A survey of South African registered Accountants' and Auditors' attitudes towards differential corporate reporting.

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate aspects of the differential corporate reporting debate in South Africa. The dissertation summarises the background to the current position and findings in respect of all previous South African research and selected previous international research. The dissertation reports the results of a postal survey of South African registered accountants' and auditors' perceptions of the suitability of selected South African statements of generally accepted accounting practice to a range of South African entities varied by size, legal form and financial statement user base. The dissertation provides evidence of (i) the need for differential corporate reporting in South Africa, (ii) the need for multiple differential reporting thresholds in South Africa, and (iii) the need for differential reporting options to include both presentation and disclosure and recognition and measurement concessions. The dissertation also raises some questions for future research.