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The purpose of this article is to identify problems and opportunities for improving the formation of financial statements (FS) in accordance with International Standards, which is the most important instrument for international economic integration.

In carrying out the research, we used the FS of the modern organizations, prepared in accordance with International Standards (IASs and IFRSs), posted on the official websites of these organizations. At the same time, we researched the FS of both Russian and foreign organizations in order to draw conclusions about the problems of preparing FS in accordance with International Standards, which are typical for most modern organizations in different countries. When conducting research, we used methods such as comparison, analysis and synthesis.

We identified the main problems that arise in practice when preparing FS in accordance with International Standards, which are typical for both Russian and foreign organizations. We also analysed the project of the IASB (the organization that develops these standards) to improve the requirements for the preparation of FS in accordance with International Standards. Based on the analysis carried out, we identified the main problems arising from the planned requirements of this project. As a result of the research carried out, we made proposals for solving the identified problems of the formation of FS in accordance with International Standards.

Our proposals can be used to improve the regulations of International Standards for the formation of FS, and can also be applied in the practical work of modern organizations.

Not‐for‐profit organisations often have accounting problems in the recognition of donations where donors impose restrictions on how funds are spent. The specific receipts which cause most problems relate to grants made ‘in advance’, grants received for a specific purpose, and capital grants. This article investigates whether some of these restricted receipts must be recorded as income in the income statement; whether others must be recorded directly against a fund, or whether unused funds must be recorded as a liability. This article discusses these problems and the principles of accounting standards already issued specifically for not‐for‐profit organisations in some countries. This article also presents the results of an empirical study done in South Africa which has a bearing on the recognition of certain restricted receipts. Recommendations are made on the most appropriate way for not‐for‐profit organisations to record receipts in advance, receipts for specific purposes and capital grants in their accounting systems.

Studies the relative focus on the balance sheet and income statement in the Journal of Accountancy and The Accounting Review during the period, 1926‐1936. An index number representing the relative focus for each year for each journal was obtained from a content analysis of a sample of pages from the journals. Four hypotheses derived from accounting literature were tested, none of which can be accepted. In general, the focus on the income statement occurred earlier than expected and the combined time series for both journals was U‐shaped over the period. Offers three explanations for the behaviour of the time series: the hypotheses are based on several sources, each source potentially having a unique time‐series; second, the impact of significant increases in federal income tax rates on the content of accounting literature has been underestimated; and third, authors in the two journals, particularly the Journal of Accountancy, reacted very quickly to perceived problems and opportunities.

This chapter provides an approach for teaching the income statement within an earnings quality framework in an intermediate accounting course. Not only is the approach rich in content, but it also is an engaging pedagogical device. The article provides a broad outline and then fills in the details with discussion, information, and examples.

This paper aims to understand the effects of different presentation formats on nonprofessional investors’ judgments. Both International Financial Reporting Standards and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles require an entity to present items of net income and other comprehensive income (OCI) either in one continuous or in two separate, but consecutive, statements but limited understanding exists about their differential effects on evaluation of company performance.

To investigate this research question, we used a two (Financial Position) x two (Format) randomized between-subjects experiment. Ninety-four graduate students assumed the role of investor and participated in this study.

Results of the experiment suggest that participants are more likely to incorporate OCI information presented in the one-statement format than in the two-statement format. Further analysis suggests that participants both assign more weight to OCI and perceive OCI to be relatively more important in the one-statement format than in the two-statement format, especially when the entity suffers an economic loss.

Results from this study provide evidence to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and International Accounting Standards Board that should be useful in evaluating the effectiveness of alternative comprehensive income reporting formats and should be of interest to accounting rule-making bodies, investors, publicly traded entities and financial analysts, among others.

At the end of this chapter, learners should be able to:

• Explain what an income statement is and the items included in the income statement.

• Understand the classification of cost.

• Explain what a balance sheet is and the items included in the balance sheet.

• Write up an income statement and balance sheet.

• Understand the concept of a consolidated account to enable human resource practitioners develop business and commercial awareness skills.

Explain what an income statement is and the items included in the income statement.

Understand the classification of cost.

Explain what a balance sheet is and the items included in the balance sheet.

Write up an income statement and balance sheet.

Understand the concept of a consolidated account to enable human resource practitioners develop business and commercial awareness skills.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the properties of net income (NI) and total comprehensive income (TCI) of listed companies in New Zealand (NZ). Four properties of TCI and NI are examined: persistence, variability, predictive ability, and value relevance. Whether the value relevance of TCI depends on its reporting location is also investigated.

A cross‐sectional research design is used with data on TCI reported by NZ listed companies in 2010 under the new disclosure requirement in IAS 1. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions are used with a sample of 86 firms to test for persistence, variability, and predictive ability, and 81 firms to test for value relevance of NI and TCI.

The study finds: NI is potentially more persistent than TCI and potentially explains contemporaneous stock returns better than TCI; no significant difference in the variability and predictive ability of NI and TCI; little evidence that the value relevance of TCI depends on its reporting location; other comprehensive income (OCI) has incremental ability to predict one‐year‐ahead CFO, although the incremental ability of OCI to predict one‐year‐ahead NI is not statistically significant; and OCI is not incrementally value relevant.

The findings would be of interest to securities analysts and other users in valuing firms and when earnings are used in contractual settings (e.g. management compensation). Further, the results would also be of potential interest to standard‐setters.

The literature on comprehensive income is growing. However, the authors are not aware of any study that investigates the properties of NI and TCI in accordance with the new requirement to report comprehensive income in the amended IAS 1 which came into effect in NZ on January 1, 2009. The paper adds current evidence on the properties of NI and TCI under IFRS to the international literature.

This chapter deals with the patterns of International Financial Reporting Standards’ accounting policy choices that have been analyzed by several authors in a country-specific context. Instead of a country-specific context, this chapter adopts a sector-specific approach in terms of the airline industry in a regional and global context in order to observe the patterns of cosmetic and non-cosmetic policy options. Cosmetic policy options are related to the presentation of financial information which is not expected to impact the comparability of financial information versus non-cosmetic policy options are considered to be policy options that are related to measurement and, therefore, if there is more than one allowable accounting treatment, the comparability of financial information weakens. In the context of the airline industry, this chapter considers the patterns of policy choices related to IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements, IAS 2 Inventory, IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows, IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment, IAS 38 Intangible Assets, and IAS 40 Investment Property, within the framework of frequently observed policy options as well as taking depreciation methods and expected useful life into consideration in terms of industry-specific policy options in order to observe whether there is uniformity rather than diversity in the airline industry for presentation and measurement.

The purpose of this study is to determine the suitability of capital statement analysis in assisting tax investigation to combat tax evasion, measured by the time taken in proving the under-declared income by the tax evader. A weakness in the investigation process that may contribute toward the delay of the tax investigation completion was examined.

Five investigation cases were randomly selected from the tax investigation organization for detailed and in-depth analysis on the whole process of reconstruction of capital statement analysis. Document analysis technique was used to analyse the data.

This study found that the capital statement analysis can be an effective tool in detecting under-reported income and tax evasion. However, the cooperation from the taxpayer is the most important factor, because if taxpayers do not cooperate, the investigation officer needs to find other informant such as third party as a source of information which usually time-consuming.

This paper selected only a small number of tax fraud cases for examination. Many other cases were not accessible due to confidentiality and considered as high-profile cases.

The outcome of this paper contributes in the way it can be used and applied by the revenue authority in implementing more practical and effective capital statement analysis technique to deter tax evasion. The investigation activities can be improved so that more cases can be covered in shorter time period.

The paper is novel and original, as it focuses on the investigation of tax fraud cases’ which is difficult to access and rare in tax literature, particularly in emerging markets. The findings of this study are inferred from direct examination of the actual cases documents that are private and confidential.

Evidence in the literature repeatedly points towards failure to understand cash flow shortages as a major problem of small business operators. Theoretically, they should be able to use financial statements prepared by their accountants as planning and control tools. However, because of accountants' use of the accrual system, rather than cash, and the meticulous detail that tends to make statements too complicated for the untrained user, many operators simply do not attempt to use these statements.