Assessment Readability and Understandability of Accounting Standards by Accountants and Auditors Using Flesch and Cloze Indexes

This research has been conducted with the aim of analyzing the content of Iranian accounting standards and examining their understandability by the two main groups using standards. Content analysis with readability measurement approach is one of the methods for evaluating the comprehensibility of text messages. In this research, Flesch and Cloze methods are used to evaluate readability. The statistical population consists of all the words and sentences contained in Accounting Standards published by the Audit Organization, and the statistical sample consists of three texts from the first, middle and last sections of each standard selected randomly. Also, for implementation of the Cloze method, it is necessary to measure the degree of readability of learners and audiences whose tool is a researcher's test and completed by accountants and auditors. The results showed that, according to Flesch readability, accounting standards are often very difficult or difficult to read in terms of readability. Also, according to the Cloze procedure, standards passages are at the level of psychological pressure for auditors and auditors, which denotes the inability to understand and learn them, which can lead to a lack of proper use of standards and, consequently, a reduction in the quality of financial reporting.