XBRL-Enabled, Spreadsheet, or PDF? Factors Influencing Exclusive User Choice of Reporting Technology

Abstract

U.S. adoption of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)-enabled technology has been slow. Prior experimental evidence suggests that even when XBRL-enabled technology is available, almost 50 percent of participants do not use it. This study informs AIS researchers on the state of XBRL-enabled technology by using an exclusive choice experimental design to examine (1) which reporting technology nonprofessional investors will choose to complete a financial analysis task (XBRL-enabled, portable document file, or spreadsheet), and (2) why they choose the specific technology.Findings indicate that 66 percent of nonprofessional investors chose XBRL-enabled technology, while 34 percent chose spreadsheets. Participants who chose the former perceived that it reduces the time to complete the task (i.e., increases task efficiency), while participants who chose the latter indicated their choice was driven by prior technology experience. Study results have implications for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), researchers examining nonprofessional investor behavior, user choice literature, and XBRL-enabled technology adoption.

Integrated Reporting and Assurance of Sustainability Information: An Experimental Study on Professional Investors’ Information Processing

“…Their comprehensive framework is based on psychological research and is generally regarded as influential in contemporary (experimental) accounting research (Dunbar & Weber, 2014) because the framework breaks down the decision-making process into testable constituent 9 processes (Rangel, Camerer, & Montague, 2008). Consequentially, the model has regularly been applied by scholars in recent topical articles (e.g., Clor-Proell, Proell, & Warfield, 2014;Dilla, Janvrin, & Jeffrey, 2013;Janvrin, Pinsker, & Mascha, 2013;Lachmann, Stefani, and Wöhrmann (2015); Müller, Riedl, & Sellhorn, 2015). For the present study, the model differentiates between possible alternative explanations of the way in which the integration of financial and sustainability information and the assurance of sustainability information interact and affect investors' judgments.…”

How much is enough? An investigation of nonprofessional investors information search and stopping rule use

“…For example, Thayer (2011) shows that investment position (long vs. short) influences information search. Presentation format influences individual decision making (Kelton et al, 2010) and Janvrin et al (2013) find that nonprofessional investors have different online presentation format preferences. Future research should examine whether such characteristics affect the specific stopping rule used by investors.…”

A Graph Mining Approach to Identify Financial Reporting Patterns: An Empirical Examination of Industry Classifications

“…With XBRL, users can formulate customized calculations queries and to address specific questions that are of interest to users (Baldwin & Brand, 2011). XBRL advocates suggest that XBRL improves not only users' information search capability but also the information transparency (Hodge et al, 2004;Janvrin et al, 2013). For example, Yoon, Zo, and Ciganek (2011) find that the use of XBRL may improve the transparency and quality of business reporting by reducing information asymmetry.…”

“…Throughout the last decade, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has invested much effort in improving the quality of financial reporting by mandating the adoption of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) (Janvrin, Pinsker, & Mascha, 2013;Perdana, Robb, & Rohde, 2014). XBRL facilitates better financial disclosure and easier information exchange that allow accounting information users to analyze a firm's performance and future growth opportunities in a timely manner (Hodge, Kennedy, & Maines, 2004;Liu, Luo, Sia, O'farrell, & Teo, 2014).…”