تحلیل فاصله انتظارات استفاده کنندگان اطلاعات گزارشگری مالی (مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)
درجه علمی: نشریه علمی (وزارت علوم)
آرشیو
چکیده
پژوهش پیش رو با یک بررسی آسیب شناسانه و توجه به دیدگاه های استفاده کنندگان، به دنبال شناسایی فاصله انتظارات در گزارشگری مالی با هدف شناخت زمینه های ناکامی در ارائه اطلاعات سودمند برای تصمیم گیری استفاده کنندگان است. پژوهش در سال 1401 با رویکردی کیفی و انجام مصاحبه های نیمه ساختاریافته ازطریق فرآیند مارپیچ تحلیل داده ها با نرم افزار مکس کیودا انجام شده است. برای این منظور، تعداد 21 مصاحبه با استفاده کنندگان اصلی اطلاعات حسابداری انجام شد. نتایج نشان دادند محتوای گزارشگری مالی تأمین کننده همه اطلاعات لازم برای تصمیم گیری های اقتصادی نیست و برای ارزیابی وظیفه مباشرت مدیریت کفایت نمی کند. اطلاعات مالی به دلیل ویژگی های ناقص بودن، گذشته نگر و تاریخ گذشته بودن، پیچیدگی، تغییر قالب و محتوا، قضاوت ها و برآوردهای غیردقیق و روابط غیرشفاف اجزای آن سودمندی کمی دارد. راهکار پیشنهادی تدوین اصولی به عنوان راهنمای عمومی افشای اطلاعات در صورت های مالی است که می تواند در قالب تجدیدنظر در استاندارد حسابداری شماره یک در بخش های ساختار و محتوا یا یادداشت های توضیحی آن باشد و به کاهش فاصله انتظارات و بهبود سودمندی گزارشگری مالی منجر شود.Analyzing the users` expectations gap of financial reporting information
This research with a pathological investigation and by paying attention to the views of users, seeks to identify the gap of expectations in financial reporting to know the areas of failure in providing useful information for users to make decisions. The research was conducted with a qualitative approach and the method of semi-structured interviews and examining qualitative data through the Data Analysis Spiral. That's why, a total of 21 specialized interviews were conducted with the main users of information. The results showed that the content of financial reporting did not provide all the information necessary for economic decisions and it is not enough to evaluate the management stewardship duties. Financial information due to features such as incompleteness, being retrospective and outdated, complexity, change of format and content, inaccurate judgments and estimates, and opaque relations of its components has little usefulness. The suggested solution to reduce the expectations gap and improve usefulness is the compilation of principles as a general guide for the disclosure of information in financial statements which can be in the form of a revision in accounting standard number one in its structure and content section or explanatory notes or be considered as a non-binding practice guide. IntroductionSince the usefulness approach in decision-making became the dominant paradigm by regulatory bodies in financial reporting, there have been numerous criticisms from users. It can be said that there is widespread dissatisfaction and growing discontent among investors and firm managers regarding financial reporting and its relevance and usefulness. Many studies have pointed out these dissatisfactions, which prove a growing gap between market indicators and financial information, particularly, concerning reported firm incomes, which do not necessarily reflect their performance (Lev, 2018). One notable solution to address this issue is to pay attention to the perspectives and opinions of financial reporting users and examine the differences between their views and the objectives of financial reporting currently published for public purposes. This is referred to as the expectations gap. The concept of the expectations gap will be detrimental to financial reporting because it creates a belief among users that financial reporting and auditing are insufficient and unsatisfactory. Therefore, understanding the dimensions of this issue is vital for accounting knowledge, and neglecting or not addressing it will undermine the value and credibility of accounting and auditing over time. (Lee et al, 2009; Lee & Ali, 2008).Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate whether the set of financial reports provided by a reporting entity meets the information needs of users and stakeholders according to theoretical frameworks of financial reporting. What are the expectations of users from financial reporting? To what extent is there a gap in these expectations or differences in perspectives? And what solutions can be proposed to improve the usefulness of financial reporting information? In this regard, the research attempts to examine and analyze the topic of the expectations gap in financial reporting with public purposes using a qualitative approach and, if available, provide solutions to bridge the gaps and reduce expectations to enhance the usefulness of accounting information. Methods & MaterialA review of relevant literature and previous studies conducted on the topic indicates that the predominant strategy in research in this field is conducting survey studies (Reiner, 2020). The present study will also be pioneering research in this regard and, considering the nature of its objectives and questions will be conducted as a cross-sectional survey. Therefore, a qualitative approach has been adopted in this research to deeply evaluate participants' perspectives and interests. Semi-structured interviews have been used as the method for data collection due to the nature and dimensions of the research problem which is the expectations gap in financial reporting.Qualitative data which has been collected through interviews is analyzed through several stages, including note-taking and creating text files, data coding, combining the codes and reducing them to categories, and eventually representing them in the form of charts and tables. This process is carried out through the Data Analysis Spiral method, and MAXQDA 2020 software has been used to assist in analyzing and interpreting the interview data.The research population consists of financial reporting users and in analyzing the difference in users' views and their expectations gap, the main group of users has been considered as the studied community which includes shareholders and creditors. To increase the credibility and scientific accuracy of the questions asked, three interviews were conducted with experts and university faculty members before starting the interviews. Then, a total of 18 semi-structured specialized interviews were conducted with participants, with an average interview time of 45 minutes. FindingsRarely is it possible for an investor to make decisions regarding the purchase, sale, or holding of an investment solely based on financial reporting information. Participants believe that financial statements only capture numbers and figures quantitatively in monetary units, which are prepared under the influence of accounting rules and standards. While they refer to other sources of information for their decision-making, the information is not found in financial statements. From the perspective of participants in the research, the purpose of financial reporting and disclosure of financial information by firms is compliance with laws, regulations, and supervisory requirements. They consider the dominance of such a view on financial reporting as an obstacle to understanding financial information. Participants' expectations regarding assessing management's stewardship duty as another objective of financial reporting encompass a wide spectrum that can sometimes be attributed to incomplete regulatory performance, incomplete deployment of standards and current regulations, and even unreasonable expectations. From the participants' perspective, published financial information by companies has limited usefulness due to characteristics such as containing backward-looking and outdated data, which although often published in large volumes and mostly unnecessary, is also deficient in some aspects. Alongside this issue, providing information is complex and changes in its format and content are not compatible with environmental changes and specific conditions of reporting companies; relationships between different components of information are not explicit and clear; and the limitations, scope, and boundaries of financial reporting have not been well explained. Conclusion & ResultsBased on the findings of the research, it can be said that financial reporting information has unnecessarily become complex, and over time, this situation has intensified. Investors prefer to receive information in a clear, simple, and explicit manner, where key figures and numbers are described in plain language. On the other hand, theoretical frameworks of financial reporting state that complex information should not be excluded from financial statements solely because it may be difficult to understand. Therefore, a challenging situation arises for information preparers who must strike a balance between these two situations and it must be acknowledged that achieving such a delicate and sensitive balance in practice can be difficult. On the other hand, according to research findings, the gap in expectations of users is often due to incomplete performance of financial reporting. This means that information preparers do not adhere to current accounting regulations and standards as they should. Therefore, proposed solutions to reduce the expectations gap in financial reporting can be related to the number one accounting standard (presentation of financial statements) both in terms of structure and content of the information as well as explanatory notes and disclosure methods. In this regard, the International Accounting Standards Board has proposed recommendations in the form of a project titled "Effective Communication Principles in Financial Reporting". Proposed solutions regarding the presentation of information following the requirements of Standard No. 1 include changing the format of the income statement and designing performance evaluation indicators, proposing general guidelines for information disclosure, and disclosing policy information, judgments, and underlying assumptions for preparing information. The suggestions for mandatory requirements on how to present and disclose information in financial statements can be considered in the form of a revision to Accounting Standard No. 1, especially in the sections on structure and content or explanatory notes of that standard, or as a non-mandatory practical guide titled "General Principles of Information Disclosure" to improve the usefulness of accounting information. It can even be introduced as a separate accounting standard or within the theoretical framework of financial reporting under the qualitative characteristics of useful information.
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