International survey of CFOs' view on narrative reporting
27 Sep, 2010
ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in partnership with Deloitte has conducted a survey into the views of CFOs in leading listed and public interest' companies across nine markets on the challenges around narrative reporting, specifically in annual reports.
231 CFOs of publicly accountable entities in Australia, China, Kenya, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK and the USA were interviewed. Their views form the majority of the report. The main findings were then discussed with seven CFOs and various investor representatives, and a report on each of these interviews is also included in the report.
Two findings from the survey are especially striking:
- CFOs are between a rock and a hard place. They are seeking to communicate to shareholders but at the same time they have to meet all the legal and other requirements placed on them. Therefore, the top response (65%) on what CFOs would like to see for the future was more discretion and less regulation. 19% favoured more regulation.
- The second most popular answer on what would improve the usefulness of narrative reporting disclosures was an external auditor opinion on the narrative. 58% of CFOs supported this.
Click for:
- Hitting the notes, but what's the tune? (PDF 1,184k)
- Joint ACCA and Deloitte press release (link to Deloitte UK website)
- Our IAS Plus summary of the IASB's project on management commentary