This thesis uses data obtained from 335 annual reports of actual companies from ten European countries to quantify the level of material accounting harmony among them. It employs various specifications of the T index and by comparing their outcomes attempts to fi nd the best possible combination of properties desirable for this purpose. The three main problems addressed in this work are; estimating the scope of material harmonisation over time by comparing our results to the previous research, assessing the current extent of material harmony among studied countries, and comparing the situation of Czech and Slovak companies with respect to the rest of the sample. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This paper examines the behaviour and use of accruals management (AM) and real activities manipulation (RAM) under local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and if it has been altered following IFRS implementation in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The paper takes inspiration from Roychowdhury (2006) and Zang (2012) and use previously developed frameworks for earnings management. It provides empirical results with data from 1997 to 2016, focusing on companies around zero earnings and zero earnings growth. The results are mixed where the use of RAM through production suggests increased earnings manipulation. RAM, through discretionary expenditures, on the other hand are positive, which suggests that companies do not engage in these activities. The results regarding AM suggest downward adjustments. However, neither discretionary expenditures nor AM have a significant change following IFRS implementation. Overall, earnings management behavior in the sample appears to be limited. Although, increased RAM has been found regarding production costs, which suggest adjustments following IFRS adoption. Lastly the paper finds that studying one type of earnings management behavior, as often previously done in research, is insufficient in order to fully estimate earnings management.

The main theme of thesis is comparison of accounting of leasing according to czech legislative and IFRS. The thesis is divided into six parts. The first section is devoted to history of leasing and its developement. Second part deals with definition of leasing and its types and characteristics. The third part contains the definition of leasing according to czech law. Fourth part is devoted to reporting of leasing according to czech accounting principles. The fifth part deals with issue of leasing from point of view of IAS 17. The sixth part deals with practical application of the rules contained in czech legislative and in IAS 17 at real lease contract.

This final thesis deals with the reporting and measurement of financial assets under IAS 39 and IFRS 9. Besides the basic characteristics of financial instruments, there is a comparison of the two standards and the reasons which prompted the IASB to create a new standard. All work is supplemented by practical examples mainly on revaluation of financial assets.

This diploma thesis focuses on reporting of financial derivatives under the rules set by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It analyses the hedging transactions, but it also aims at the speculations. From the range of IFRS hedging transactions closely describes Fair Value hedge and Cash Flow hedge. Furthermore it deals with the most frequent hedging cases like the hedging of foreign currency risk and interest rate risk. The real historic data from the markets are applied in his diploma paper.

The diploma thesis compares different accounting methods in the three accounting systems in the long-lived assets area. The dominant accounting system in the thesis is the IFRS. In the first part long-lived assets are described according IFRS. The US GAAP and Czech accounting law are shown only main differences. The diploma thesis describes and explains the cause of differences between all three systems and shows the impact on the financial statements. In the second part of the thesis the outcomes of financial research on companies which presents their financial results according IFRS are presented.

Cryptocurrencies are a phenomenon which has appeared more and more during the last years and is widely used by both individuals and entities. Their technological features have intrigued many, resulting in a significant growth of the number of cryptocurrencies available and an increased amount of areas of usage. More and more businesses have started using cryptocurrencies for example for investment purposes or accepting them as a means of payment. This has resulted in an urgent need of guidance from accounting standard setters to regulate how they are treated in financial statements. The result of the lack of such guidance has led to a variety of accounting treatments used in practice which have created significant challenges for preparers of financial statements. Up until recently the guidance for preparers of financial statements consisted of reports issued by the big accounting firms and recommendations from local regulatory accounting bodies. The lack of literature together with the possible consequences for the marketplace has resulted in an urgent need of guidance to avoid a patchwork of accounting treatments in the market. Furthermore, these challenges may result in possibilities of conducting earnings management or an increased information asymmetry between stakeholders and entities.   The purpose of this study is to understand and discuss the practical accounting issues and challenges related to cryptocurrencies for preparers of financial statements. The research is based on four broad themes which seek to assist the purpose by including several perspectives to the issues and challenges faced. The themes that the research is divided into are assets, revenues, disclosures and risk factors associated with cryptocurrencies. Based on these four themes the research question this research aims at answering is:   “What are the practical accounting issues and challenges for the preparers of financial statements related to cryptocurrencies?”   The empirical findings of this research suggest that there are many challenges which need to be resolved when it comes to accounting for cryptocurrencies. There are issues present in all four themes, but the main challenges which were identified revolved around asset classification, valuation, disclosures and risk factors. Furthermore, based on the empirical findings it is evident that the knowledge of practitioners is of a more practical nature while literature is more based on specific standards and paragraphs which can be applied. However, this research provides practical contributions to existing literature and includes aspects of risk consequences for accounting and financial markets at large. It is concluded that more accounting guidance is needed for cryptocurrencies to increase the usefulness of financial information and to reduce possibilities of earnings management which occur because of divergent accounting treatments.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the change in disclosure of operating leases due to the mandated IFRS 16 standard will influence entities cost of debt. Therefore, this paper investigate whether an increase in operating leases has an equal effect on the cost of debt as a corresponding increase in debt. The data consist of observations on 213 Swedish public companies during the time-period 2006-2017, resulting in a total sample of 1549 observations. This paper concludes that operating leases is a complement rather than a substitute to debt and that the increased harmonization effect caused by the alignment of interest bearing liabilities and operating leases, could be beneficial in terms of decreasing entities cost of debt.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} Inom redovisning är det viktigt att alla företag, stora som små, använder sig av de normer som bildats på internationell nivå. När investerare och andra externa intressenter går igenom de finansiella rapporterna som företagen producerar bör det vara så enkelt som möjligt att granska dem. Att använda sig av en internationell redovisningsstandard som IFRS/IFRSSE bidrar till en ökad jämförbarhet samt en större förståelse för finansiella rapporter. Det blir enklare för exempelvis externa intressenter att jämföra rapporterna mellan företag i olika länder. Det finns ett fåtal studier på implementering av internationella redovisningsstandarder för små företag. Vi valde därför att undersöka hur små företag resonerar kring valet av redovisningsstandard och hur en eventuell implementering hanteras. Vi valde även att ta reda på hur de kan få stöd av revisionsbyråer gällande planering av en implementeringsstrategi. Vi har gjort en litteraturstudie som främst är grundad på vetenskapliga artiklar som diskuterar valet av redovisningsstandard, implementering av internationella standarder och hur små företag kan få stöd av revisionsbyråer. Vi har också gjort en empirisk studie i form av kvalitativa intervjuer. Genom dessa studier har vi kommit fram till slutsatser som kan besvara uppsatsens forskningsfrågor och syfte. I en jämförelse av det empiriska och teoretiska underlaget kom vi fram till slutsatser om hur små företag resonerar kring valet av redovisningsstandard. Vi kom även fram till slutsatser om vad för typ av stöd revisionsbyråer kan erbjuda småföretagare. Valet av nationella GAAPs görs främst på grund av att små företag ofta inte har några internationella relationer. Det blir därmed inte kostnadseffektivt att välja en internationell standard. Om små företag vill expandera kan det vara klokt att introducera en internationell standard i företaget för att få en ökad jämförbarhet och harmonisering i de finansiella rapporterna. De kan då få stöd av revisionsbyråer som kan hjälpa till med att ta fram en implementeringsstrategi och genomföra denna tillsammans med företag. Revisionsbyråerna finns där för att både granska räkenskaperna så att det blir rätt för dem, men också för att ge stöd i form av rådgivning eller för att informera om nya regler och standarder.

Förvärvad goodwill är en immateriell tillgång som uppstår vid ett rörelseförvärv, i redovisningen hos det förvärvande företaget. Detta om köpeskillingen överstiger det förvärvade företagets nettotillgångar. Denna tillgång får redovisas i balansräkningen, enligt både K3 och IFRS. Historiskt sett har det varit en stor variation mellan länder angående redovisningen, och även kring hur goodwill hanteras. Det återstår fortfarande skillnader mellan nationella och internationella regelverk, angående goodwillpostens värdeminskning. Större svenska onoterade företag kan välja att redovisa enligt antingen K3 eller IFRS, och dessa regelverk har olika värdeminskningsmetoder för tillgången; avskrivning kontra nedskrivning. I detta arbete undersöks hur dessa metoder skiljer sig åt. Värdeminskningens påverkan på företagets rapporter undersöks också. Dessa rapporter, i sin tur, utgör en del av investerarnas beslutsunderlag. Arbetet undersöker även de eventuella signaler som företaget sänder ut i samband med redovisningen kring goodwillposten. Egenkonstruerade typfall har skapats för att påvisa regelverkens skillnader. Dessa typfall har applicerats på ett fiktivt företag, vars omsättning och kostnader hålls konstanta, för att tydliggöra värdeminskningsmetodernas påverkan. Det fiktiva företaget, och konsekvenserna av metoderna, har observerats under fem år. Utifrån företagets finansiella rapporter kan aktuella nyckeltal beräknas. Med hjälp av signalteori, de båda regelverken, de konstruerade typfallen samt framräknade nyckeltal kan en analys genomföras för att bedöma vilka signaler hanteringen av goodwill sänder ut till investerarna. Resultatet av denna studie visar att regelverkens olika metoder, för hanteringen av goodwillpostens värdeminskning, skiljer sig kraftigt åt. K3:s metod kan uppfattas som en enklare strategi, medan IFRS:s metod är betydligt mer komplicerad och kräver mer från företaget i form av tid, kapital och resurser. Vidare illustrerar studien påverkningarna som värdeminskningsmetoderna medför, både på de finansiella rapporterna och på företagets nyckeltal. Det här, i sin tur, leder till att investerarna, givet det regelverk som företaget följer, får tillgång till skiftande mängd information som även kan vara av varierande kvalitet.