A Concept of Accounting Quality from Accounting Harmonisation Perspective

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess if and how a concept of accounting quality differs from perspectives of various types of organisations affected by the accounting harmonisation process. Accounting harmonisation is commonly associated with worldwide adoption of IFRS by public interest companies. However, in the EU this process is much broader and also involves efforts to harmonise accounting standards for non-listed companies and public sector organisations. Analysis of the previous scientific research revealed that accounting quality was commonly assessed from IFRS users’ perspective and approximated with the quality of financial statements. However, based on the interviews with experts of Lithuanian accounting market, the concept of accounting quality for small and medium companies and public sector institutions is ambiguous and still needs to be clarified. Definition of accounting quality only as the quality financial statements is too narrow as financial disclosure is not that important for such companies. For non-listed companies and public sector organisations, other aspects and factors, such as qualification of accountants, supervision of accounting and reporting, overall and managers’ perspective on importance of accounting, have more importance while defining accounting quality.

Keywords

• accounting harmonisation
• accounting quality
• financial statements
• ifrs