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The purpose of this study is to explore the area of accounting in traditional market. There are two areas of accounting: management and financial accounting. Some of traditional market traders have prepared financial notes, whereas some of them do not. Their financial notes usually consist of receivables, payables, customer orders, inventories, sales and cost price, and salary expenses. The purpose of these financial notes is usually for decision making. It is very rare for the traditional market traders to prepare financial notes for external users, such as vendors, creditors, and customers. This is because their transactions with vendors, creditors, and customers are very simple. This study used interpretive paradigm. Data was collected using in-depth interview and direct interaction with four informants from three traditional markets. Data is analyzed by organizing them, breaking them into manageable units, coding them, synthesizing them, and searching for patterns. Based on the analysis, this study found that the accounting area of traditional market activities is management accounting rather than financial accounting.

Accounting information systems are mainly rule-based, and data are usually available and well-structured. However, many accounting systems are yet to catch up with current technological developments. Thus, artificial intelligence (AI) in financial accounting is often applied only in pilot projects. Using AI-based forecasts in accounting enables proactive management and detailed analysis. However, thus far, there is little knowledge about which prediction models have already been evaluated for accounting problems. Given this lack of research, our study aims to summarize existing findings on how AI is used for forecasting purposes in financial accounting. Therefore, the authors aim to provide a comprehensive overview and agenda for future researchers to gain more generalizable knowledge.

The authors identify existing research on AI-based forecasting in financial accounting by conducting a systematic literature review. For this purpose, the authors used Scopus and Web of Science as scientific databases. The data collection resulted in a final sample size of 47 studies. These studies were analyzed regarding their forecasting purpose, sample size, period and applied machine learning algorithms.

The authors identified three application areas and presented details regarding the accuracy and AI methods used. Our findings show that sociotechnical and generalizable knowledge is still missing. Therefore, the authors also develop an open research agenda that future researchers can address to enable the more frequent and efficient use of AI-based forecasts in financial accounting.

Owing to the rapid development of AI algorithms, our results can only provide an overview of the current state of research. Therefore, it is likely that new AI algorithms will be applied, which have not yet been covered in existing research. However, interested researchers can use our findings and future research agenda to develop this field further.

Given the high relevance of AI in financial accounting, our results have several implications and potential benefits for practitioners. First, the authors provide an overview of AI algorithms used in different accounting use cases. Based on this overview, companies can evaluate the AI algorithms that are most suitable for their practical needs. Second, practitioners can use our results as a benchmark of what prediction accuracy is achievable and should strive for. Finally, our study identified several blind spots in the research, such as ensuring employee acceptance of machine learning algorithms in companies. However, companies should consider this to implement AI in financial accounting successfully.

To the best of our knowledge, no study has yet been conducted that provided a comprehensive overview of AI-based forecasting in financial accounting. Given the high potential of AI in accounting, the authors aimed to bridge this research gap. Moreover, our cross-application view provides general insights into the superiority of specific algorithms.

Governmental financial reporting is prepared for accountability and decision-making purposes and is directed to a wide range of users, including citizens. However, this may sound easier than it actually is as citizens without specific accounting knowledge may find it difficult to understand the financial information prepared by governments. The study analyzes citizens' perceptions toward infographics as well as their ability to improve accounting understandability by nonaccounting experts compared to the traditional financial statements.

The paper presents the results of an exploratory analysis conducted with the participation of a group of citizens in three European countries through a questionnaire.

The results show that infographics improve accounting understandability by nonaccounting experts compared to the traditional financial statements. However, infographics alone are not enough to succeed in making nonaccounting literate citizens experts in fully understanding accounting information.

The novelty of the research consists in its ability to give voice to citizens' preferences regarding the way the financial information is presented, which has been largely neglected by previous studies. In parallel, it analyzes the effect of accounting knowledge on accounting understandability. Moreover, it is the first study that analyzes the use of infographics in public sector financial reporting.

This paper examines whether financial distress is associated with tax avoidance and whether the COVID-19 pandemic moderates such association.

The sample covers 38,958 firm-year observations from 32 countries during the period 2015–2020. Financial distress is measured using the ZSCORE by Altman (1968), while tax avoidance is based on the book-tax difference.

Financially distressed firms exhibit low tax avoidance pre- and during the pandemic periods. The authors find higher tax avoidance during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, but the pandemic enhances the negative relationship between financial distress and tax avoidance.

The study offers evidence on how financial distress drives firms to engage in more tax avoidance when firms globally encountered various levels of financial difficulty sparked by the economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The findings provide insights to policymakers on the need to monitor and incentivise financially distressed firms, especially during economic challenges due to pandemic.

This study adds to the limited, albeit important, evidence on the joint effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and financial distress on tax avoidance.

The monetary valuation of cultural heritage of a selection of 16 major public, not-for-profit Australian cultural institutions is examined over a period of almost three decades (1992–2019) to understand how they have responded to the paradoxical tensions of heritage valuation for financial reporting purposes.

Accounting for cultural heritage is an intrinsically paradoxical practice; it involves a conflict of two opposite ways of attributing value: the traditional accounting and the heritage professionals (or curatorial) approaches. In analysing the annual reports and other documentary sources through qualitative content analysis, the study explores how different actors responded to the conceptual and technical contradictions posed by the monetary valuation of “heritage assets”, the accounting phraseology of accounting standards.

Four phases emerge from the analysis undertaken of the empirical material, each characterised by a distinctive nature of the paradox, the institutional responses discerned and the outcomes. Although a persisting heterogeneity in the practice of accounting for cultural heritage is evident, responses by cultural institutions are shown to have minimised, so far, the negative impacts of monetary valuation in terms of commercialisation of deaccessioning decisions and distorted accountability.

In applying the theoretical lens of paradox theory in the context of the financial reporting of heritage, as assets, the study enhances an understanding of the challenges and responses by major public cultural institutions in a country that has led this development globally, providing insights to accounting standard setters arising from the accounting practices observed.

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the tools, processes and negotiations involved in the formation of acceptable current values in the context of goodwill impairment testing. The study raises the questions of how a current value for goodwill becomes a faithful representation and how one expectation about the future becomes more convincing than other expectations.

Drawing on the study of associations, the analysis presents a case study of a large, internationally active organisation. By combining field notes, interview transcripts and a variety of documents, the qualitative analysis focusses on strategies and mechanisms of persuasion.

The findings reveal how epistemological objectivity of current values forms in three moments of relational becoming that codify, depersonalise and proceduralise the valuation task. Further, the study suggests that a convincing argument forms with the help of four enablers: a bricolage of inscriptions, methodological mystification, transformed professional identities and a practical need for closure.

The study contributes with an analysis and illustration of financial accounting as practice, elaborating on the meaning and construction of faithful representation in cases of measurement uncertainty.

This study investigated the visibility of carbon emissions allowances accounting in the financial reports of 32 clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in the UAE to uncover the obstacles to setting consistent standards for carbon emission accounting. As carbon emissions are monetized as credits, consistent accounting standards can aid decision-makers in the development of carbon emission mitigation strategies.

This study used a grounded theoretical framework for exploring the terms used in the policy documents of international accounting bodies regarding accounting standards and guidelines for carbon emission credits. Raw qualitative data were gathered, and an inductive approach was used by analyzing documents from various sources using the qualitative data text analysis software QDA Miner 6.

The findings showed that the financial statement reports of the corporations did not include disclosure of the carbon credit account. This omission was due to the lack of global standardization of carbon credit accounts and emission allowance recognition. This may hinder the production of a comprehensive report containing accurate and valuable financial information relevant to all stakeholders.

The study is among the first to use a grounded theoretical framework to investigate whether corporations are applying common standards and guidelines for carbon emissions accounting.

This study analyses to what extent politicians use public sector entities' financial statements along with the politicians' perceptions of the usefulness of such statements in the politicians' decision-making. The authors analyze financial statements' use and usefulness when the statements are prepared on a modified accrual basis and in the setting where there is the intention of full accrual accounting adoption. In addition, this study provides information about the use of the individual components of financial statements and investigates the reasons why the statements may not be used.

This study was conducted using a questionnaire. The authors surveyed politicians that are members of Croatian public sector bodies. To conduct this research, the politicians were contacted by telephone over the period from February to April 2022.

The findings of this study are of potential interest to researchers, regulators and policy makers. The findings show that most politicians use financial statements, but the politicians' perception of the statements' usefulness when the statements are prepared on a modified accrual accounting basis is greater than the politicians' actual use of the statements. The findings also show that in the process of making decisions, politicians use the selected financial statements that contain information of interest to the politicians; that the politicians tend to gravitate to the use of reports on revenue, expenses, receipts and expenditure prepared on modified accrual bases which are closer to budgetary reporting; that the politicians use the information that supports the politicians' sphere of responsibility as enforced by legislation.

This study provides insights into the use and usefulness of financial statements in public sector setting where modified accrual accounting is used to prepare the statements and reports. This study provides additional evidence on the significance of legal setting to the financial reporting in public sector.

Applying conservatism to the preparation of financial statements has been considered not only as a natural mechanism to protect the interests of the stockholders but also as a practical way to assist managers to deal with uncertainty in business environments. This study aimed to determine if increasing uncertainty can lead to raising the level of conservatism used in preparing financial statements. The result of the study could provide a better understanding of the factors that influence the level of applying conservative methods in accounting and financial reporting.

The model introduced by Basu (1997) was used to measure accounting conservatism. Business strategy and alertness were considered as two proxies for classifying companies according to their level of uncertainty. By adding each proxy of uncertainty to the model and using the financial data of 183 companies for five years (from 2013 to 2018), the multiple regression models were estimated through EViews. It was assumed that inert companies and those with prospector strategy face a higher level of uncertainty. Consequently, they were expected to report their financial status conservatively.

Findings revealed that companies, which adopted a prospector strategy, applied more conservative methods in their financial reports. This indicated that facing wider uncertainty results in reporting more conservatively, which could not be said about inert companies.

The current research is the first research undertaken in a developing country such as Iran, and the study's results may benefit other developing countries.

This study aims to examine the economic consequences of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Saudi Arabia. More specifically, the study examines the impact of the mandatory adoption of IFRS on the accounting-based performance measures.

Data on study variables were obtained manually from the published financial statements of 67 of listed companies in the Saudi stock market during the period 2014–2019. The study addressed the research hypotheses by comparing the accounting-based performance measures computed under the Saudi accounting standards for three years (2014–2016) before the mandatory adoption of IFRS and the corresponding three years (2017–2019) after the mandatory adoption of IFRS. The Mann–Whitney U Test was used to investigate the significance of differences between the values of performance measures in the pre- and post-mandatory adoption periods.

The findings of the study revealed that there were no significant differences between the values of accounting-based performance measures related to the three performance categories (i.e. profitability, liquidity and leverage) in the post-mandatory adoption period (IFRS) compared to the values of these measures in the pre-mandatory adoption period (Saudi accounting standards).

The results of the study indicated that there is a good convergence between the Saudi accounting standards that were implemented before 2017 and the IFRS that began to be applied starting from 2017. This convergence resulted in a low significant impact of IFRS on the financial statements of companies and then on the accounting-based performance measures calculated from them. However, this study suffers from some limitations, the most important of which is the small sample size as a result of the small number of listed companies in the Saudi market during the study period.

Although the impact of the adoption of IFRS have always been a subject of intense research in developed countries, the study of the impact of the adoption of IFRS in developing countries still limited. This study contributes to the literature by examining the economic consequences of adopting IFRS in Saudi Arabia as one of developing countries.