Barriers to derivative accounting disclosure: the case of Vietnamese firms

This paper explores the barriers to derivative accounting disclosures in Vietnamese companies and ranks their relative importance for effective and efficient remedies. The Delphi technique was applied to get agreement of panel of experts on the measurement of factors hindering disclosure. Unstructured questionnaires were first sent to twelve experts who had both practical experience and academic knowledge in the field to get ideas on the obstructions to derivatives disclosure. The structured questionnaire was designed to get their agreement on barriers to derivative accounting disclosures. The data analysis with mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and quartile has been implemented to ensure the unanimity. Market-related factors, legislation, accountants’ attributes, managers’ attributes, information technology and communication, and on-site training were the six major obstacles agreed upon by the experts during their in-depth interviews. Then, these factors were ranked by applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The findings confirmed the priority of information technology and communication, which held the greatest weight. Legislation ranked second, followed by market-related factors and on-site training, which explained the impediments to derivatives disclosure. Managers’ and accountants’ attributes had the least contribution to the barriers to derivative disclosures. The results have important implications for actions to enhance corporate derivative disclosures in Vietnam.