Performance reporting: Statement of comprehensive income according to IFRS and professional investor information processing

损益表是财务报告的核心要素。然而，国际准则制定者(国际会计准则理事会，IASB)对损益表的设计要求是模糊的，将自由裁量权留给了财务报告的编写者。在目前的一份讨论文件中，国际会计准则理事会侧重于业绩报告的决策有用性。直到今天，关于单个业绩指标的决策有用性、它们对投资者信息处理的影响以及这一过程的背景依赖性的研究空白仍然存在。因此，建议的项目旨在通过两步法显著增强收益报告设计的理论基础，该方法包括两个与专业投资者和贷款人的实验：在第一个实验(A部分)中，调查不同业绩指标之间的相互关系，如损益、EBITDA和营业收入。此外，还考察了收益报告对投资者信息处理的影响以及个别业绩指标的预测质量。我们打算将投资者信息处理作为一个中介进行分析，这决定了损益表中的结构性变化是否可以改善预测质量和对投资者预测的信任。第二个实验(B部分)探讨了专业投资者和贷款人是否以不同的方式处理业绩信息，以及这一过程是否受到重要的公司特征(盈利与亏损公司)的调节。为了回答这些研究问题，使用了眼球跟踪，这将导致创新的结果，因为它以前很少用于会计研究。

The income statement is a core element of financial reporting. Yet, the requirements for the design of the income statement provided by the international standard setter (International Accounting Standards Board, IASB) are vague and leave discretion for preparers of financial reports. In a current discussion paper, the IASB focuses on the decision-usefulness of performance reporting. Until today, a research gap has remained concerning the decision-usefulness of individual performance indicators, their impact on investor information processing and the context-dependence of this process. Therefore, the proposed project aims at significantly enhancing the theory foundation for the design of income reports via a two-step approach consisting of two experiments with professional investors and lenders: In the first experiment (part A), interrelations between different performance indicators such as profit/loss, EBITDA, and operating income are investigated. Further, the effect on investor information processing of income reports as well as the forecast quality of individual performance indicators are examined. We intend to analyze investor information processing as a mediator, which determines whether structural changes in the income statement may improve forecast quality and trust in investor forecasts. The second experiment (part B) explores whether professional investors and lenders process performance information in a different way and whether this process is moderated by important firm characteristics (profit vs. loss firm). To answer these research questions, eye-tracking is used, which will lead to innovative results since it has previously been used only rarely in accounting research.