prompted by high-profile company floats, a well-reported boom in the property market, and an emphasis on compulsory superannuation as a mean of retirement funding. Statistics from the Australian stock Exchange showed that in 2002 almost 50 per cent of Australians had some form of investment in shares, either directly or via indirect forms such as superannuation and investments in managed funds (ASX 2003). This increase in investment from 34 per cent in 1997 has created investors who are hungry for information and expectant of positive company performance. However, over this same period, increasing concern has been raised about the quality of accounting information reported to those investors.