Individual shareholders' understanding of the content of interim reports of South African listed retail companies

dc.contributor.authorOberholster, J.G.I. (Johan Gerhardus Ignatius), 1962-
dc.contributor.authorKoornhof, Carolina, 1959-
dc.contributor.authorVorster, Q. (Quintus)
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-20T07:24:03Z
dc.date.available2015-08-20T07:24:03Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.description.abstractA number of studies conducted, and reports published, by international and local accounting bodies have found that the proliferation of disclosures in financial reports has hampered users’ understanding of these reports. The reports by accounting bodies also indicate that these users prefer more concise financial reports. These findings, in conjunction with a dearth of recent questionnaire-based research on whether individual shareholders understand the content of financial reports, resulted in this study on whether individual shareholders understand the content of interim reports. The study provides empirical proof that a sound knowledge of business, accounting and economic matters is a prerequisite for understanding interim reports in the case of individual shareholders. The results of the study indicate that individual shareholders have a limited understanding of the content of interim reports as a whole, and that a good knowledge of business and economic matters and of accounting results in an improved understanding of the content of interim reports. In particular, specialisation in accounting in undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, professional qualifications, and work experience in the financial field improve the understanding of individual shareholders.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2015en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.sajems.org/en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationOberholster, JGI, Koornhof, C & Vorster, Q 2015, 'Individual shareholders' understanding of the content of interim reports of South African listed retail companies', South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 177-189.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1015-8812 (print)
dc.identifier.issn2222-3436 (online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/49406
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of Pretoria, Department of Economicsen_ZA
dc.rights© 2015 The Authors. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.en_ZA
dc.subjectIndividual shareholdersen_ZA
dc.subjectInterim reportsen_ZA
dc.subjectQualitative characteristicsen_ZA
dc.subjectUnderstandingen_ZA
dc.subjectUnderstandabilityen_ZA
dc.subjectFinancial reports
dc.subject.otherEconomic and management sciences articles SDG-08
dc.subject.otherSDG-08: Decent work and economic growth
dc.titleIndividual shareholders' understanding of the content of interim reports of South African listed retail companiesen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Oberholster_Individual_2015.pdf
Size:
694.25 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Article

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: