceptual framework for financial reporting. This study is designed to give some directions that will be considered on the exposure draft of this project, analyzing the comment letters submitted by the members of ASAF and the Big4 as well. The study reveals the increasing importance the preparers and users give to the disclosures included on the notes to the primary financial statements. Moreover, on this study we emphasize several challenges that IASB has to face on issuing the exposure draft for this important project. Some of the main challenges refer to the narrow scope of the financial statements, the criteria used on classification, aggregation and offsetting, or the use of the materiality concept


Author(s):  
Kim Tsugankov

The objective of this paper is to define the theoretical basis and clarify the fundamental concept of the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (CFFR). This is because the theoretical basis for CFFR has not been properly defined, and the articulation of the fundamental concept in the document does not correspond to its actual meaning. In clarifying, we will analyse these attributes from a critical perspective and propose an alternative articulation. We apply a research method widely used in the USA based on semiotics, which construes accounting as a business language and requires analysis of the key accounting concepts from three viewpoints: syntactic, semantic an pragmatic. Two different theories form the theoretical basis for CFFR: the organisation theory and the residual equity theory. We further propose that the articulation of the fundamental concept of “objective of financial reporting” is self-contradictory, which is aggravated by the fact that the document deals with users of financial reporting and their objectives. We identify major drawbacks in both theories. The organisation theory requires specific financial reporting which is incompatible with standardisation, and the residual equity theory is extremely difficult to understand and is not completely satisfactory for any of its user groups. These drawbacks and inaccuracies occlude understanding of CFFR and financial reporting.As a result, we propose that it is advisable to do the following when developing the next version of CFFR: • define the uniform theoretical basis in CFFR clearly;• use the proprietary theory as the uniform theoretical basis;• the definition of financial reporting oriented to informational needs of company owners should be the fundamental concept of CFFR. This will enable CFFR and financial reporting to be simpler understand and the primary needs of all user groups will be satisfied.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Evans ◽  
Joanne Lusher ◽  
Stephen Day

Purpose The qualitative characteristics of decision-useful financial information (as set out in the revised March 2018 Conceptual Framework for financial reporting of the International Accounting Standards Board [IASB]) are fundamental for standard setting relied on by companies when making accounting policy changes and choices. However, there has not been an overarching universally agreed conceptual context of the qualitative characteristics. This paper aims to study the completeness of the qualitative characteristics towards suggesting a revision of the Conceptual Framework. Design/methodology/approach The present study evaluated the completeness of these qualitative characteristics using Foucauldian critical discourse analysis and content analysis paradigms to elucidate the inclusion conundrum. Foucauldian analysis allowed focus on power relationships, governmentality and subjectification in accounting society, as expressed through language and practices of the IASB who ultimately decide on the qualitative characteristics. Content analysis was used to analyse data collected via interviews with preparers and users of banks’ accounts, changes in banks’ accounting policies after the conceptual framework was published and comment letters from banks who wrote to the IASB. Findings Novel findings from this study revealed the potential significant omissions of the constraints of “materiality”, “transparency” and “regulatory/supervisory framework”. Also, surrounding the qualitative characteristics having been shown to be valid and includable, the adjective “decision-useful” reinstated in the chapter title and the IASB project team technical writers needing to show completeness of attention to all comments. Originality/value From these findings, a freshly formulated chapter in the conceptual framework on the qualitative characteristics can now be submitted for consideration by the IASB, with potential for international post-implementation review.


Author(s):  
Jurij Renkas ◽  
Olena Goncharenko ◽  
Olena Lukianets

<p>Financial reporting must meet many criteria to be considered high quality because it is the quality of information that determines the viability of future strategic decisions. The article investigates the essence of the concept of "quality" and "quality of financial infor-mation", and defines indicators and criteria of the financial reporting quality. As for the quality of the financial reporting, it is found that the latter is a structured reflection of financial condition and financial results of the entity, therefore, can be regarded as a set of components: quality of the financial information; quality of presentation of the financial information. It was found that the quality of the reporting of financial information is evaluated using a system of indicators that are qualified by the Financial reporting framework as the qualitative characteristics of useful financial information and National Accounting Statement (standard) 1 as the qualitative characteristics of financial reporting. In terms of formalization (presentation within the legislation forms) of the financial information presentation in Ukraine, we can speak of quality only in respect of the notes to the financial statements. It has been established that quality assessment indicators of presenting the financial information in the notes may be: readability of the information, visualization of the representation. Research of the quality requirements for the financial statements (information) of the participating countries of the former Soviet Union has identified many variations, but the most commonly used features are relevance, reliability, comparability and understandability. It is indicated that most post-Soviet countries, including Ukraine, gradually bring its legislation on the regulation of financial statements in conformity with IFRS. But there are still many unresolved differences, chief among which are the qualitative characteristics of the financial statements that should provide the information needs of different user groups.</p>


Author(s):  
Diego Valentinetti ◽  
Michele Antonio Rea

In this paper, we discuss the dual power of XBRL to standardise and/or accommodate firms’ financial reporting practices. We first develop a conceptual framework for understanding which factors may affect the adoption of XBRL and, in turn, standardise or customise financial reporting. We then examine the XBRL implementation models adopted in two countries: Italy and the US. In Italy, XBRL is required through the application of a standard taxonomy (the Italian GAAP Taxonomy), without the ability to create and submit taxonomy extensions. Conversely, in the US, XBRL is required through the application of a standard taxonomy (the US GAAP Taxonomy), along with the ability to define individual extensions to be submitted to the SEC. We discuss the potential effects of taxonomy application on the representation of financial information. The application of a taxonomy on a “blind basis” (extensions not permitted) leads not only to the full comparability of financial data but also to a loss of idiosyncratic information. The application of a taxonomy on a “minimum basis” (individual extensions permitted) preserves specific information, but causes a potential loss of data comparability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Ilidio Tomás Lopes ◽  
Paula Odete Fernandes

<p><em>Accounting</em> is in its essence, the language of businesses and the summary of economic events for the purpose of providing financial information for decision making. It is materialized on the firms’ financial statements, periodically disseminated to a wide diversity of stakeholders, and used as a primary source of financial perceptions and beliefs. As a reflection of businesses’ dynamics, financial information should be useful by observing the fundamental qualitative characteristics -relevance and faithful representation- and the enhancing qualitative characteristics -comparability, verifiability, timeliness, and understandability-. This special issue, on the scope of <em>Accounting</em> and other related scientific fields, such as <em>Auditing</em> and <em>Taxation</em>, was driven by the importance of the financial reporting on the entire decision-making process, and by the role of some Corporate Governance agents, as granters and controllers of information reliability and transparency. The current issue, strongly focused on those scientific fields, can certainly serve as a contribution for theory and practice, underlining some of the old and current paradoxes, and driving readers into future directions and challenges.</p><p>The organization of a special issue is always an interesting challenge. It is based on the desire to capture and integrate in the special issue the best and the latest developments occurred in a particular scientific field. Indeed, it is our conviction that we have clearly achieved that goal by providing readers with a set of original and useful papers.</p>


2015 ◽  
pp. 58-69
Author(s):  
Sabeth Sembiring

Preparation of accounting theory is a sequential process that started from the determination reporting purposes and ends with preparation of accounting techniques. The conceptual framework is a coherent system-related purposes, the concept underlying the accounting, which is expected to lower the standards which are consistent in describing the nature, function, and limitations of accounting. This conceptual framework must be accepted by all parties concerned. Functions of this conceptual framework to enhance the comparability of financial statements and to evaluate the accounting practices. One benefit is the conceptual framework provides guidance that can provide guidance for standard setters. The contents of the general conceptual framework starts from the financial reporting purposes, the qualitative characteristics of accounting information, elements of financial statements, the measurement and recognition of financial reports, and presentation. Presentation of the conceptual framework includes reporting financial position, cash flow and liquidity reporting, and reporting earnings.


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