Narrative Disclosures under IAS 14R and IFRS 8 by Qatar Listed Companies

The objective of this study is to compare thesegmental narrative disclosures of Qatari listed companiesunder IFRS 8 for 2009 with narrative disclosures underIAS 14R for 2008. Specifically, the current study used adisclosure index method to capture (i) the number ofsegments reported; (ii) the geographic segment definitions(areas) included and (iii) the identity of the chief operatingdecision maker (CODM). The current study finds anincrease in the number of companies disclosing segmentalinformation while the number of business and geographicsegments for which information was provided rose underIFRS 8. The geographic definitions increased under IFRS8. It also finds that more than 60% of the samplecompanies determined the identity of the CODM in 2009.Thus, this research shows that IFRS 8 compliance amongstQatar listed companies has resulted in an increase in thenumber of segments and segmental definitions. Thefindings of the current study represent a significantcontribution to knowledge. Specifically, it is the first studyof its kind in Qatar, exploratory in nature and adds to thegrowing literature on financial disclosure in general andon segmental disclosure in developing countries inparticular

Factors affecting financial instruments disclosure in emerging economies:the case of Jordan

The current study investigates factors affecting financial instruments (FI) disclosure for a sample of Jordanian listed companies (82 firms) over two consecutive years (2013 and 2014). An un-weighted disclosure index is used to examine the extent of FI disclosure. In addition, the study employs a number of multiple regression models to examine the determinants of FI disclosure. The findings indicate that the level of FI disclosure provided by the sample firms is relatively low with only 52% of FI-related items being supplied. In addition, the results illustrate that the level of FI-related disclosure has a statistically positive association with firm size, the audit firm employed and corporate governance attributes. However, the current study fails to document significant associations between FI disclosure and firm industry or ownership structure variables. This research provides a number of insights for policy makers. First, the results of the current study could help the IASB when revisiting FI-related accounting standards to consider an emerging country's perspective. In addition, it provides some insights to accounting regulators in Jordan about how Jordanian listed firms respond to IFRS 7 requirements. 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.Scopu

The Extent of Segmental Reporting and its Value Relevance:Cross-Country Evidence

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of segmental reporting disclosure and its value relevance to a sample of Qatari and Jordanian listed companies following the implementation review of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 8. This was the first standard to be subjected to a post-implementation review. Annual reports are initially analyzed to investigate the level of segmental information that was published by companies in these two countries. Design/methodology/approach: Using the Ohlson (1995) model, the study employs regression analysis to test the hypotheses relating to the value relevance of the segmental disclosures uncovered. In addition, one-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests are used to investigate any variation in segmental reporting among sectors. Findings: The findings indicate that the amount of segmental information disclosed by the sample firms differs across sectors. Moreover, the segmental information provided (including the number of segments and the amounts of disclosure) is value relevant and can explain the variations in firms share prices. Practical implications: The results of the current investigation have implications for policy makers, including the International Accounting Standards Board, as well as for accounting regulators in Jordan and Qatar. They suggest that the segmental disclosures supplied under IFRS 8 are value relevant for equity prices in a developing country context. Compliance with IFRS 8 should thus be monitored to ensure that all firms provide the segmental disclosures that they are meant to supply under the terms of the standard. Originality/value: This paper is one of the few to provide empirical evidence on the role of segmental reporting following the post-implementation review that was conducted for IFRS 8. 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Enterprise resource planning enabling segmental information reporting practices of UK-FTSE 100

The ERP impact on management accounting practices has been widelyrecognised as having a knowledge gap in relation to how it may facilitateSegmental Information Reporting following the International FinancialReporting Standard No. 8’s (IFRS-8) management approach. This studycontributes to filling this gap by investigating the joint effect of the ERP andIFRS-8 Post-Implementation Review (PIR) on dimensions: quality, quantityand the reporters’ identity of FTSE-100 companies in the period 2013–2017.The study found that ERP is significantly and positively associated with thedimensions of segmental information reporting. The implications of this studyextend research and the practices of segmental reporting on the importance ofERP in operationalising segmental reporting and in understanding variations

Determinants Of Financial Instruments Disclosure Under Ifrs 7: The Case Of Qatari Listed Banks

In recent years, the growth of economics and development of technology in the banking and finance sectors have led to a significant increase in the use of financial instruments (Grbhradt et al., 2004). Accordingly, the accounting regulators particularly standard setters must take these developments into considerations and issue new or emend the existing standards to adopt with this changing environment. However, in 2004, International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) decide to expand the disclosure aspects of IAS 32 and IAS 39 by issuing the Exposure Draft of IFRS 7. After receiving comments and feedback, in August 2005, the IASB issued "International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures which supersede International Accounting Standard (IAS) 30 and a part of IAS 32 (Disclosure Provisions), the IFRS 7 effective year is 2007. The main aim of this study is to investigate determinants of IFRS 7 disclosures and its implementation impact on Qatari listed banks. The un-weighted disclosure index (DI) and multiple regression analysis employed to conduct this study. The DI is developed based on the requirement of the IFRS 7 and includes ten categories with total of 46 Items. Sample of study includes only Qatari listed bank (8 banks) and the years of investigation are from 2007 (the first year of implementation) to 2012. The banks characteristics employed are Company Size (log size), Existence of Risk Management Committee (RMC), Net Assets Value (NAV), Cost to Income ratio (CTI), Earning per Share (EPS) and Price Earning (PE). The result from DI indicates quite high level of disclosure of financial instruments provided by Qatari bank. The overall disclosure was 58% in 2007 in the first year of implementation, this figure increased gradually year by year and reached to 78% by the end of 2012. This indicates that IFRS 7 implementation has a positive impact on the financial instruments disclosure in Qatar. Nonetheless, when we review the result for each dimension in the disclosure index, it is clear that the disclosure for some categories such as accounting policies, balance sheet, income statement and the fair value declined slightly in 2008, this could be the impact of financial crisis which financial instruments was the main reason for it on that year. Moreover, the study proved that the level of financial instruments disclosure is significantly and positively associated with the bank size and RMC. In addition, this research suggests that establishment of risk management committee which would help banks to improve disclosure related to the financial instruments. This study contribute to the knowledge in numerous way, it provide a great insight about the current situation of IFRS 7 in Qatar. It indicates that how well IFRS 7 implementation impacts the firms' financial instruments disclosure. In addition, it provides the factors that influence the level of financial instruments disclosure.qscienc

IFRS Suitability to Emerging Markets: Empirical Evidence from Qatar

Most of the countries in GCC region (except Saudi Arabia) have adapted IFRS in 1990s except Oman who was the first to adopt in 1986. Therefore, it can be concluded that, Qatar is one of the countries which adopted IFRS since long time ago. However, no serious discussion was there so far to see whether IFRS adoption in emerging economy country like Qatar is feasible or it has been taken as granted. The adoption of IFRS at country level has sparked two contrasting, but not mutually exclusive viewpoints. One view, which favors IFRS adoption, is that IFRS produces better financial reporting since it is superior accounting standards in comparison to domestic accounting standards (Barth 2008). Additionally, convergence to a singular accounting standard ensures greater comparability that helps investors to make their investment decisions. It results improvement of information environment in a country and hence contribute towards lowering the cost of capital (Barth 2008). The opposite view is that, the accounting quality is shaped by political and economic forces (Ball 2006) and therefore Accounting standard solely will not translate into higher quality reporting. The main objective of the study is to assess the suitability of' International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for emerging market such as Qatar; specifically, the current research explore advantages and disadvantages of IFRS implementation in Qatar. From the prior studies perspective, we found that IFRS is suitable for Qatar for many reasons. First of all, most of the companies in Qatar are characterized by insider dominated ownership structure. Therefore, majority of the shares are owned by the family owners. Also, the influences of institutional investors are in a greater margin in Qatari Stock Market. Moreover, the code of corporate governance in Qatar was just implemented three years back in 2009. As discussed earlier, the law system in Qatar is also very weak in regard to financial reporting. In these circumstances, IFRS can play a big role in Qatar since it is an advanced reporting standard developed and it could ensure that all the information are there for the shareholders and no asymmetric information situation could happen and ensures the rights of individual shareholders. Since Qatar is undergoing major development for the World Cup 2022 and National Vision 2030, it is important for Qatar to attract foreign investors for capital market. IFRS implementation will help Qatar to ensure foreign investors in gaining confidence in Qatari capital market. Furthermore, Qatar has adopted IFRS in 1995 and before that no specific requirement was that which is more established and strictly adopted by the companies. Therefore, Qatar didn't face a lot of issues while the adoption process. However, countries like Australia, Spain who were having their own developed standard faced a lot of issue since they were having their own standard practiced for a period of time. Thus, the current study concluded that IFRS implementation is suitable for the economy of Qatar considering its benefits, Qatari corporate ownership structure and commercial law of Qatar. Although, Qatar is following IFRS without any amendments by considering their own culture, economic environment and corporate governance, however, their implementation was very strong with the existence of big four international audit firm and regulation from Qatar Central Bank and Qatar Financial Market Authority. Furthermore, many of the Qatari companies such as QTEL, QNB are listed in internationally in various stock exchanges because they are following IFRS for their financial report. Finally, we conclude saying that, despite come short coming are there, it is beneficial to adopt IFRS for an emerging country like Qatar.qscienc

Matters may matter: The disclosure of key audit matters in the Middle East

The main objective of this research is to investigate the extent of the disclosure of key audit matters (KAMs) and the factors that affect the level of KAMs' disclosure in the audit reports of the Middle East (ME) region. A disclosure index approach is employed to consider eight KAMs generated from the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 701 and a fixed effect regression run on a sample of 281 firms from four countries (Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan) for four years (2017-2020), comprising 1124 observations. The findings show that the overall KAMs' disclosure is approximately 56% across all countries. The study takes into consideration the positive and significant correlation between the leverage, audit committee characteristics, financial industry, audit firm, client size, profitability, liquidity, and KAMs' disclosure in most sampled countries. This research contributes to our understanding of the level of KAMs' disclosure and the factors specific to the ME region, which enhances policymakers' and decision-makers' knowledge of KAMs' disclosure in audit reports. 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.The authors would like to thank the Qatar National Library (QNL) for their funding of this research as a part of the QNL's Open Access Program.Scopu

Is Internet Reporting Useful?:Evidence from Egypt

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the views of 18 users and preparers regarding the corporate internet reporting (CIR) practices of companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). Design/methodology/approach: A decision-usefulness theoretical framework is used as a lens for the study, in order to shed light on: internet infrastructure and its use for disclosure purposes in Egypt; the benefits of and trends in practices relating to CIR in Egypt; how the information presented accords with the qualitative characteristics of �usefulness� set out in the IASB�s conceptual framework of 2010; and the potential economic consequences of CIR. Findings: The results indicate reasonable satisfaction with internet infrastructure in Egypt. The interviewees are intensive users of the internet, including accessing electronic sources of corporate information, but the perception remains of hard copy financial reports as the most important source of disclosure. With the exception of verifiability, the majority of respondents viewed CIR as having a (potentially) positive impact on the qualitative characteristics of accounting information as set out in the IASB framework. Research limitations/implications: The use of the interview method is subject to some limitations. These include: the perceived lack of anonymity, which may restrict the extent to which participants speak honestly or openly about the topic being investigated; the non-standardisation of responses � which can result in the inability to make systematic generalisations; and interviewees� perceptions being influenced by events which have taken place prior to the discussion. Practical implications: This research provides substantive insights for policy makers about the current attitudes of interested parties concerning CIR in Egypt. Originality/value: This study contributes to our knowledge in a number of ways, as it provides up-to-date evidence of interested parties� views concerning CIR practices and it indicates how CIR has affected the quality of financial information disclosure practices. Moreover, this study extends prior research on the use of the internet as a disclosure channel by considering a different empirical site, namely Egypt, and also by adopting a different theoretical framework. � 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

The impact of ERP utilisation experience and segmental reporting on corporate performance in the UK context

By adopting the Decision-Usefulness theory, this study investigates separately and jointly the impact of utilising Enterprise Resources Planning system (ERPs) and the information disclosure of Segmental Reporting (SR), following the implementation of IFRS-8, on Corporate Performance (CP) in the UK context. The research was drawn on the Financial-Times-Stock-Exchange (FTSE)-100 over the period 2013-2017 using textual analysis and Compustat, after accounting for endogeneity problems. The authors find generally direct relationships between CP indicators, ERP utilisation experience and SR dimensions. This paper has several implications for FTSE-100 companies, academics, practitioners and IFRS-setters regarding the ERP utilisation and the segmental information reporting.Scopu