The diploma thesis deals with problems of provisions. Its substantial part is devoted to obvious provisions. First of all, there is metioned a general determination of provisions and some of Generally accepted accounting principles, which have the largest influence on formation of provisions. The thesis describes provisions according to International Financial Reporting Standards and according to the Czech legislation. Consequently, the thesis compares czech approach to provisions with IFRS's approach. With regard to upcoming amendments of provision in IFRS the part of thesis reports essential proposed changes. The end of the thesis is devoted to buried reserves. There is mentioned life cycle, meaning and examples of buried reserves.

The diploma thesis focuses on deferred tax. It characterizes this accounting category and describes various theoretical approaches to its calculation. It deals with its historical development and the current regulation of its recognition and presentation in financial statements. The thesis contains rules set by IFRS as well as Czech accounting legislation. It explains the most common situations where deferred tax liability and deferred tax asset arises. The practical part compares chosen theoretical knowledge with its practical application. It assesses correctness of presentation of deferred tax in practice. The thesis deals with the question whether accounting units make mistakes when presenting deferred tax and whether they provide sufficient additional information to users of financial statements. Significance of deferred tax in balance sheet and income statement is subject to interest too.

Bakgrund och problem: Ett tolkningsutrymme har identifierats i IAS 38 gällande kriterierna som behandlar aktivering av FoU. Detta kan innebära ett problem då det finns risk för variation mellan företag i tolkning och tillämpning av kriterierna. Det kan i sin tur påverka jämförbarheten mellan företagen i redovisningen av FoU. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ett informationsasymmetriproblem studera jämförbarheten mellan företag i redovisning av FoU. Vi ämnar kartlägga tillämpningen av kriterierna i IAS 38 med avseende på variation mellan företag. En eventuell variation ämnar vi förklara utifrån hur företag förhåller sig till försiktighets- och matchningsprincipen. Metod: Metodvalet är en kvalitativ undersökning med djupgående intervjuer med fem företag i IT-branschen. Under intervjuerna har vi behandlat beslutsprocessen för aktivering av FoU samt deras inställning till avvägningsproblematiken mellan försiktighets- och matchningsprincipen. För att utreda studiens syfte har vi använt oss av en analysmodell som illustrerar konflikten mellan försiktighets- och matchningsprincipen med hjälp av en skala. Företagens placering på skalan gällande redovisningen av FoU har utgjort grunden för analysen. Empiri och slutsats: Utifrån det empiriska underlaget har vi funnit att företagens unika förutsättningar såsom FoU-projektens utformning, kännedom om produktefterfrågan samt projektredovisningssystem påverkar hur företagen tillämpar kriterierna i IAS 38. Företagens unika förutsättningar har lett till att företagen har ett principbeslut gällande aktivering av FoU. På så sätt påverkar principbeslutet tillämpningen av kriterierna. Att företagens tillämpning av försiktighets- och matchningsprincipen kan förklara principbeslutet har vi sett tendenser på. De är dock svaga och därför kan vi inte med säkerhet dra slutsatsen att redovisningsprinciper har en påverkan på tillämpningen av kriterierna. Resultatet från denna studie tyder på att redovisningen av FoU mellan företag inte är jämförbar på grund av variation i principbesluten. / Background and problem: We have identified a room for discretion and interpretation in IAS 38 regarding the criteria for capitalization of R&D expenses. This can be a problem if there is a risk for variation in interpretation and use of the criteria, which can in turn affect the comparability between companies in the accounting for R&D.   Aim: The aim with this study is to analyze the comparability between companies in the accounting for R&D from an information asymmetry perspective. We intend to illustrate the use of the criteria in IAS 38 regarding variation between companies. Our purpose is to use the prudence and matching principle to explain a possible variation.   Method: The choice of method is a qualitative research through deep interviews with five companies in the IT-industry. During the interviews we have treated the decision-making process for capitalization of R&D and the companies’ attitude to the trade off between prudence and matching principle. In the study we have used an analysis model that illustrate the conflict between the prudence and matching principle as a scale. The companies’ placement on the scale regarding their accounting for R&D makes the foundation for our analysis.   Result and conclusion: From our empirical results we have found that the companies’ unique conditions, like the structure of R&D-projects, knowledge of the product demand and project accounting system affect the usage of the criteria in IAS 38. The different conditions in all the companies have resulted in different policy decisions regarding capitalization. Therefore the policy decision affects the usage of the criteria. We have only seen weak trends that the prudence and matching principle can explain the policy decision in the companies. Therefore we cannot for certainty conclude that accounting principles affect the usage of the criteria in IAS 38. The results indicate that the accounting for R&D is not comparable because of the variation in policy decision.

This master's thesis is focused on a prudence principle under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) a US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) in accounting of a reporting unit. In the first part I described the prudence principle (conservatism principle) in the general way. In the second part of this thesis I introduced impairment testing, recognition of impairment of assets and reversal of previously recognized impairment of assets under IAS 36 Impairment of Assets. It is obviously focused on recoverable amount as a fair value less costs to sell and value in use, methods of the fair value valuation, computing value in use and identifying the appropriate discount rate to apply expected future cash flows. Third chapter of this master's thesis, named "Provisions under IAS 37", is dealing with relation between provisions and contingent liabilities, initial liability measurement and subsequent applying IAS 37. There are also stated disclosure requirements under IAS 37 (as well as under IAS 36). Within the scope of this part are in detail described Exposure Draft ED/2005 and Exposure Draft ED/2010/1 published from International Accounting Standard Board IASB in 2005 and 2010 as proposal to improvement of current version of standard IAS 37. This thesis is also focused on differences between accounting principles of prudence principle in IFRS and US GAAP. Finally, in the last chapter I analysed 15 annual reports of airlines companies in the world, which present their financial statements under IFRS. The results according to impairment of assets including goodwill, provisions and disclosures of contingent liabilities are presented in the charts. This master's thesis, named "Prudence principle in generally accepted accounting systems" is completed with practical insights and cases in each of chapters.