IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v44y2008i3p225-250.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Proposal to Replace ‘True and Fair View’ With ‘Acceptable Risk of Material Misstatement’

Author

Listed:
  • Wally Smieliauskas
  • Russell Craig
  • Joel Amernic

Abstract

This article examines argumentation factors which affect the truth of an audit opinion. We propose that the auditor's report be revised to replace the words ‘true and fair view’ with ‘acceptable risk of material misstatement’. This would better align the communication of auditors with the characteristics of accounting information upon which they report. Adoption of the wording ‘acceptable risk of material misstatement’ will facilitate a better appreciation by users of financial statements of the accounting estimates in financial statements.

Suggested Citation

  • Wally Smieliauskas & Russell Craig & Joel Amernic, 2008. "A Proposal to Replace ‘True and Fair View’ With ‘Acceptable Risk of Material Misstatement’," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 44(3), pages 225-250, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:44:y:2008:i:3:p:225-250
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6281.2008.00261.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2008.00261.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2008.00261.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Houghton, Keith A., 1987. "True and fair view: An empirical study of connotative meaning," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 143-152, March.
    2. David Alexander & Eva Jermakowicz, 2006. "A true and fair view of the principles/rules debate," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(2), pages 132-164, June.
    3. Philip M. Linsley & Michael J. Lawrence, 2007. "Risk reporting by the largest UK companies: readability and lack of obfuscation," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(4), pages 620-627, July.
    4. Reiter, Sara Ann & Williams, Paul F., 2004. "The Philosophy and Rhetoric of Auditor Independence Concepts," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 355-376, July.
    5. Benston, George J., 2006. "Fair-value accounting: A cautionary tale from Enron," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 465-484.
    6. Williams, Paul F., 1987. "The legitimate concern with fairness," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 169-189, March.
    7. Rich, J. S. & Solomon, I. & Trotman, K. T., 1997. "The audit review process: A characterization from the persuasion perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 481-505, July.
    8. Hines, Ruth D., 1988. "Financial accounting: In communicating reality, we construct reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 251-261, April.
    9. Frank L. Clarke, 2006. "Introduction: true and fair—anachronism or quality criterion par excellence?," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(2), pages 129-131, June.
    10. Norreklit, Hanne, 2003. "The Balanced Scorecard: what is the score? A rhetorical analysis of the Balanced Scorecard," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 591-619, August.
    11. Paul Rosenfield, 2008. "Prospects: A Missing Piece of Current Selling Price Reporting," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 44(1), pages 48-60, March.
    12. Petroni, K & Beasley, M, 1996. "Errors in accounting estimates and their relation to audit firm type," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 151-171.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wally Smieliauskas & Russell Craig & Joel Amernic, 2010. "Auditing, Reasoning Systems, Reporting Frameworks, and Accounting Policy Risk: A Response to Alexander," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 46(4), pages 455-463, December.
    2. Pranil Prasad & Parmod Chand, 2017. "The Changing Face of the Auditor's Report: Implications for Suppliers and Users of Financial Statements," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 27(4), pages 348-367, December.
    3. Lionel Escaffre & Aymen Abbadi, 2016. "Le Rapport D'Audit Comme Un Signal Potentiel À La Disposition Des Pme Françaises : Proposition D'Un Design De Recherche," Post-Print hal-01900824, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Eagle & Andrew, Jane, 2016. "Rethinking China: Discourse, convergence and fair value accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-21.
    2. Anne Marie Garvey & Laura Parte & Bridget McNally & José Antonio Gonzalo-Angulo, 2021. "True and Fair Override: Accounting Expert Opinions, Explanations from Behavioural Theories, and Discussions for Sustainability Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Biondi Yuri, 2011. "The Pure Logic of Accounting: A Critique of the Fair Value Revolution," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-49, January.
    4. Spence, Crawford & Carter, David, 2011. "Accounting for the General Intellect: Immaterial labour and the social factory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 304-315.
    5. Barker, Richard & Schulte, Sebastian, 2017. "Representing the market perspective: Fair value measurement for non-financial assets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 55-67.
    6. Gwilliam, David & Jackson, Richard H.G., 2008. "Fair value in financial reporting: Problems and pitfalls in practice," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 240-259.
    7. Kinsella, Stephen, 2019. "Visualising economic crises using accounting models," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-16.
    8. William L. Smith & David M. Boje & Kevin D. Melendrez, 2010. "The financial crisis and mark‐to‐market accounting," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(3), pages 281-303, August.
    9. Russell Craig & Wally Smieliauskas & Joel Amernic, 2014. "Assessing Conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Using Expert Accounting Witness Evidence and the Conceptual Framework," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 24(3), pages 200-206, September.
    10. El-Tawy, Nevine & Tollington, Tony, 2013. "Some thoughts on the recognition of assets, notably in respect of intangible assets," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 67-80.
    11. Saher Aqel, 2012. "The IASB and FASB Convergence Process: Current Developments," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 2(2), pages 83-105, April.
    12. Suzuki, Tomo, 2003. "The accounting figuration of business statistics as a foundation for the spread of economic ideas," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 65-95, January.
    13. Wally Smieliauskas, 2012. "Principles‐Based Reasoning about Accounting Estimates," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 259-296, December.
    14. Matias Laine, 2009. "Ensuring legitimacy through rhetorical changes?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 1029-1054, September.
    15. Silvia Jordan & Corinna Treisch, 2010. "The perception of tax concessions in retirement savings decisions," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(3), pages 157-184, October.
    16. Olivier Charpateau, 2011. "Ethique et indépendance interne : une nouvelle dimension de l'indépendance de l'auditeur légal," Post-Print halshs-00613297, HAL.
    17. Lehman, Glen, 2013. "Critical reflections on Laughlin's middle range research approach: Language not mysterious?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 211-224.
    18. Hall, Matthew, 2010. "Accounting information and managerial work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28539, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Lee Parker, 2007. "Financial and external reporting research: the broadening corporate governance challenge," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 59-61.
    20. Thomas Carrington & Gustav Johed, 2007. "The construction of top management as a good steward," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(5), pages 702-728, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:44:y:2008:i:3:p:225-250. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.