EVALUARE ŞI CREDIBILITATE ÎN CONTABILIATE

Abstract

The accounting is becoming more harmonised. In June 2002 was it decided that all listedcompanies, insurance companies and banks have to implement a common accounting system throughout theEuropean Union (EU). This will ease the comparison of the financial statements between companies in differentcountries and branches. Consequently will the investor’s decision-making be facilitated. Even though, allconcerned parties have known about the implementation for some time, some problems concerning thetimeframe will appear. Another problem is that the actual date for the implantation is 1st January 2004 as aone-year comparison statement is needed. As IASB still is reviewing and changing existing standards will theusers have problems knowing what standards to apply. There are also some standards that still not have beenput into force. Aim of study: To elucidate what accounting system, IAS or Swedish GAAP, that gives the mosttrue and fair view of the companies financial statements. The accounting systems view on the concept true andfair will also be investigated. Delimitations: The study is only focusing on the Swedish market and is notconcentrating on any specific branches. Methodology: Interviews with four IAS-experts at the four majorauditing firms in Sweden have been carried out. These interviews have been a support and complementaryinformation for the literature, journals and Internet sites that have been covered in the literature review. Theempirical findings have then been analysed in relation to the literature review. Results and conclusion: We havereached a conclusion that the interpretation of true and fair view is very individual. Hence, is it rather difficultto say which system that gives the most true and fair view. As Sweden accepts IAS as a new accounting system itcould be argued that it is not poorer that Swedish GAAP. It will also become easier to compare Swedishcompanies with other companies within the EU. This is seen to contribute that more investors will look at thefinancial market in EU. In a couple of years would we probably have reached another result as IAS then alreadywould have been implemented. Further studies: A study could also be carried out after the implementation hastaken place. At this time interviews could be made with both auditors’ and companies’ in order to reach anunderstanding of what system that has the most true and fair