Readability of international financial reporting standards an their translation into spanish

Abstract

T
his paper compares the readability of the official text of the International Financial Reporting 
Standards (IFRS), written in English, with that of its translation into Latin American Spanish.
A quantitative and descriptive approach based on readability indices is applied. Readability 
indices are mathematical equations derived from regression analysis, which measure the 
readability of a text based on certain semantic and syntactic attributes. The Flesch Reading 
Ease Index is used to measure the readability of IFRS in English, and the Spanish adaptations 
of this index, developed by Szigriszt Pazos and Fernández Huerta, are used to measure the 
readability of IFRS translated into Latin American Spanish.
T
he results of this paper show that both the official text of IFRS and its translation into Latin 
American Spanish are difficult or very difficult to read, and are at the level of scientific or 
academic writings. However, the results do not show that IFRS translated into Latin American 
Spanish are significantly less readable than the original IFRS written in English. This seems to 
indicate that the "word-for-word" translation strategy promoted by the IFRS Foundation does not negatively affect the standards' readability.
This work can contribute to accounting thinking because accounting research on readability 
is not sufficiently developed outside the English-speaking world and needs to be expanded. 
Very few studies have analyzed the readability of accounting standards, and none have addressed a body of accounting standards written or translated into Spanish. Furthermore, this work could help accounting standard-setting bodies find new tools to improve the quality 
of their regulations.