IFRS Accounting Standards Credit Risk Management Disclosure Practices of the JSE Top 40 Non-financial Institutions

Comprehensive risk disclosures enhance the credibility and reliability of financial statements, building market confidence and trust and contributing to the achievement of the United Nations SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth. Investors, lenders, and other stakeholders need to understand how an entity manages credit risks to assess its financial health and stability. By providing high-quality disclosures, users can make informed decisions about investing and lending. In contrast, where disclosures are boilerplate or obscure, including being highly aggregated, limited insight is provided to primary users of financial statements. This study analyses and reports on the decision usefulness, quality, and rigour of credit risk management disclosures of the top 40 non-financial JSE-listed entities in South Africa, specifically focusing on trade receivables published in their latest audited annual financial statements on 31 March 2024. The decision usefulness is assessed by reviewing the nature and extent of credit risk management disclosure practices in relation to accounts receivable. The research followed a mixed-method design where a disclosure index study was performed to examine the existence of specific disclosures in respect of trade receivables, followed by a thematic content analysis to evaluate the quality of these disclosures. This study finds that the disclosures were at times limited in providing decision-useful information to users. While some disclosures were well addressed, others were diverse or deficient in nature. The diversity is mostly attributable to the level of disaggregation provided, and the lack of sufficiently detailed and entity-specific disclosures. As such, the observed diversity results in reduced comparability between entities and limits the decision-usefulness of information to users. Furthermore, where insufficient detail and entity-specific disclosures are provided, a limited understanding of an entity’s management of credit risk in respect of trade receivables is observed.