Differential reporting in Singapore and Australia: A small business managers' perspective

This study examines societal values on two key issues of differential reporting, the preferred level of disclosure and perceived balance of costs relative to benefits of compliance. A theoretical framework developed by Gray (1988) is utilised, linking Hofstede's (1980) societal values to issues in differential reporting and the accounting subcultural value of secrecy. Interactive multiple regression analysis is used to ascertain the effect of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and individualism on the perceptions of the survey groups towards issues of differential reporting. Findings from this study indicated that the perceptions of small business managers in Singapore and Australia were consistent with prior literature. Uncertainty avoidance and to some extent power distance were found to have a significant effect on small business managers perceptions. This study indicates that the current association between societal values, accounting subcultural dimensions and accounting practice as depicted by Gray (1988) may have to be rearranged