This report looks at the evidence on whether financial reporting encourages short-termism and asks whether it would be possible for financial reporting to provide better information on long-term performance.

Financial reporting has been accused of encouraging short-termism in various ways: through the effects of using fair values; by not providing information on long-term performance; through excessive frequency of reporting; by writing off rather than capitalising spending on long-term assets such as intangibles; and by ignoring long-run effects on the natural world or on society as a whole. The report looks at the evidence on each of these claims and, where appropriate, at what might be done to counter any potential short-termism.

• Long-Term Investment and Accounting: Overcoming Short-Term Bias (PDF 543KB/24 pages)

Further information and printed copies

For further information on Long-Term Investment and Accounting: Overcoming Short-Term Bias or to order printed copies of the report, please email bettermarkets@icaew.com