An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Joan K. Myers
Le Moyne College

Judy F. Graham
St. John Fisher College

Edward J. Stendardi Jr.
St. John Fisher College

Abstract: Because the setting of standards for financial reporting practices is in part tied to a definition of the financial statement users’ information needs, it is incumbent upon those who set these standards to understand users’ information needs as comprehensively as possible. The authors propose that financial statement users’ information needs may be related to the user’s gender. Utilizing the Selectivity Model, a consumer information processing model, the authors propose that gender differences in information processing tendencies may impact the financial document interpretation process. The behavioral accounting concept of functional fixation is used as one example of how gender differences in information processing may influence the ways in which financial statement users interpret financial documents. Research is needed which will address many such issues within the context of financial document interpretation and gender differences in information processing styles.

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