Perspectives on Mandatory XBRL-Based Reporting in Saudi Listed Companies: Factors Influencing Compliance Quality

Abstract

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a type of electronic financial statement based on Extensible Mark-up Language (XML). It offers several benefits for businesses, such as cost reduction, improved control, time savings, accuracy, and enables the exchange of financial and economic information internationally. Several governments worldwide have used the XBRL system, either voluntarily or mandatorily. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that has mandated the use of XBRL. Despite the benefits of XBRL use and the Saudi government’s efforts to implement XBRL, the lack of studies on the quality of XBRL financial statements and its application in Saudi companies, and the lack of research related to the factors that impact compliance and non-compliance with XBRL implementation requirements in the organisation are evident. Consequently, this thesis aims to investigate compliance and non-compliance with XBRL implementation by Saudi-listed companies from the perspective of financial statement preparers, addressing a gap in organisational-level studies on this topic. By utilising a sequenced mixed methods, quantitive (secondary data) and qualitative (primary data) research strategy, the major outcome of this thesis was that Saudi-listed companies demonstrate their commitment to the government-imposed deadline of disclosing financial statements. It also illustrated the three major factors that impact negatively on timeliness, namelythe procedure of preparing financial statements using XBRL; having a new investment plan; and the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this thesis observed that the age and size of the company exert a significant positive impact on the timeliness of such financial reports. Regarding relevance and completeness, this study found that the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of Islamic elements such as Zakat in the XBRL taxonomy, negatively impact the relevance and completeness of XBRL financial statements. Moreover, this thesis finds that the Saudi banking sector recorded the lowest relevance and completeness score. This thesis discovered that the size of the company has a significant positive impact on the relevance of financial statements, whereas the age and sector of the economy in which the company operates exert an insignificant positive effect. The age and size of the company have an insignificant negative impact on the completeness of financial statements, whereas the sectors in which companies operate have an insignificant positive impact on the completeness of financial reports. Regarding institutional pressures, the coercive, mimetic pressures played key roles in listed companies compliance with XBRL implementation requirements, while the absence of normative pressure negatively impacted the acceptance of XBRL in Saudi listed companies. This thesis also generates important information for the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) and other relevant government and industry regulators, universities, policymakers, and stakeholders to use, and principally to understand the extrnal pressures and issues related to compliance with XBRL implementation. The findings lead to recommendations on how government bodies and regulators can collaborate to increase XBRL usage, thereby contributing to the objectives and intentions of the Saudi government’s Vision 2030 economic blueprint.