Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2011, 59(2), 43-50 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201159020043
The implementation of the IFRS for SME in the EU
- Ústav účetnictví a daní, Mendelova univerzita v Brně, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Česká republika
Small and medium sized companies have very important position in the EU economy, mainly in the area of employment. Their activities on the internal market are limited by a great deal of obstacles. The most important obstacles can be considered different national financial reporting and tax systems.
IASB published an International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) designed for use by small and medium-sized entities (SMEs).
The IFRS for SME is expressly designed to meet the financial reporting needs of entities that (a) do not have public accountability and (b) publish general purpose financial statements for external users. This standard could be a suitable instrument for the SME accounting harmonization.
The aim of the paper is to analyze the problems connected with the harmonization of accounting legislation used by SMEs in EU countries especially in the Czech Republic.
In the frame of methodology the empirical research was used. The author has distributed questionnaires to the enterprises in the Czech Republic, selected according to their size and the field of activity. Comment letters of 210 respondents from 26 EU Member States were used for evaluation possibilities of the IFRS for implementation to national legislation.
Based on the results of empirical research some problems could arise with the IFRS for SME application. Based on the questionnaires, respondents are highly interested in the costs and gains of IFRS for SME application. The gains should exceed the costs of IFRS for SME application.
Keywords: SME, harmonization, IFRS for SMEs, EU consultation
Received: December 17, 2010; Published: July 7, 2014 Show citation
References
- IASB, 2009: International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities, London.
- IASB, 2010: Recent adoptions of the IFRS for SMEs, IASB Newsletters: IFRS for SMEs Update, No. 2, London.
- BARKER, P., NOONAN C., 1995: Small company compliance with accounting standards: The Irish situation, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
- DEMARTINI, P., 2005: Accounting Harmonization for European Small Business, Quderni di Economia Aziendale (Working Papers), Urbino.
- EFRAG, 2009: A letter to the European Commission specifying the requirements of IFRS for SMEs that has been assessed to be incompatible with the EU Accounting Directives.
- EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2001: Company Taxation in the Internal Market. COM(2001) 582 final.
- EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2005: The Contribution of Taxation and Custome Policies to the Lisbon Strategy. COM(2005)532 final.
- EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2010: Summary Report of the responses received to the Commission's Consultation on the Internal Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Mediun-sized Entities.
- NERUDOVÁ, D., BOHUŠOVÁ, H., 2008: The empirical study of the SMEs position in the process of IFRS for SME application in the Czech Republic. Ekonomika ir vadyba1, pp. 157-162. ISSN 1822-6515.
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