A Study of the Accounting System and Standards in Bulgaria

This paper is focused on the analysis of Bulgarian accounting system and practices. More specifically, it is aimed at investigating the main environmental factors, which led to the development of such system. The approach is therefore both descriptive and causal. The findings suggest that the changes in the socio-economic and the cultural tradition mainly affect accounting systems and practices, as well as the status of the accounting profession

Do financial statements provide adequate information about the capitalization of costs related to intangible assets?: An empirical research on italian listed companies.

The aim of our research is to verify if Italian listed companies financial statements provide adequate information about the capitalization of costs related to intangible assets and if the information provided are reliable. Moreover, we investigated if they merely comply with law or provide additional information on cost capitalization and reveal if internal control systems (especially managerial accounting systems) or other information systems are applied to support the measurement process and the cost control, thus guaranteeing the verifiability and representational faithfulness of the information disclosed. This paper is an empirical analysis and is concerned to investigate the financial statements of 250 Italian listed companies

The enterprise’s financial stability in times of crisis

Since the beginning of the third millennium, there were two world crises in financial markets: it now appears that a third one is beginning. Underlying the phenomenon are the behaviours of key stakeholder investors, who assumed the role of short- and very short-term "speculators". However, the work of ratings agencies, which sometimes have issued assessments which proved to be totally unreliable, has also to be acknowledged, among the causes of the crisis. This paper will also examine the possible effects of crisis on the economic and financial balance and, consequently, on the financial statement of companies, particularly referred to the Italian one

Sustainable Development Goals: How do Companies React?

Design/methodology/approach – The methodology followed is eminently qualitative-exploratory based on the administration of questionnaires, aimed at knowing which strategies have been implemented or what strategies are in the process of implementing by the companies to adapt to the challenge. Findings - Our findings show how large companies adapt their business to changing environmental conditions within a short period of time and what they expect in the future. Originality/value - The work presents elements of novelty, as an empirical study in managing the impact of SDGs framework on businesses belonging to the Italian territory

Business Ethics: Moral or Amoral? An analysis from the perspective of Kantian ethics

The aim of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon related to business ethical purposes from a different perspective, using the philosophical lens developed by Immanuel Kant. This work is also oriented to identify the most important research topics related to business ethics through the combination of a different framework. The present paper intends to offer a conceptual contribution to the ongoing debate on the theme of ethics in corporate social responsibility, highlighting the main problematic aspects that emerge from the analysis of the literature and the observation of reality in the light of the philosophical framework of Kant. This paper, therefore, examines and applies the deontological view of Kant and his distinction between the ‘categorical’ and ‘hypothetic’ imperative. This ethical view is useful to prevent instrumental acceptance of ethical codes and sustainability reports; in fact, during the making of the work, several well-known practices are presented, which are far from behaving in a moral way (i.e., General Electrics, Lehman Brothers, and so on)

From “capital accounting system” to Ias/Ifrs through a National and International literature analysis

The purpose of this study is to analyse the “capital accounting system” and its evolution in the National and International literature to point out which are the elements that mainly affect International Accounting Standards. This work, starting from the theorization of Besta (the most important author modelling the “classic capital accounting system” at the beginning of ‘900) and following with De Dominicis (the author of the “variante corrente” of the capital accounting system), analyses the theorizations arising from the International literature, reaching to point out some specific characteristics of the capital accounting system that specifically affect International Accounting Standards Ias/Ifrs

IFRS meets the realities of a post-communist Balkan State

Research Question: How will the Substance-over-Form (SoF) ‘organism’ survive, mutate and develop in a new and unfamiliar ‘environment’? Motivation: Our study is motivated and inspired from a previous study published by Alexander et al. (2018) on “philosophy of language and accounting”. Alexander et al. (2018) used the “Substance-over-Form” principle as a case study investigation of the practicability, or non-practicability, of harmonising changes in accounting regulation across seven countries (and six languages). The objective of this paper is to investigate on a very different context: Albania (an EU candidate country, an ex-communist “Balkan state”, a different socially-constructed reality). Idea: This analysis shows the evolution of the SoF concept, by emphasizing the importance of the translation of official documents from English to Albanian and vice versa, comparing the content, the quality, and the level of translation in accounting. Data: We first analysed the main Albanian legislations on accounting from 1990 (opening year of the country to the free market economy) until 2021. Then, in order to assess the quality of translation from English to Albanian, we also critically examined the content and the level of translation of the 2018 IASB Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. Tools: The paper follows a deductive approach, as the results come from contextual data or clauses. A manual content analysis is implemented. Subsequently, a critical semantic analysis and an in-depth investigation on the level of translation of the accounting concepts, with an explicit focus on SoF treatment, is performed. Findings: The exposition, analysis and results are fully consistent with our theoretical framework, “social Darwinism”. We add the Albanian case to previous studies, providing a contrasting scenario in that Albania has a significantly different history over recent decades. We illustrate a different socially-constructed reality from the seven countries of Alexander et al. (2018), and extend the overall understanding and the overall picture. The Albanian “organism” (accounting GAAP system) is consistent with its socially-constructed reality/environment. SoF seems to be distorted in its passage from Directive/IFRS originating sources, and this may well be fully consistent with local needs, realities, and cultures. Contribution: This research contributes to academic debate in three ways. First, it adds evidence to the literature on harmonisation processes, analysing the evolution of financial reporting regulation for a specific country and the application of a fundamental concept, such as SoF, comparing it to other national regulations. Second, this work contributes to further research, being a pioneer for the application of the “social Darwinism” to the analysis of a GAAP system. Finally, the paper contributes to the development of research on translation issues in accounting, by technically analysing the level of translation of the IASB Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting and back-translating from national Laws