Judgement in the Singapore statements of accounting standard

Abstract

Over the past 2 decades, several prestigious commissions such as the Treadway and Cohen Commissions and other bodies have referred to the relationship between accounting standards and judgement. Despite such references, the judgement and accounting standards relationship has apparently not attracted much attention from researchers and standard setters. In Singapore itself, there is a lack of empirical studies done in this area. The purpose of this report, therefore, is to draw attention to this relationship and document the extent of judgement required by the Statements of Accounting Standards (SAS). A content analysis was done on a sample of 18 Statements of Accounting Standards whereby judgemental areas were recorded and classified according to a predetermined taxonomy. Results revealed that judgements required by the standards were very much prevalent, especially in those standards that dealt with the accounting of specific items and events. The implications of the results will be discussed along with recommendations made in view of improving the quality of guidance provided by the standards in exercising judgement.