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Article
Publication date: 19 December 2023

Zahra Borghei, Martina Linnenluecke and Binh Bui

This paper aims to explore current trends in how companies disclose climate-related risks and opportunities in their financial statements. As part of the authors’ analysis, they…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore current trends in how companies disclose climate-related risks and opportunities in their financial statements. As part of the authors’ analysis, they examine: whether forward-looking assumptions and judgements are typically considered in reporting climate-related risks/opportunities; whether there are differences in the reporting practices of firms in carbon-intensive industries versus non-carbon-intensive industries; and whether negative media reports have an influence on the levels of disclosure a firm makes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors chose content analysis as their methodology and examined the financial statements published by firms listed on the UK’s FTSE 100 between 2016 and 2020. This analysis is framed by Suchman’s three dimensions of legitimacy, being pragmatic, cognitive and moral.

Findings

Climate-related disclosures in the notes and financial accounts of these firms did increase over the period. Yet, overall, the level the disclosures was inadequate and the quality was inconsistent. From this, the authors conclude that pragmatic legitimacy is not a particularly strong driving factor in compelling organisations to disclose climate-related information. The firms in carbon-intensive industries do provide greater levels of disclosure, including both qualitative and quantitative (monetary) content, which is consistent with cognitive legitimacy. However, from a moral legitimacy perspective, this study finds that firms did not adapt responsively to negative media coverage as a way of reflecting their accountability to broader public norms and values. Overall, this analysis suggests that regulatory enforcement and a systematic reporting framework with adequate guidance is going to be critical to developing transparent climate-related reporting in future.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to existing studies on climate-related disclosures, which have mainly examined the ‘front-half’ of annual reports. Conversely, this study aims to shed light on these practices in the “back-half” of these reports, exploring the underlying reasons for reporting climate-related risks and opportunities in financial accounts. The authors’ insights into the current disclosure practices make a theoretical contribution to the literature. Practitioners can also draw on these insights to improve how they report on climate-related risks and opportunities in their financial statements.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 September 2019

Wahyudin Nor, Muhammad Hudaya and Rifqi Novriyandana

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which audit opinion, audit findings, follow-up audit recommendations, level of education, level of welfare and heads of local…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which audit opinion, audit findings, follow-up audit recommendations, level of education, level of welfare and heads of local governments’ commitment influence the disclosure of financial statements on the official website of local government.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of this research comprise 68 financial statements during the period 2015–2016 collected from 34 local governments across Indonesia by employing the census method. The data then are analyzed using logistic regression.

Findings

The results of this study show that audit opinion has a positive significant influence on the disclosure of financial statements on local government websites in Indonesia, while the audit findings, follow-up audit recommendations, level of education, level of welfare and heads of local governments’ commitment have no significant influences on the disclosure of financial statements local governments’ websites across Indonesia.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the public sector accounting research by enhancing our understanding to the disclosure of financial statements on local government websites.

Details

Asian Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2443-4175

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 November 2017

Francesco Bellandi

Part IV provides readers with the extant requirements for the application of materiality to recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure in the financial statements

Abstract

Part IV provides readers with the extant requirements for the application of materiality to recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure in the financial statements. This part also includes a detailed critical review of the recent Practice Statement on materiality, the FASB’s proposed ASU on the notes and the amendments to the Conceptual Framework proposed by the IASB and the FASB.

The part expands to issues that are typical of Management Commentary, including the SEC guidance on materiality in Management Discussion and Analysis.

It informs about the complexities and subtle differences between financial statements and bookkeeping and the different standards of reasonableness versus materiality.

A section moves from materiality to material misstatements and covers the application of materiality in auditing.

Another section goes in depth on internal control over financial reporting, showing the linkages between materiality and risk appetite and risk tolerance and the related application guidance.

Details

Materiality in Financial Reporting
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-736-4

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1999

Gary Miller

International financial markets are rapidly becoming a single global market. For these markets, most large institutional users are not satisfied with the existing levels of…

Abstract

International financial markets are rapidly becoming a single global market. For these markets, most large institutional users are not satisfied with the existing levels of disclosures by multinational firms. One purpose of this research study was to investigate existing footnote disclosure practices for H‐Shares in Hong Kong. Another purpose was to determine if the existing financial statement disclosures for H‐Share companies are comparable to the other companies traded on the HKSE. This study classified, summarised and analysed financial statement disclosures for H‐Share Hong Kong companies. In a recent US study, Barth and Murphy (1994) developed a framework to analyse the required footnotes for companies in the United States. This study uses a similar approach to examine the situation in Hong Kong. However, there are some significant differences. The Barth and Murphy study is extended to include the review of actual disclosures in Hong Kong financial statements. In this way, this project attempts to determine if existing disclosures for Hong Kong H‐Share companies can be classified according to the purposes identified in the US study and by a review of Hong Kong standards. Descriptive statistics are provided for all disclosures. The results indicate that similar purposes have been met for both H‐Shares and other Hong Kong companies traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Details

Asian Review of Accounting, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1321-7348

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2015

Anis Maaloul and Daniel Zéghal

– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between financial statement informativeness (FSI) and intellectual capital disclosure (ICD).

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between financial statement informativeness (FSI) and intellectual capital disclosure (ICD).

Design/methodology/approach

While FSI was measured as the explanatory power of financial information in explaining market value, ICD was collected through content analysis of annual reports. A sample of 126 US companies, divided into two groups – high-tech and low-tech companies – were used in this study. Empirical analysis was carried out using the Poisson regression method.

Findings

The results show a negative (substitutive) relationship between FSI and ICD, especially in high-tech companies. This indicates that companies with low FSI disclose more information about their IC in annual reports.

Practical implications

This study confirms the role of voluntary ICD as a solution towards mitigating the problem of the distortion of financial information due to the lack of accounting recognition of IC as an asset in the financial statements.

Originality/value

This is the first empirical study to analyse the relationship between FSI and ICD. Therefore, it serves as feedback to the regulators and standard-setters that recently published recommendations on voluntarily disclosing IC.

Details

Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-2517

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 February 2022

Can Öztürk

This chapter focuses on the IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and IFRS 16 Leases in the airline industry considering the case of Air France – KLM (AF-KLM). This…

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and IFRS 16 Leases in the airline industry considering the case of Air France – KLM (AF-KLM). This airline timely adopted IFRS 15 and early adopted IFRS 16 for the year 2018 and restated its 2017 financial statements using the full retrospective method so that the 2018 financial statements of the airline provide comparative financial information during the transition phase from IAS 18 to IFRS 15 as well as from IAS 17 to IFRS 16. In the first part of the chapter, liquidity, solvency, and profitability ratios along with cash flow ratios were used to analyze the cumulative effect of IFRS 15 and IFRS 16 using 2017 and restated 2017 financial statements. In this context, results indicate that the liquidity ratios decreased, and the solvency ratios increased in general. In addition, the cumulative effect of IFRS 15 and IFRS 16 created an upward change in general on profitability ratios based on the several performance parameters that should be considered during the transition from IAS 18 to IFRS 15 and from IAS 17 to IFRS 16. Overall, IFRS 15 has minor effect and IFRS 16 has major effect on the financial statements of AF-KLM. In the second part of the chapter, the compliance level of the mandatory disclosures requirements of the airline was examined from the lessee standpoint and the research pointed out that the airline fully complied with these disclosures at its first adoption of IFRS 16 and provided some voluntary disclosures as well.

Details

Perspectives on International Financial Reporting and Auditing in the Airline Industry
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-760-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2019

Rachel Martin

This paper synthesizes existing experimental research in the area of investor perceptions and offers directions for future research. Investor-related experimental research has…

Abstract

This paper synthesizes existing experimental research in the area of investor perceptions and offers directions for future research. Investor-related experimental research has grown substantially, especially in the last decade, as it has made valuable contributions in establishing causal links, examining underlying process measures, and examining areas with little available data. Within this review, I examine 121 papers and identify three broad categories that affect investor perceptions: information format, investor features, and disclosure credibility. Information format describes how investors are influenced by information salience, information labeling, reporting and accounting complexity, financial statement recognition, explanatory disclosures, and proposed disclosure changes. Investor features describes investors’ use of heuristics, investor preferences, and the effect of investor experience. Disclosure credibility is influenced by external and internal assurance, management credibility, disclosure characteristics, and management incentives. Using this framework, I summarize the existing research and identify areas that would benefit from additional research.

Details

Journal of Accounting Literature, vol. 43 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-4607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2005

S.P.J. von Wielligh and J.P. van den Berg

The objective of this study was to identify the impact of a perceived inadequacy of authoritative South African financial reporting guidance for long‐term insurers, on the basic…

272

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the impact of a perceived inadequacy of authoritative South African financial reporting guidance for long‐term insurers, on the basic financial statement characteristic of comparability. The authors attempted to identify areas of non‐comparable presentation and disclosure and to suggest relevant guidance. To assess comparability, the financial statements of five insurers were evaluated using a checklist specifically developed for this study. This process identified seven main categories of significant non‐comparable presentation and disclosure practices. Solutions were proposed for these areas, based inter alia on existing international literature and guidance.

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Marco Maffei, Massimo Aria, Clelia Fiondella, Rosanna Spanò and Claudia Zagaria

The purpose of this paper is to better understand how mandatory risk categories are disclosed and to provide a better understanding of the reasons why risk disclosure looks less…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to better understand how mandatory risk categories are disclosed and to provide a better understanding of the reasons why risk disclosure looks less useful than it ought to be.

Design/methodology/approach

We analyze how Italian banks provide risk information, by focusing on its characteristics to find out any differences between the notes to the financial statements and the public report, both prepared in compliance with the instructions of the Bank of Italy. We assess the risk-related reporting practices of 66 Italian banks, based on a content analysis of the two mandatory reports, and verify whether bank-specific factors explain any differences.

Findings

Italian banks formally comply with the Bank of Italy’s instructions, but there is discretion to choose the characteristics of the information provided. Despite different risk categories to disclose in each report, disclosure is quite uniform, although banks tend to provide denser information in the notes to the financial statements and the difference in the economic signs between the two reports decreases as the level of risk increases.

Practical implications

The significance of this study goes beyond the debate taking place in the academic arena, as it can be largely relevant for preparers, those responsible for setting international and national accounting standards, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the domestic supervisory authorities, particularly concerning the possible introduction of requirements that are more explicit than the existing ones.

Originality/value

The Italian setting is very relevant because unlike other countries, Italy adopts “interventionist enforcements”, which are regarded as a critical tool for achieving the minimum disclosure requirements. Moreover, the two sets of disclosure required by the Bank of Italy have never been investigated in a single data set.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 29 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2001

J.G.I. Oberholster and M.J. Nieuwoudt

For years, interim financial reports in South Africa were regulated by the South African Companies Act No. 61 of 1973 (as amended) (i.e. statutory requirements) and by the…

Abstract

For years, interim financial reports in South Africa were regulated by the South African Companies Act No. 61 of 1973 (as amended) (i.e. statutory requirements) and by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Listing Requirements (i.e. regulatory requirements) only. However, on the international front, major progress was being made in respect of improving the quality of interim financial reporting. South Africa soon followed suit and issued its own accounting statement, AC 127, which is based on the international standard (IAS 34). The School of Accountancy at the University of Pretoria commenced a research project on interim financial reporting in 1997 to investigate compliance with related reporting requirements. This paper is a product of the project. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to: [a] Compare the requirements stated in IAS 34 and AC 127 with the local regulatory and statutory requirements, to determine whether these requirements are duplicated and to establish in which respect the accounting standards require additional disclosure requirements. [b] Provide an overview of the extent to which companies listed on the JSE adhered to IAS 34 and AC 127 and complied with regulatory and statutory requirements in their interim financial reports in the period 1997 to 1999. [c] Make recommendations regarding the improvement of local statutory and regulatory disclosure requirements.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1022-2529

Keywords

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