USERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USEFULNESS AND RELEVANCE OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT NOTE DISCLOSURES AND INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Elsie Henderson
Mount Saint Vincent University

ABSTRACT

The objective of the financial statement note disclosures is to provide relevant and useful
information for decision-making (Kieso et al., 2016). However, there are concerns financial
statement note disclosures have become so extensive that there is now information overload and
users may lose sight of important information (Iannaconi, 2012; Morunga & Bradbury, 2012;
Radin, 2007). A qualitative, case study was performed to understand users’ perceptions of
financial statement note disclosures. This study looked specifically at financial statements
prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). During interviews
participants (creditors, investors, financial analyst, and accountants) answered questions
pertaining to notes and were asked to identify notes that were useful and not useful for decision-
making. The study will further inform standard setters as they develop a framework for
disclosures and will extend the theory of information overload to financial statements.

Keywords: Users perceptions, financial statement note disclosures, relevant and useful information