DIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING PRACTICES: THE CASE OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Although seven years have passed since the Norwalk Agreement has been signed, the global accounting standards continue to represent a goal for IASB and FASB, being far from the stage of practical implementation. More than that, the financial crisis made things worse, as it contributes to the unfavourable conditions for the development of convergence process. But despite all these negative elements, FASB and IASB continue to collaborate in obtaining a single set from the two distinct accounting regulations, which can serve for practical accounting purposes. The globalization phenomena imply the existence of a unique set of financial reporting standards. Thus, accounting diversity is to be reduced at international level, so that it would be in accordance with companies’ interests. Therefore, one can state the importance of harmonizing both national and international accounting regulations.comparability, harmonization, similarity, diversity

DEVELOPING AN ECONOMETRIC MODEL FOR MEASURING THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION DISCLOSURE - IAS 23 BORROWING COSTS -

According to the disclosure requests of IAS 23 Borrowing Costs, companies areto include the following elements within their annual reports: accounting policies adopted bythe firms, value of capitalization for borrowing costs and capitalization rate. This paperinvolves an empirical research, presenting the correlation that might exist at the level ofcompliance with IAS 23 and specific variables that characterize the activity of a company.The purpose of our investigation is to estimate and determine a statistic function that shouldconnect disclosure index measured for IAS 23 requests and a series of elements, namely:country of origin, total assets, turnover, ROA, ROE, debt rate and solvency. The researchmethodology assumes disclosure index determination and SPSS analysis. The findings suggestevidence of correlation with respect to the level of compliance in information disclosure andthe mentioned variables.information, disclosure, compliance, correlation

IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS ON ACCOUNTING PRACTICES HARMONIZATION WITHIN EUROPEAN UNION -PARTICULAR CASE OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS-

This paper is meant to study the impact of IFRS on accounting practicesharmonization, by measuring the degree in which different companies from Europe use samemethods when reporting their intangible assets. Therefore, the objective of the research is todemonstrate the existence of harmonizing tendencies between European Union member states, as aresult of IFRS adoption. The methodology implies Herfindahl Index computation for a sample of 51listed companies that develop their activity in five European countries. The results suggest theinfluence of International Financial Reporting Standards on accounting practices, as there isevidence of high harmonization level for intangible assets. Many of the analysed situationsrecorded if not maximum harmonizing values at least visible tendencies to harmonize accountingpractices.accounting, harmonization, intangible, measurement.

IFRS COMPLIANCE REGARDING INFORMATION DISCLOSED BY COMPANIES IN CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - CASE STUDY ON IAS 23 BORROWING COSTS APPLICABILITY-

This paper concentrates on information disclosure regarding IAS 23, being included in accounting research field. It comprises an empirical study on the correlation between information published by companies in consolidated financial statements with respect to borrowing cost policies and a series of variables that characterize a firm. The objectives of this paper involve estimating and establishing an econometric model in which is assumed that disclosure index for information required by IAS 23 depends on certain elements in the form of country of origin, sales, total assets, debt ratio, ROA and ROE. International accounting literature presents a series of studies on the subject of compliance with IAS disclosure requirements. Similar with this paper, various authors considered annual reports as starting point for data gathering in their reasearch on disclosure phenomena. The criteria used for data gathering, processing and analysing have been previously used in a successful manner by important scientists who published in accounting field. The methodology used involves Disclosure Index computation, as well as SPSS data processing, analysis and interpretation of results. Results show that the model is valid, meaning that there is correlation between information disclosure with respect to IAS 23 and the analyzed variables. According to our estimated econometric model, most of the variables maintain a certain influence on disclosure as we can observe a significant correlation level between the studied elements. This research contributes to the development of both accounting field and international accounting literature, by studying borrowing costs disclosed information in relation to certain elements that best characterize the activity of a company. Although an empirical paper, it concentrates also on accounting practices, as it uses real data extracted from annual reports and consolidated financial statements. The importance of this research relies in its originality approach, by studying the information disclosure for borrowing costs that represent one of the most important accounting fields.information, disclosure, borrowing costs, annual reports, correlation

DIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING PRACTICES: THE CASE OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Although seven years have passed since the Norwalk Agreement has been signed, the global accounting standards continue to represent a goal for IASB and FASB, being far from the stage of practical implementation. More than that, the financial crisis made things worse, as it contributes to the unfavourable conditions for the development of convergence process. But despite all these negative elements, FASB and IASB continue to collaborate in obtaining a single set from the two distinct accounting regulations, which can serve for practical accounting purposes. The globalization phenomena imply the existence of a unique set of financial reporting standards. Thus, accounting diversity is to be reduced at international level, so that it would be in accordance with companies’ interests. Therefore, one can state the importance of harmonizing both national and international accounting regulations

THE IMPACT OF THE BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL SIZE OF A COMPANY ALONG WITH GRI AND CSR ADOPTION ON INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING PRACTICES

This paper intends to investigate the correlation between the business and organizational size of companies as well as GRI and CSR practices adoption, and the level of sustainability disclosure. The correlation is highlighted through SPSS statistic analysis and determination of an econometric model between a dependent variable - sustainability information disclosure - and five independent ones- sales, number of employees, GRI and CSR policies and ultimately reporting period/year -. We use the Deloitte Sustainability Scorecard for measuring the sustainability reporting practices. Our sample comprises companies that adopted integrated reporting for the period 2009-2010. Sample selection was made on the basis that sustainability reports are incorporated within the integrated reports. We assume to obtain a high correlation between the business and organizational size of companies, GRI and/or CSR polities and the level of sustainability information disclosed in our integrated reports

IFRS COMPLIANCE REGARDING INFORMATION DISCLOSED BY COMPANIES IN CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - CASE STUDY ON IAS 23 BORROWING COSTS APPLICABILITY-

This paper concentrates on information disclosure regarding IAS 23, being included in accounting research field. It comprises an empirical study on the correlation between information published by companies in consolidated financial statements with respect to borrowing cost policies and a series of variables that characterize a firm. The objectives of this paper involve estimating and establishing an econometric model in which is assumed that disclosure index for information required by IAS 23 depends on certain elements in the form of country of origin, sales, total assets, debt ratio, ROA and ROE. International accounting literature presents a series of studies on the subject of compliance with IAS disclosure requirements. Similar with this paper, various authors considered annual reports as starting point for data gathering in their reasearch on disclosure phenomena. The criteria used for data gathering, processing and analysing have been previously used in a successful manner by important scientists who published in accounting field. The methodology used involves Disclosure Index computation, as well as SPSS data processing, analysis and interpretation of results. Results show that the model is valid, meaning that there is correlation between information disclosure with respect to IAS 23 and the analyzed variables. According to our estimated econometric model, most of the variables maintain a certain influence on disclosure as we can observe a significant correlation level between the studied elements. This research contributes to the development of both accounting field and international accounting literature, by studying borrowing costs disclosed information in relation to certain elements that best characterize the activity of a company. Although an empirical paper, it concentrates also on accounting practices, as it uses real data extracted from annual reports and consolidated financial statements. The importance of this research relies in its originality approach, by studying the information disclosure for borrowing costs that represent one of the most important accounting fields

Novel Structures of Functionalized Graphene Oxide with Hydrazide: Characterization and Bioevaluation of Antimicrobial and Cytocompatibility Features

Graphite was oxidized to graphene oxide and activated by thionyl chloride, for further covalently linking three hydrazides with potential biological activity. The obtained materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared and Raman spectroscopies. The presence of various functional groups specific to graphene oxide (GO) functionalized with different hydrazides was confirmed by spectral data. The ratio between D- and G-bands, observed in Raman spectra, allowed for an evaluation of the disorder degree and the mean crystallite size of the samples. The micrographs highlighted that the samples lead to the occurrence of disorders, probably caused by the sp3 carbons, the formation of oxygen-containing functional groups in the basal planes, and by various structural defects. The new graphene oxide–hydrazide derivatives were tested for their antimicrobial and cytotoxicity activity. Their antimicrobial activity against planktonic and biofilm-embedded cells was inferior to that of free hydrazides, except for GO-3 against planktonic Escherichia coli and GO-2 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm, demonstrating that further optimization is needed to be able to exploit the huge potential of GO for developing potent antimicrobials