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Company annual
An investigation of perceptions report users in
of company annual report Sri Lanka
users in Sri Lanka
183
Anura De Zoysa and Kathy Rudkin
School of Accounting and Finance,
University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of how users of company annual reports
in the emerging market of Sri Lanka view those reports. Since limited studies exist that examine
financial reporting practices in emerging markets, little is known about the user perceptions of
company annual reports in these markets. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining the
views of a wide spectrum of users on the usefulness of corporate annual reports in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach – The data reported in this study were collected through a
questionnaire survey, covering seven user groups – accountants, executives, bankers, tax officers,
academics, financial analysts, and investors. The 264 responses received were analysed using the
Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA test.
Findings – The results reveal that most use annual reports for obtaining information for share
transactions. Despite the long delay in publishing many annual reports and lack of availability of these
reports to the general public, the majority of users view annual reports as the most important source of
company information. The paper also reveals that, in comparison with developed markets, Sri Lankan
users depend more on annual report information than on information provided by stockbrokers,
newspapers, and other media reviews.
Originality/value – This paper provides information about the usefulness of annual reports in an
emerging market, Sri Lanka. No prior research on this aspect of Sri Lankan companies is reported in
the literature.
Keywords Financial reporting, Annual reports, Emerging markets, Sri Lanka
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
This study describes the perceptions of users of company annual reports in the
emerging market of Sri Lanka. General purpose financial reports are expected to
provide decision useful information required by their various informed users. In
producing corporate annual reports, it is assumed that meeting the information needs
of investors who provide risk capital will also satisfy the information needs of other
user groups (Deegan, 2007). Consequently, the corporate annual report provided to
investors is the major source that provides information on the effectiveness of the
accomplishments of managers in meeting their fiduciary duties and carrying out their
stewardship functions (Anderson, 1998).
However, users are not a homogeneous group and the same information cannot equally International Journal of Emerging
satisfy them all as they have differing financial skills, interests, and purposes Markets
Vol. 5 No. 2, 2010
(Rudkin, 2007). Also, new user expectations are created by the continuing sophistication pp. 183-202
of business practices and technology (Rohan, 1996). Technology differs with the level of q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1746-8809
market development and infrastructure of the jurisdiction. The decision usefulness of DOI 10.1108/17468801011031810
IJOEM financial disclosures within the prevailing constraints of an emerging market such as
5,2 Sri Lanka is better understood by evaluating the perceptions of various users.
The examination of user perceptions on the usefulness of corporate annual reports
empirically has been the subject matter of a large number of studies conducted in many
countries during the past few decades. A closer look at these studies reveals that while
the majority of them have been conducted in countries with developed capital markets,
184 the studies conducted in countries with emerging capital markets are extremely sparse.
Since the conclusions of the studies conducted in developed capital markets cannot be
considered as applicable to emerging capital markets due to the large differences in
political, cultural, economic, and social factors between the two markets ( Jaggi, 1975;
Perera, 1989), little is known about the way in which users of corporate annual reports in
emerging markets view those reports. Another feature of the previous research on this
aspect is that most of these studies were confined to the examination of information
needs of a very few user groups – in most cases one or two (Table I). Because of this
limitation, relatively a little is known about the views of various user groups.
The purpose of the current study, therefore, is to fill this gap by examining the
views of a large number of diverse user groups on the usefulness of corporate annual
reports in one of the emerging markets, Sri Lanka. A questionnaire survey was
conducted covering seven user groups of corporate annual reports in Sri Lanka. Since
no prior research covering such a diverse group of users has been reported in
the literature, this study while contributing to the literature on corporate disclosure
practices in an emerging market, can provide valuable insights to policy makers in
Sri Lanka and other countries with similar capital markets for improving the quality of
their corporate disclosure practices.
The following section two of this paper describes the unique financial reporting
environment in Sri Lanka. Section three outlines the research design including the
selection of the questionnaire sample and section four describes the research questions
investigated. Section five presents the results of the study and a discussion. The final
section six offers a conclusion of the findings.

Financial reporting environment in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island nation in the Indian Ocean with a multicultural society, an open
economy with a free capital market, and a parliamentary system of government headed
by an executive president. It was a British colony until gaining independence in 1948,
with a colonial economy directed mainly towards the plantation-based export sector.
Businesses were set up by British investors following the British model. As a result,
the prevailing legal and accounting systems in Sri Lanka were largely influenced by
British systems.
Despite having a long history of corporate culture in Sri Lanka, the importance of
improving the quality of corporate disclosure practices has become a focus only recently.
It is noted “there has been no tradition of financial reporting to the public in the history of
accounting practices in Sri Lanka” (Perera, 1975). However, this is not surprising,
considering the nature and ownership of companies, especially in the pre-independence
period. Perera (1975) argues that during this period, there was only a small group of
investors who used accounting reports, and that most information came from the
investors’ private bankers and other creditors, and that these trust relationships were
more important than printed company annual reports. In the pre-independence period,
 Response
Market Author (year) User groups Sample %

Developed
Australia Chenhall and Juchau (1976, 1977) Individual investors 1,025 46.4
Winfield (1978) Shareholders 850 37.5
Anderson, A. (1981) Institutional investors 300 63.1
Anderson, R. (1981) Individual investors 2,682 36.0
Anderson and Epstein (1995) and Anderson Individual shareholders
(1998) 2,359 18.9
Hong Kong Ho and Shun-Wong (2001) Finance directors and financial analysts 1,145 16.6
New Zealand Wilton and Tabb (1978) Private shareholders 300 55.0
Courtis (1979) Companies 280 45.0
McNally et al. (1982) Financial editors, stock exchange members 187 44.4
UK Lee and Tweedie (1975) Shareholders 1,594 23.5
Firth (1979) Financial directors, accountants, financial
analysts, and loan officers 750 40.3
Firth (1979) Financial analysts 120 38.3
USA Baker and Haslem (1973) Individual investors 1,623 52.4
Buzby (1974) Financial analysts 500 26.2
Chandra (1974) Accountants and security analysts 1,000 49.8
Buzby (1974) Financial analysts 150 21.3
Chandra (1975) Financial analysts 400 45.0
Benjamin et al. (1977) Financial analysts and bank loan officers 1,200 34.6
Chandra and Greenball (1977) Financial executives and security analysts 1,200 41.1
Stanga and Tiller (1983) Bank loan officers 400 57.5
Robbins (1984) Bond analysts and finance officers 400 40.3
Malone et al. (1993) Financial analysts 694 16.6
Australia, New Zealand, and Anderson and Epstein (1986) Individual shareholders
USA 5,718 16.3
Canada, USA, European Union Belkaoui et al. (1977) Financial analysts 700 45.7
USA and Australia Baker et al. (1977) Investors 2,648 50.1
USA and New Zealand Chang and Most (1977) Shareholders 1,334 20.0
(continued)
Company annual

Annual report studies

Sri Lanka

with user input

185

Table I.
report users in
 5,2

186

Table I.
IJOEM

Response
Market Author (year) User groups Sample %

USA, UK, and New Zealand Chang and Most (1981) Individual investors, institutional investors,
and financial analysts 5,800 26.0
Emerging
Bangladesh Nicholls and Kamran (1995) Practising accounts, non-practising
accountants, bank loan officers, and financial
analysts 1,000 44.6
Karim (1995) Bankers, accountants, stock brokers,
academics, tax officers, and financial analysts 651 45.5
India Joshi and Abdulla (1994) Chartered accountants and investors 850 25.5
Iran Mirshekary (1999) Bank loan officers, academics, stock brokers,
bank investment officers, institutional
investors, auditors, and tax officers 500 49.0
Jordan Abu-Nassar and Rutherford (1995) Individual shareholders, institutional
shareholders, bank loan officers, stockbrokers,
and academics 463 48.4
Abu-Nassar and Rutherford (1995) Preparers of financial statements mainly
finance directors and chief accountants 112 74.0
Malaysia Rahman (1999) Accountants and financial analysts 300 45.0
Mexico Chow and Wong-Boren (1987) Bank loan officers 106 63.2
Nigeria Wallace (1988) and Wallace and Chartered accountants, investors, senior civil
Cooke (1988) servants, managers, financial analysts, and
other professionals 1,200 39.2
South Africa Firer and Meth (1986) Investment analysts and financial directors 595 31.1
investors and creditors were experienced and had access to personal sources of Company annual
knowledge. They did not rely on corporate annual reports. Athukorala and Rajapatirana report users in
(2000) argue that during the first decade after independence Sri Lanka had a liberal trade
regime but by the mid-1970s it had become highly regulated. Sri Lanka
This situation changed dramatically in early 1970s with the emergence of a new
social class who had an investible surplus of income, alongside new lending institutions
including state banks (Manoharan, 1972). In response to these changes, companies 187
slowly acknowledged the demand for information by this new class of people. During
this time, ownership structures of business changed in complexity and new lending
institutions emerged, and a new generation of manager came into government agencies,
that were less experienced. At this time “greater reliance is placed on the information
provided by accounting statements in making judgements regarding creditworthiness,
efficiency, etc. of various undertakings” (Perera, 1975, p. 87).
With the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka
(ICASL) in 1959, the reporting practices in Sri Lanka took a significant turn. While
advising their members to comply with the provisions of the Companies Ordinance, the
ICASL, following the recommendations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales, introduced more progressive reporting requirements and auditing
standards (Perera, 1975). However, these requirements did not have any legal backing.
Only the Companies Ordinance continued to maintain legal control over accounting and
accountants in the country. The Company Ordinance required every firm to maintain
certain records and have them audited by a qualified auditor every year. However, the
requirements specified by the Companies Ordinance had many limitations. For example,
although the rules applicable to the preparation of the balance sheet were specified in the
ordinance no such rules were given in respect of the profit and loss account. By 1977,
the ICASL had issued seven Sri Lankan Accounting Standards (SLAS), of which SLAS 7
“Information to be disclosed in financial statements” provided specific information with
regard to the preparation of financial statements. Five years after the introduction of
SLAS 7, the existing Companies Ordinance No. 51 of 1938 was replaced by the
Companies Act, No. 17 of 1982, which specified the reporting requirements in greater
detail. Effectively, most of the requirements recommended by the ICASL through the
SLAS 7 were included in the 1982 Act.
Unlike the Companies Ordinance No. 51 of 1938, the Companies Act 1982 included
specific requirements for both the balance sheet and the profit and loss account. Under the
1982 Act, the directors were required to prepare and present profit and loss accounts,
balance sheets, group accounts (if any) and other necessary reports in accordance with
the provisions of Sections 144, 146, and 152. Further, Part I of the fifth schedule of the
Act explicitly detailed the information that should be disclosed in these statements
(Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 1982). The enactment of the
new Companies Act No. 2007, which replaced the 1982 Act, introduces tougher penalties
for non-compliance with respect to disclosure requirements.
The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) also provided greater details of these
disclosure polices in its publications and web site. The directors of the companies listed
on the Exchange are obligated to follow the listing requirements based on these
policies on a continuing basis. If a company listed on the Exchange violates these
requirements, it is subject to various sanctions imposed by the CSE. An extreme or
continuing violation of these requirements by a company may result in removing the
IJOEM listing to a Default Board. An ultimate penalty is de-listing of its name from the
5,2 exchange. Securities listed on the Default Board as at June 12, 2007 numbered 24
(Daily News, June 13, 2007). Registration on the Default Board is an ineffective penalty,
because those listed on the board were still able to trade on the stock exchange.
The CSE were reluctant to de-list these companies for fear that it would hurt the
minority shareholders (Lanka Business Online, May 7, 2007). The new Companies Act
188 2007 is stricter because it imposes fines for not complying with rules such as not filing
annual a report within six months of the close of the financial year. The new
Companies Act is anticipated to enforce compliance and help to clean up the Default
Board. La Porta et al. (1998) argue that common-law countries (such as Sri Lanka) have
the strongest laws protecting investors. They suggest the greater the legal protection
received by investors, the greater the likelihood of enforcement. La Porta et al. (1998)
infer if shareholders have greater powers in corporate voting, that there is incentive for
managers who produce annual reports and present them to the users to ensure they are
more decision useful, so that shareholders do not invoke sanctions.
In addition to the listing rules and regulations, several other laws directly or
indirectly emphasize the requirements of immediate disclosure. These laws are
embodied in the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) Act 1987, the
Takeovers and Mergers Code, and the insider dealing provisions of the SEC Act.
While the Companies Act and the CSE’s listing regulations stipulate mandatory
disclosure requirements, the ICASL has regularly adopted, with necessary
modifications, several accounting standards and auditing guidelines set out by
some international bodies for the improvement of reporting practices in Sri Lanka.
Until 1995, these standards mainly served as guidelines for accountants and auditors
to prepare and audit accounts. However, after the enactment of the Sri Lanka
Accounting and Auditing Act 1995, the compliance of the SLASs formulated and
issued by the ICASL became mandatory for all public companies in the preparation of
their financial statements. The Act also included a provision for the setting up of an
Accounting Standards Committee, with half of its members representing different
user groups. They placed equal responsibility for ensuring compliance with the
standards on the management of the entity, and also on its auditors, who are required
to report specifically on whether the entity has complied with the relevant SLASs.
The application of SLASs is mandatory for all companies listed on the CSE (ICASL,
2006). In recent years, the ICASL has developed a conceptual framework for the
preparation and presentation of financial statements. This framework sets out the
concepts that underline the preparation and presentation of financial statements for
external users. Although the framework is not an SLAS and does not override any
specific SLAS, it greatly assists the Council of the ICASL in reviewing and developing
accounting standards, and helps various other parties, such as the preparers and
auditors of financial statements, to apply SLASs. The framework outlines the
following: the objective of financial statements; the qualitative characteristics that
determine the usefulness of information in financial statements; the definition,
recognition and measurement of the elements from which financial statements are
constructed; and concepts of capital and capital maintenance (ICASL, 2006).
Athukorala and Reid (2002) report that Sri Lanka’s accounting and auditing services
compare favourably to those of other countries, both emerging and developed for the
private sector.
Research design Company annual
The data reported in this study were collected through a questionnaire survey. Since report users in
one of the main purposes of this study was to examine the views of a wide spectrum of
users, an attempt was made to cover all major users of annual reports in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka
Table I shows that out of 41 studies of users of financial reports, 32 (78 percent) limited
their enquiry to one or two user groups, being investors and financial analysts. These
studies investigate the importance of individual line items, for example sales, in annual 189
reports to one or two user groups. This study contributes to the dearth of literature by
focusing on wider range of seven user groups.
After having carefully examined the various user groups used in other studies and the
Sri Lankan situation, seven user groups were chosen for this study. The questionnaire was
administered to 150 accountants, 100 executives and managers, 50 bankers, 35 tax officers
and assessors, 50 academics, 40 financial analysts, and 150 investors. The sample was
drawn from the population located in the Colombo District, this being the major
commercial and industrial city. A total of 575 copies of the questionnaire were distributed
to the home or office addresses of the prospective respondents, along with a letter of
request addressed personally to each. The questionnaire consisted of two sections and had
94 questions (14 in Part I and 80 in Part II). The first section dealt with the questions on the
user profile and the usage patterns of annual reports in Sri Lanka; while the second section
dealt with questions on items that should or could appear in corporate annual reports.
The analysis of this paper is based on the responses received for Part I of the questionnaire.
The applicable part of this questionnaire is shown in the Appendix. The breakdown of the
response rates under each user group is shown in Table II.
The user groups chosen are:
.
accountants (ACC);
.
executives/managers (EXE);
.
bankers (BAN);
.
assessors/tax officers (TAX);
.
academics (ACA);
.
financial analysts (FA); and
.
investors (individual, institutional, and stock broking) (INV).

The sample was drawn from the population located in the Colombo District.
Considering the difficulties faced by previous researches in getting a high response to

User Sample Response Percentage

Accountants (ACC) 150 53 35.3

Executives/managers (EXE) 100 74 74.0
Bankers (BAN) 50 32 64.0
Assessors/tax officers (TAX) 35 16 45.7
Academics (ACA) 50 22 44.0
Financial analysts (FA) 40 24 60.0 Table II.
Investors (INV) 150 43 28.7 Survey response by
Total 575 264 45.9 category of users
IJOEM questionnaire surveys in Sri Lanka and other emerging markets, as a possible strategy
5,2 to avoid this problem, it was decided to adopt two methods for the distribution and
collection of the questionnaire. The first method employed was to deliver and collect
the questionnaire by the first author himself and through a number of persons with
whom he had personal contacts. All the persons who delivered the questionnaire to the
people known to them were briefed properly about the objectives and the nature of the
190 questionnaire. Based on this method, 243 copies of the questionnaire were distributed
during August and September 2000. The second method employed was a mail survey
in which 332 copies were mailed to the home/office addresses of the prospective
respondents along with a letter of request addressed personally to each of them. The
questionnaire and the letter of request were provided only in English. A stamped
envelope was also sent for easy returning of the completed questionnaire.
The sample of accountants was drawn from the Directory of Members and Firms
1999 issued by the ICASL. Since 32 of the 150 accountants included in the sample were
personally known to the researcher, they were handed over the questionnaire personally.
The questionnaire for the other 118 accountants was mailed to their addresses.
The sample of the executives/managers (100) was drawn from the students’ registry
of the Master of Business Administration degree program of the Postgraduate Institute
of Management (PIM) and randomly selected public and private companies located in
Colombo. All questionnaires for this category were distributed personally either by
researcher himself or through PIM. The sample of 50 bankers (senior managers) was
drawn from two leading commercial banks (the Sampath Bank and the Bank of Ceylon)
as well as from bank managers enrolled in the MBA program of PIM. The sample of 35
tax officers (assessors) was taken from those working in the Department of Inland
Revenue, Colombo. The questionnaires for these two categories, bankers and tax
officers, were distributed personally. The sample of academics consisted of 12 senior
lecturers/lecturers from the Department of Accounting of the University of
Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) and randomly selected 38 senior lecturers from the
commerce and management faculties of the Colombo, Kalaniya, and Peradeniya
universities. While the questionnaires for the 12 lecturers of the USJ were handed over
personally, they were mailed to the other 38 lecturers through their respective
universities. Because of the non-availability of a formal list of financial analysts in
Sri Lanka, the researcher had to draw the sample of financial analysts (40) from two
indirect sources. First, 14 financial analysts who were personally known to the
researcher were included in this group and the questionnaire was given to each of them
personally. Then, the next 26 members for this group were randomly chosen from the
chartered accountants who were listed as “financial consultants” in the ICASL’s
Directory of Members and Firms 1999, and the questionnaire was mailed to all of them.
Finally, a list of 150 investors was prepared with the information obtained from the CSE
and the questionnaires were mailed to their home addresses. Every attempt was made to
obtain a high response rate for the questionnaire with a view to minimising the effect of
non-response bias. As for the 243 copies of the questionnaire distributed personally,
researcher himself visited the respondents to collect the completed questionnaire. While
some respondents returned the completed questionnaire as expected at the researcher’s
first visit, others sought extra time to complete it. In such cases, visits had to be repeated.
However, even after several visits some respondents did not return the questionnaire
stating that they could not find the time to fill it. Also, a number of respondents could not
be contacted after the first visit. As for the mailed questionnaires, considering the cost Company annual
factor, it was decided to limit the number of reminders to one. Accordingly, reminders report users in
were sent to those who had not responded within the first two weeks after mailing the
questionnaire. Since the mailed questionnaires were pre-numbered before they were Sri Lanka
posted, it was possible to identify the non-respondents by their names.
The total response rate of 45.9 percent compares favorably with those of the
previous studies (Table I). The analysis of the profiles of respondents revealed that the 191
majority of respondents (82 percent) had gained a tertiary qualification, indicating that
they have a high level of education. This is also true in respect of their knowledge in
accounting, with over 95 percent of the respondents having studied accounting at some
level. Only 4.3 percent of the users did not have any education in accounting. The level
of experience of the user groups was also very high, with 73 percent of them had over
five years working experience in their present capacity and 13.8 percent had over
20 years working experience. The majority of respondents (83.7 percent) also owned
shares in companies. Overall, the demographics of the respondents indicate that they
are well educated, knowledgeable in accounting, highly experienced and interested in
investments in shares of companies.

Research questions
In order to examine the user responses pertaining to the usefulness of annual reports
for their needs, this study addressed the following research questions:
RQ1. What is the major purpose of using annual reports in Sri Lanka as perceived
by their users; and is there any significant difference between the perceptions
of various users in relation to the purposes of using annual reports?
RQ2. How important is the annual report for various users as an information
source; and is there any significant difference between the perceptions of
various users in relation to the importance of various sources of information?
RQ3. Is the information provided in annual reports adequate for user needs; and is
there any significant difference between the perceptions of various users
in relation to the adequacy of information provided in annual reports?
RQ4. What section of the annual reports do users perceive as important; and is there
any significant difference between the perceptions of various users in relation
to the importance they attach to the different parts of annual reports?
RQ5. How frequently are annual reports used by users; and is there any significant
difference between the perceptions of various users in relation to the degree of
use of annual reports?
RQ6. What are the problems that restrict the use of annual reports and is there any
significant difference between the perceptions of various users in relation to
the problems that restrict the use of annual reports in Sri Lanka?
RQ7. Can the time lag between the end of the financial year and the issue of annual
reports be avoided; and is there any significant difference between the
perceptions of various users in relation to the reduction or avoidance of this
time lag?
IJOEM Results and discussion
5,2 The analysis of the survey results is reported under seven sections: purpose of using
annual reports, sources of information, adequacy of information, importance of
different parts of annual reports, frequency of using annual reports, factors restricting
the use of annual reports and finally, the time lag of publishing annual reports.

192 Purpose of using annual reports

Company annual reports are used by several different parties to obtain information for
various purposes, such as investing, lending, administrative, research, and academic.
In order to examine whether there were any significant differences between the seven
user groups with regard to the purposes of using annual reports, the respondents were
asked to indicate their major purposes in using company annual reports. Seven
probable purposes were listed in the questionnaire, with a request to choose one or
more appropriate items from the list. Additional space was also provided for indicating
any other purposes. When the survey results were analysed using Kruskal-Wallis
one-way ANOVA test, it was revealed that the differences between the user groups
with regard to their purposes of using annual reports were significant at the 1 percent
level for all the seven purposes listed in the questionnaire. This suggests that the
purposes for which annual reports are used vary significantly across different user
groups. This finding is consistent with a study in Bangladesh done by Karim (1995).
Since 47.7 percent of respondents indicated that they use annual reports for obtaining
information to buy, hold or sell shares, this can be considered to be the major purpose
of using corporate annual reports in Sri Lanka. When analysed by the user groups,
three groups (ACC, FA, and INV) indicated this as the mostly used purpose, while three
other groups (BAN, TAX, and ACA) viewed it as the second-most used purpose.
According to the other group (EXE), however, making decisions was the main purpose.
This ranking of executives (managers) is quite reasonable, because the information
provided in annual reports is very important to them in their decision making. Overall,
the view that buying, holding or selling shares was the most-used purpose by all
respondents suggests that most of the user groups are interested in share investments.
Karim (1995) found that buying, holding or selling shares in a private capacity was the
second most favoured reason for using annual reports, while making decision on behalf
of a client was given as the most common reason for using annual reports. This was to
be the third most important reason in this study. The item “general review/academic
purposes” was identified by 38.3 percent of respondents as the second most-used
purpose. While it was ranked second by four of the seven user groups (ACC, EXE,
TAX, and INV), three other groups (BAN, ACA, and FA) ranked it third, first, and fifth,
respectively. The wide use of annual reports for general review and academic purposes
is understandable because these purposes are generally applicable to all user groups.

Sources of information
In addition to the annual reports, one can occasionally obtain information about
financial and non-financial aspects of a company from several other sources. Stock
brokers’ advice, investment advisory services of accounting firms, and newspaper
reports are some examples of these other sources. Depending on the information needs
of users, the importance they attach to various sources of information may
significantly vary among various users. Thus, in order to examine the importance of
various sources of information for each of the seven user groups, the respondents were Company annual
asked to indicate the importance they attach to ten possible sources of information that report users in
could be used to gather information on financial and non-financial affairs of a
company. A Likert scale ranging from one (least important) to five (most important) Sri Lanka
was used for indicating the user importance on the given items. The mean score
received for each source in individual user groups and all groups is shown in Table III.
The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test carried out to determine whether there were 193
statistically significant differences between users groups in respect of the sources
listed in the questionnaire revealed that users’ perception varied significantly in
relation to eight of the nine items listed in the questionnaire. As per the ranking of the
sources, four of the seven user groups (EXE, BAN, ACA, and INV) ranked annual
reports as their primary source of information, with ACC and FA rating it as the
second most important source. Only one user group (TAX) ranked two other sources
ahead of annual reports as their primary sources of information, making the annual
report as the third most important source. Overall, annual reports were cited as the
primary source of information, with mean values across user groups ranging from
30.25 to 4.49, leading to an overall mean value of 4.30. Apart from annual reports,
personal information and knowledge about the company was viewed as the next-most
important source of information on overall rankings, with a mean value of 4.06. In
addition to the three user groups (ACC, TAX, and FA) which cited this as their primary
source, the other four groups also ranked it within the top three sources of information.
While “stock market publications” and “communication with the company
management” enjoyed third and fourth rankings, with mean values of 3.85 and 3.44,
respectively, “advice of friends” and “tips and rumours” were perceived as the
least-used sources, with mean values of 2.36 and 2.55, respectively. The above rankings
also show that despite the increased number of companies disclosing more information
on the internet, it is still not regarded by many users as a very important source of
information for the purposes discussed above. This is consistent with the findings
of Lane et al. (2004) who found that while in Colombo internet and electronic
commerce capability are relatively sophisticated, in regional Sri Lanka basic internet
infrastructure is either non-existent or unreliable and relatively expensive (Lane et al.,
2004). Similarly, “newspaper reports and other media reviews” were not seen as very
useful, despite recent efforts taken by the SEC to provide periodic information on
company affairs through this media. The findings of this research are consistent with

Source ACC EXE BAN TAX ACA FA INV Total

Advice of friends 1.87 2.74 2.41 3.00 2.41 2.75 1.79 2.36
Stockbrokers’ advice 3.13 3.24 2.78 2.50 3.32 3.08 3.53 3.16
Advisory services of accounting firms 3.62 3.26 3.06 2.75 2.91 2.67 2.70 3.10
Communication with company management 3.28 3.35 3.28 3.63 3.32 3.58 3.79 3.44
News paper reports and other media reviews 3.55 3.34 3.38 2.31 3.41 3.42 3.81 3.41
Company annual reports 4.19 4.42 4.44 3.25 4.36 4.29 4.49 4.30
Stock market publications 3.89 3.65 4.13 3.00 4.27 3.75 4.12 3.85
Tips and rumours 2.72 1.96 3.06 3.00 1.73 3.42 2.72 2.55 Table III.
Personal information and knowledge about The importance of
the company 4.38 4.05 3.91 3.75 3.64 4.50 3.86 4.06 various sources of
Information provided on the internet 3.09 2.92 3.31 1.75 3.41 1.50 2.79 2.82 information
IJOEM the study undertaken by Abu-Nassar and Rutherford (1995) who examined sources of
5,2 financial information most used in Jordan, another emerging economy. They found
that the most favoured source of primary financial information was the annual report
for four groups of users namely academics, stockbrokers, institutional shareholders
and individual shareholders.

194 Adequacy of information in annual reports

In order to examine the sufficiency of the information in annual reports for different
users, the respondents were asked to indicate whether the annual reports they used
contained information adequate for their purposes by choosing either “adequate”, “not
adequate” or “partially adequate” as the correct response. The survey data show that
only 25.4 percent of all respondents perceived that the information provided by annual
reports was adequate, while the majority of respondents (74.6 percent) viewed it as
either partially adequate or not adequate at all. The group-wide responses were also
very similar to the overall perceptions, with the exception of the ACA group, which
viewed the information provided by annual reports as only partially adequate.
The percentage of users viewing the amount of information provided by annual reports
as completely inadequate varied from zero to 14 percent across all user groups. When
the Kruskal-Wallis test was carried out seven times, excluding a user group at a time,
in order to identify which group had an opinion significantly different from that of
other groups, no statistically significant differences of opinion were found with regard
to this issue when the ACC groups was excluded from the sample. This suggests that
all groups, except ACC, hold a similar view on the adequacy of information content in
annual reports. This finding is consistent with Abu-Nassar and Rutherford (1995) who
found Jordanian users of financial reports regarded the adequacy of information
provided insufficient for their purposes.

Importance of different parts of annual reports

The information is presented in annual reports under different sections. While some
sections, such as profit and loss account and the balance sheet are mandatory, other
sections such as the chairman’s report and value-added statements are voluntary items
for an annual report. Moreover, some sections of the annual report present quantitative
data while others provide only qualitative information. The importance of each section
may vary significantly among user groups. Thus, in order to examine this issue,
information was sought from the respondents in respect of their perceived importance
on 11 sections that are usually found in annual reports. They were requested to
indicate their degree of importance to each section on a five-point Likert scale ranging
from the least important section (1) to the most important section (5). The results are
summarised in Table IV.
The balance sheet and the profit and loss account were perceived to be the most
important sections of an annual report, both having almost similar mean scores of 4.51
and 4.50, respectively, on the overall rankings.
The analysis of the survey results by Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the
differences between user groups were significant at the 1 percent ( p , 0.01) level with
regard to eight of the ten sections listed in the questionnaire. This suggests that the
importance attached by the seven user groups to nine sections of an annual report
significantly vary between groups. However, since the calculated p-values of the
 Company annual
Mean of responses
Section ACC EXE BAN TAX ACA FA INV Total report users in
Balance sheet 4.89 4.28 4.38 4.19 4.64 4.58 4.56 4.51
Sri Lanka
Profit and loss account 4.43 4.54 4.47 4.13 4.41 4.67 4.63 4.50
Cash flow statement 4.25 4.42 4.06 2.25 4.23 4.33 4.02 4.12
Accounting polices 3.87 3.18 3.78 3.63 3.82 3.50 3.58 3.56 195
Notes to accounts 4.06 3.09 4.25 4.13 4.09 4.08 3.81 3.78
Movement in shareholders’ funds 3.49 3.86 3.75 2.75 3.91 3.21 3.67 3.62
Auditor’s report 3.81 2.59 3.94 3.88 3.82 3.08 3.05 3.30
Chairman’s report 1.96 2.45 2.81 2.75 2.09 3.17 2.74 2.50
Directors’ report 2.15 2.30 2.94 3.75 2.23 2.17 2.86 2.51 Table IV.
Value added statements 3.09 2.76 3.09 3.50 4.00 2.50 3.09 3.05 Importance of different
Statistical data/summary/history 4.02 3.89 3.47 2.50 3.91 3.64 4.44 3.85 parts of annual report

Kruskal-Wallis for two sections of an annual report (profit and loss account and
accounting policies) were greater than 5 percent ( p . 0.05), there is no significant
difference, in statistical terms, between the user groups in respect of importance
attached to these two sections of an annual report. A closer look at the mean values of
the responses indicate that users generally perceive the balance sheet and the profit
and loss account to be the most important sections in annual reports. Both these
sections scored similarly, with means of 4.51 and 4.50, respectively, on the overall
rankings. While six out of the seven user groups ranked these two statements as the
most important, the other user group (EXE), while ranking profit and loss account as
the most important section, chose the cash flow statement over the balance sheet as the
second-most important section. Most studies in the literature focus on developed
markets (Chang and Most, 1981; Anderson, 1998; Ho and Shun-Wong, 2001) and
emerging markets (Karim, 1995; Abu-Nassar and Rutherford, 1995), observe that both
the balance sheet and the profit and loss account are the most important sections in
annual reports. While this study found auditors’ reports as the eighth ranked preferred
source of information, this is inconsistent with a prior study undertaken by Wallace
(1988) who claimed the auditor’s report to be of significance in developing countries,
where it was given the highest ranking for importance across the surveyed user
groups.

Frequency of using annual reports

The degree of use of annual reports varies between users. While some individuals or
organizations use company annual reports quite frequently, others use them occasionally.
The respondents were asked to indicate the frequency of using annual reports for making
decisions by ticking one of the five possible frequencies given in the questionnaire.
The proportion of respondents using annual reports very frequently (usually/always) was
41.2 percent. Conversely, the less-frequent users (rarely/sometimes) were 48.7 percent,
with the total users of annual reports amounting to 89.9 percent. However, the results of
the Kruskal-Wallis test (x 2 ¼ 26.47, df ¼ 6, p ¼ 0.00) showed that the frequency of using
annual reports was significantly different among users. When these figures were analyzed
in terms of user groups, it was found that financial analysts were the most frequent users
of annual reports. This suggests that annual report analysis is an indispensable tool for
financial analysts in Sri Lanka, despite their ranking of “personal information and
IJOEM knowledge” ahead of the annual report as the primary source of information for decision
5,2 making. On the other hand, in line with the lower ranking given by tax authorities for the
annual report as a source of information for their decision making, tax authorities were
the least frequent group of users of annual reports among the sample groups.

Factors restricting the use of annual reports

196 Several factors seem to restrict the use of annual reports, namely the delay in
publishing annual reports, the difficulty of obtaining them and the lack of reliability
in the information provided. Respondents were asked to indicate whether one or more
of the five factors listed in the questionnaire restricted their use of annual reports.
Additional space was also provided to supply any other factors. The survey showed
the delay in publishing annual reports was viewed by a vast majority of respondents
(71.7 percent) as the prime factor restricting the use of annual reports in Sri Lanka.
This item was ranked the main limiting factor by four user groups and as the second
major limiting factor by the other three groups, with percentages ranging within user
groups from 54.2 to 92.5. This indicates the overall agreement of users on the
seriousness of this limitation. The use of annual reports was constrained by the
apparent difficulty of obtaining them, with 58.8 percent of all respondents indicating it
as the second major limiting factor. Financial analysts and investors viewed this as the
most serious limitation, ranking it ahead of “delay in publishing”, with percentages of
81.8 and 90.7, respectively. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed p-values
greater than 5 percent ( p . 0.05) for all five factors. This result suggests that there is
no significant difference of opinion between user groups with regard to the factors that
limit their use of annual reports. This result is consistent with a study done by
Mirshekary (1999) who also found the delay in publishing is primary reason that
restricts the use of annual reports in Iran.

Time lag in publishing annual reports

Publication delay was viewed as a major problem faced by the users of annual reports in
Sri Lanka. This describes the time lag between the end of the accounting period and the
date of publishing the annual report. Companies are required to present annual reports
to both the shareholders and the Securities Exchange Commission no greater than
six months after the close of the financial year (Securities Exchange Commission of
Sri Lanka, 2006). Because of this time lag, it is perceived that the information provided in
annual reports is outdated. In order to examine the opinions of the users about the delay
in publishing annual reports, the respondents of this survey were asked to indicate their
personal observations on this matter by stating in their opinion whether the time lag was
unavoidable or whether it could be reduced. When the responses were statistically
analysed using Kruskal-Wallis test (x 2 ¼ 40.20, df ¼ 6, p ¼ 0.00), it was found that the
opinions with regard to this aspect differs significantly among the user groups.
However, overall, an overwhelming majority (89.7 percent) of respondents thought that
the existing time lag associated with the publication of annual reports in Sri Lanka could
be reduced. This view was shared equally by all the user groups, except 50 percent of tax
officers who indicated that the time lag was unavoidable.
There is some evidence of the accuracy of these perceptions. In 1999, the Sri Lankan
Department of Public Finance reported that there were still audited public corporation
accounts outstanding for 1996 and 1997, and that no reports had been received for 1998
(Asian Development Bank, 2000, p. 6, as cited by Athukorala and Reid, 2002). Also, as Company annual
previously indicated in the second section, companies are put on the default list for report users in
failure to produce and distribute a corporate annual report, with 24 companies being
listed as at June 12, 2007 (Daily News, June 13, 2007). It is noted this research does not Sri Lanka
attempt to report on the reasonableness of such delays or speculate on the causes
(these are identified as areas for further research), but only on the perceptions of users
in Sri Lanka. 197
The finding of a perceived publication delay of annual reports is consistent with the
findings of Abu-Nassar and Rutherford (1995) who found that users of financial reports
in Jordan used alternative sources of information because they were more up to date
than other sources, and gave information not found in annual reports. Similarly,
Naser et al. (2003) in a study of users’ perceptions of various aspects of corporate
reporting in Kuwait, regarded the timeliness of financial reports to be important, with
users either strongly agreeing or agreeing that the annual report should be published
no later than 30 days subsequent to the end of the accounting period. Owusu-Ansah
and Leventis (2006) in a study on the timeliness of corporate annual financial reporting
in Greece found that large companies, service companies, and companies that are
audited by larger international accounting firms have a shorter final reporting
lead-time. This is consistent with smaller companies in an emerging economy with a
small accounting profession, such as is the case in Sri Lanka, being perceived to have
a longer time lag in financial reporting.

Summary and conclusions

The major objective of this study was to examine the perceptions on the usefulness of
annual reports in the emerging market of Sri Lanka, through a questionnaire survey
covering a wide spectrum of user groups. The results of the survey reveal that the
major purpose of using company annual reports in Sri Lanka is to obtain information
needed for making decisions involving buying, holding or selling shares. The majority
of users also indicated that they use annual reports frequently, indicating the
important role annual reports play in their decision-making functions. Moreover,
although the amount of information provided by annual reports is perceived to be
inadequate, all categories of users considered annual reports to be primary source of
information. The balance sheet and the profit and loss account are perceived to be the
most important sections of the annual report. As indicated by the majority of
respondents in this study, it is perceived that the delay in publishing annual reports is
the major obstacle that constrains their use in Sri Lanka. Most respondents also
indicated that they thought this delay can be reduced substantially. It is conjectured
that the delay in the publication of company annual reports acts as a serious obstacle to
the capital formation in the developing economy of Sri Lanka. This is identified as an
area for further research to determine if authorities need to adopt suitable regulatory
measures for reducing this time lag as a necessary step towards strengthening the
emerging capital market in Sri Lanka.
The results of this study were subject to the limitations commonly associated with
all mail surveys in respect of the reliability and accuracy of information. Although this
paper was based on a small part of a comprehensive study on corporate disclosures in
Sri Lanka, for pragmatic reasons, it did not analyse the respondents’ perceptions on
each of the information items presented in annual reports. However, the exclusion of
IJOEM such an analysis may have affected the usefulness of this paper. Almost all
5,2 respondents who participated in the questionnaire survey had at least a fair knowledge
of accounting and a reasonably high level of education. If persons without such an
educational background were included in the sample, the results of the study could
have been different. Therefore, it is important to replicate this study in the future by
taking a larger sample consisting of individuals with different levels of educational
198 background.

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Appendix. Questionnaire Company annual
1. Please indicate [ ] your occupation.
report users in
Partner/Accountant in an audit firm
Accountant in a company
Assessor/Tax officer
Lecturer/Researcher
Sri Lanka
Manager/Executive in a company Financial analysts/consultant
Manager/Executive in the Govt. Stock broker
Employee of a company/ Govt. Other (please specify):………………………
Banker
2. Highest Educational qualification (Tick one box) 3. Accounting Knowledge/Qualifications (Tick appropriate box[s]) 201
Primary None
G.C.E (Ordinary level) G.C.E (Ordinary level) / (Advanced level)
G.C.E (Advanced level) Diploma
Diploma Bachelor's Degree
Bachelor's Degree ICA / CIMA parts, MAAT/SAT
Master's Degree Master's Degree/ Doctoral Degree
Doctor's Degree ICMA/ CIMA / ACCA membership
Other (Please specify):………….. ICA membership
Other (Please specify):……………………….
4. How long have you been in your present profession? 5. In how many companies have you purchased shares?
Less than one year None
1 - 5 years One company
5 - 10 years 2 - 5 companies
10 - 15 years 6 - 10 companies
15 - 20 years 11 - 20 companies
Over 20 years Over 20 companies
6. Do you use information given in company annual reports for making a decision? [Decision may be to buy, sell, or hold shares;
to approve a loan to a company; to advise a client; to evaluate the performance of a company, etc.] (Please tick only one box.)
Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always
7. For what purpose(s) do you use company annual reports? (Please tick appropriate box or boxes.)
to decide whether to buy, hold or sell shares
to grant a loan / trade credit to a company
to advise a client
to make decisions for a client or employer
to evaluate income tax liability
to make decisions in managing the company
to know about the company for academic purposes
Other (Please specify):…………………………………..
8. To know about the financial position and operating performance of a company, how important, in your opinion, are the following
sources of information?
Least important [Please circle only one.] Most important
Advice of friends 1 2 3 4 5
Stockbrokers' advice 1 2 3 4 5
Advisory cervices of accounting firms 1 2 3 4 5
Communication with company management 1 2 3 4 5
News paper reports and other media reviews 1 2 3 4 5
Company annual reports 1 2 3 4 5
Stock market publications 1 2 3 4 5
Tips and rumours 1 2 3 4 5
Personal knowledge about the company 1 2 3 4 5
Information provided on the Internet 1 2 3 4 5
Other (Please specify)…….……………………………..… 1 2 3 4 5
9. Do you think that the company annual report(s) that you use contain adequate information necessary to serve your purpose of
using them?
Yes No Partially adequate
10. What ranking of importance would you give to the following parts of a company annual report?
Least important [Please circle only one.] Most important
Balance sheet 1 2 3 4 5
Profit and Loss Account 1 2 3 4 5
Cash flow statement 1 2 3 4 5
Accounting polices 1 2 3 4 5
Notes to accounts 1 2 3 4 5
Movement in shareholder's funds 1 2 3 4 5
Auditors' Report 1 2 3 4 5
Chairman's Report 1 2 3 4 5
Directors' Report 1 2 3 4 5
Value added statements 1 2 3 4 5
Statistical data/summary of operations/historical data 1 2 3 4 5
12. As a user of company annual reports, in your opinion what problems restrict their use? ( Please tick appropriate box or boxes.)
Difficulty of obtaining annual reports Lack of reliable information in annual reports
Delay in publishing annual reports Lack of simplicity in the contents and presentation of information
Lack of adequate financial info in annual reports Other (Please specify):……………………………………………
13. There is a time lag between the end of an accounting period and the date of publishing an annual report. What is your personal
observation of this time lag? (Please tick only one box.)
This time lag is unavoidable. This time lag can be reduced
IJOEM About the authors
Anura De Zoysa is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the University of Wollongong, Australia.
5,2 He received his PhD (Accounting) from the University of Wollongong and has an MEc (Hons)
from the Wakayama University in Japan. Before joining the University of Wollongong, he
worked at universities in Japan and Sri Lanka and also served as a Goodwill Ambassador of
the Nagoya International Centre in Japan from 1997 to 1998. He is also a CPA and a CMA in
Australia and a FCA in Sri Lanka. He has had articles published in international journals
202 including, The International Journal of Accounting, Journal of Small Business Management,
Journal of Industrial Management and Data Systems, Journal of Management Development, and
Journal of Accounting and Finance. He has also presented papers in a number of international
conferences held in the USA, the UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Thailand, and Italy.
His research interests are financial reporting, accounting practices in small enterprises, small
business management, cost and management accounting. Anura De Zoysa is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: anura@uow.edu.au
Kathy Rudkin is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the University of Wollongong, Australia.
She has worked in business as a corporate accountant and has been involved in the governance
of educational institutions in the community. Her publications include Critical Perspectives on
Accounting Journal and the Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal. She has
presented papers in a number of international conferences held in the USA, Australia,
New Zealand, and Spain. Her research interests are financial reporting, accounting theory,
accounting history, and accounting education.

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