H03. There is no significant difference in the measured meaning of the concept “cash”, as defined in either FRS 10 or NZ IAS 7, within each of the three financial reporting groups.
Hronsky and Houghton (2001) found evidence of a relationship between the decision outcomes of each participant and the meaning they attributed to relevant accounting concepts. In their study, a change in the definition of the term “extraordinary items” was seen to be associated with changes in auditors' perceived meaning of this term. In turn, this change in meaning was found to lead to different classification decisions across a number of cases.
In the context of the current study, it is expected that participants will make different decisions regarding the classification of potential cash items (the degree to which an item is or is not an item of cash for the purpose of the cash flow statement), depending on which of the two definitions (FRS 10 and NZ IAS 7) they are exposed to. Further, it is expected that any change in connotative meaning brought about by the change in the definition of cash will be associated with a change in the decision outcomes for each of the financial reporting groups. This gives rise to the fourth and fifth hypotheses, respectively: