Measuring the Meaning of Financial Statement Terminology: A Psycholinguistics Approach

Abstract

Measuring the meaning of communication between and among producers (certified public accountants, academic accountants, and private accountants) and users (chartered financial analysts, commercial bank loan officers, and shareholders) of financial statements is the purpose of this study. Two psycholinguistic techniques, classification analysis and association analysis, were used in a field experiment to measure the intergroup and intragroup transference of denotative (objective) and connotative (subjective) meaning, respectively. The study concluded that we are somewhere in between the “worst” and the “best” on a communication continuum. The evidence indicated only one communication problem — a problem involving the transfer of connotative (subjective) meaning on an intergroup basis, that is, between producers and users.

Organizational and Occupational Culture and the Perception of Managerial Accounting Terms: An Exploratory Study Using Perceptual Mapping Techniques

“…In a later study, Monti- Belkaoui and Belkaoui (1983) concluded that "language differences result … in specific perceptual differences in understanding the same concept used within disciplines, industries and professions" (p. 124). Adelberg and Farrelly (1989) also found significant differences in the connotative meaning between accountants and users because of differences in professional affiliations. Haried (1973) and Houghton (1988) found possible effects of differential levels of education on the development of meaning, and Houghton (1987) suggested that meaning changes as a result of more experience and education.…”

“…Such techniques are appropriate for the exploratory study of perceptions and have been used in prior research to study differential perceptions of financial accounting terms (e.g., Adelberg and Farrelly, 1989) and auditing terms (e.g., Low and Koh, 1997). In particular, individual differences scaling analysis (INDSCAL), a multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique, was used (see Carroll and Chang, 1970).…”

Colliding Worlds: Issues Relating to Language Translation in Accounting and Some Lessons from Other Disciplines

“…It applied techniques developed in psychology (e.g., Osgood et al ., ) and was restricted to subjects whose first language was English. For example, Haried (, ), Oliver (), Adelberg (), Adelberg and Farrelly () and Houghton and Hronsky () provided evidence that the interpretation of many accounting concepts differs between different groups of subjects, such as preparers and users of accounting information, academics, students, and members of different professional groups. According to Chesley (, p. 197), even within the same group (mature students), ‘[c]ommon words such as “probable” or “likely” will cause wide variations in interpretation and should not be used for specific communication of uncertainty in general situations sensitive to inaccurate interpretations’.…”

Situating IFRS Translation in the EU within Speed Wobbles of Convergence

“…A considerable body of accounting research suggests that, even within the same language, accounting concepts are perceived or interpreted differently by different groups, such as academics, users or preparers of accounting information, accounting students, or members of different cultural groups (Haried, 1972 and1973;Oliver, 1974;Belkaoui, 1980;Houghton, 1987;Adelberg and Farelly, 1989;Riahi-Belkaoui andPicur, 1991 andBagranoff et al, 1994).…”