Literature Review and Evolution of Beneficial Owner Concept. Views from the Accountancy Profession

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and determine the meanings of the concept “Beneficial Owner”. We identified two approaches of the concept in the academic literature. One approach is related to corporate governance of complex ownership structures and the other approach is related to taxation. Professional accountants usually interrelate with beneficial ownership information as part of their activities. This makes the legal framework around beneficial ownership information of direct relevance to the accountancy profession.