South African accounting students' reading comprehension of the IASB's Conceptual Framework and selected International Financial Reporting Standards

Abstract

This dissertation explores South African financial reporting students reading comprehension of the IASB s Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (Framework) and selected International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In particular, this dissertation investigates differences in reading comprehension of various demographic groups, using the Cloze procedure. Analysis of differences in reading comprehension scores on the Framework revealed statistically significant differences between reading comprehension by language of instruction and the attendance, or not, of prior reading courses. When exploring the selected IFRS s, statistically significant differences were identified for prior academic performance, language of instruction, first language and enrolment in the Thuthuka programme. In a heterogeneous financial reporting class, where such differences between student groups are present, instructors may need to consider implementing differentiated instruction in developing reading comprehension. Although this dissertation considers South African students, the results may be of interest in other multicultural or multilingual environments, particularly where students also have diverse traits and backgrounds and have to comprehend learning material in a second language.