Users' Perceptions of Financial Statement Note Disclosure and the Theory of Information Overload.

摘要

The purpose of financial statement note disclosures is to provide additional, relevant information useful for decision-making. There has been a significant increase in financial statement note disclosure over time, which has resulted in concerns there is now information overload in these note disclosures and there are questions about the relevance of some financial statement note disclosures. The purpose of this qualitative, embedded, single-case study was to determine financial statement note disclosure users' perceptions about notes (i.e., relevance and use in decision-making; readability and comprehension; and differences across user classes) in order to inform standard setters and extend the theory of information overload to financial statement note disclosure. Participants in this study were 15 users of financial statements in Eastern Canada and included 4 creditors, 3 financial analysts, 5 investors, and 3 accountants. Interviews were conducted to gather data on users' perceptions of financial statement note disclosures. Data was analyzed with MAXQDA 12 software to identify themes and answer the study research questions. Current findings were users perceive financial statement note disclosures are an integral part of financial statements; however, many notes are not read by users, indicating these notes are not relevant and useful for users' decision making. Further users perceive the readability and comprehension of financial statement note disclosures is low. As a result there are few financial statement note disclosures that are read in detail by users. However, some users prefer transparency and perceive more disclosure means more transparency. Based on current findings it was recommended standard setters and preparers place more emphasis on succinct writing, continue education on the application of materiality, and emphasize more disclosure does not mean more transparency. Recommendations for future research included performing the current study with a larger sample.