Corporate reporting and disclosures in the emerging capital market of Kuwait:the perceptions of users and preparers

The objective of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of users and preparers regarding financial disclosure practices in annual reports of Kuwaiti listed firms. To measure participants' views, a questionnaire survey was distributed in Kuwait between October and December 2012, to preparers (financial managers) and users (financial analysts) within Kuwaiti listed companies. The study compares between the perceptions of financial managers and financial analysts regarding disclosing information in corporate annual reports as well as the main obstacles facing the disclosure process and what the problems restricting the use of companies' annual reports. The study also seeks to investigate whether there is a perceived need for improving the usefulness of Kuwaiti companies' annual reports for decision-making. The results, based on 137 responses, indicate that accounting practices in Kuwaiti firms are firmly rooted in a decision-usefulness tradition with management and the board of directors viewed as the key audience for reporting information. Indeed, the annual reports of Kuwaiti listed companies are perceived as the most important sources of information. On the whole both users and preparers shared similar concerns regarding the volume of information contained within annual reports; however, their views differed in terms of identifying potential solutions. The results of the study are likely to have implications for decision makers, the academic community and accounting standard setters. 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature

Adaptive teaching: Conceptual reflections

Der vorliegende Beitrag betrachtet den in Politik und Praxis populären Begriff der individuellen Förderung. Dazu wird zunächst erörtert, in welchen Kontexten und in welcher Form der Begriff bislang verwendet wurde. Anschließend werden im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs etablierte verwandte Konzepte von individueller Förderung und Erkenntnisse aus der kognitiven Lehr-Lern-Forschung und der Unterrichtsforschung dargestellt. Darauf aufbauend wird vorgeschlagen, individuelle Förderung im Sinne einer tiefgreifenden Gesamtunterrichtsstrategie zu verstehen, bei der die Lehrkraft den einzelnen Schülerinnen und Schülern ein an ihre spezifischen Lernvoraussetzungen angepasstes Lernangebot macht und das Ziel einer kontinuierlich zunehmenden Verantwortungsübernahme der Schülerinnen und Schüler für ihren eigenen Lernprozess verfolgt. Abschließend werden Implikationen dieser Konzeption für die Schulpraxis und die Bildungsforschung diskutiert. (DIPF/Orig.)The present paper deals with the German concept "Individuelle Förderung", which has been widely used in both policy and practice in recent years and may best be translated into "adaptive teaching" or "individualized instruction". The paper first addresses the contexts and ways in which the term has been used. Several related concepts used in educational research and findings from research on learning and instruction are presented. Using these insights, the author proposes to conceptualize "Individuelle Förderung" as an overarching teaching concept in which teachers adapt their instruction to each student\u27s needs and aim to increase students\u27 responsibility for their own learning process. The paper closes with implications of this conceptualization for practice and research. (DIPF/Orig.