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Article
Does Graph Design Matter To CPAs And Financial Statement Readers?
Journal of Business & Economics Research
  • Deanna Oxender Burgess, Florida Gulf Coast University
  • William N. Dilla, Iowa State University
  • Paul John Steinbart, Arizona State University
  • Todd M. Shank, University of South Florida
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2008
DOI
10.19030/jber.v6i5.2423
Abstract
We asked CPAs and financial statement readers if they believe distorted graphs influence judgments and if they think there is a need for standards governing their presentation and attestation in annual reports. We consider these important questions because decades of studies document that distorted graphs commonly appear in annual reports even though there is considerable evidence that such graphs influence readers’ judgments. Our results show that professionals are aware of the potential influence of graphical distortion, believe that standards are needed to assist in preparing graphs of financial information to be included in annual reports, and agree that auditors should be required to provide assurance about the accuracy of such graphs.
Comments

This article is from Journal of Business & Economics Research 6 (2008): 111, doi: 10.19030/jber.v6i5.2423. Posted with permission.

Rights
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright Owner
The Authors
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Deanna Oxender Burgess, William N. Dilla, Paul John Steinbart and Todd M. Shank. "Does Graph Design Matter To CPAs And Financial Statement Readers?" Journal of Business & Economics Research Vol. 6 Iss. 5 (2008) p. 111 - 124
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/william-dilla/4/