"True and fair view" : an empirical study of the perceptions of managers.

• Main Authors: Goh, Kien Hwee., Lim, Hui Yung.
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Accounting
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51223
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The "True and Fair View” (TFV) debate has been ongoing for decades. First seen in the UK Companies Act 1948, the TFV concept has since been incorporated into various colonial statutes, and recently, the European Community Judiciary. There has yet been a concrete definition of this term. The ambiguous nature of the words"true and fair” has resulted in a call for a more useful definition. Some even proposed other terms, Hke Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), to serve as the accounting standard. In our study, we set out to determine the perceptions of managers in Singapore on the TFV. An empirical survey ofMasters ofBusiness Administration (MBA) students in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was administered to measure the extent to which they perceived 20 selected phrases as being tantamount to “true and fair”. 150 survey questionnaires were administered, out of which 104 were returned, yielding a response rate of 69.33%. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and multiple- comparison procedures were performed to analyse the data. The ANOVA results show that the 20 phrases are not similarly associated with the term “true and fair” (i.e. one or more of the means are significantly different from the others). Further, "true and fair” is generally perceived to mean that the financial statements comply with GAAP and legal requirements, and that they contain full and proper disclosure. “True and fair” is least associated with the phrases “no uncertainty”, “serve all users equally” and “indicate healthy financial position”.