Professional Judgment in the Field of Accounting and Financial Reporting in Accordance with IAS and IFRS

Abstract

The article is aimed at: establishing qualitative requirements for the content of information about a transaction, event or condition to which the professional judgment of an accountant is applied; development of an algorithm for considering sources of information when providing professional judgment; a thorough examination of IAS and IFRS and identification of cases where accountants should use professional judgment when choosing alternatives provided for in IFRS, as well as in cases not provided for by these standards, since normative regulation is not able to take into account many variable business situations. As a result of the study, the boundaries of the concept of «professional judgment of an accountant» are outlined and it is determined that professional judgment can be considered one of the important tools for regulating accounting in realizing its main goal – the formation of reliable and complete information about the financial condition and financial activities of an economic entity, as well as a tool that allows timely and adequate response to the changes that taking place. Qualitative requirements for the content of information about a transaction, event or condition to which professional judgment is applied are established; an algorithm for considering sources of information in providing professional judgment is developed; cases of application of professional judgment under IAS and IFRS are defined. This will lead to an increase in the quality of reporting of the enterprise, will allow the accountant to manage financial statements, make it useful for analysis and management. Prospects for further research in this direction are as follows: determination of classification features of professional accounting judgments; establishing the format and content of risk disclosure in the accounting (financial) statements; identification of trends in the basic indicators of the financial condition of organizations depending on the professional accounting judgment formed in the process of establishing accounting policies.

Keywords

• professional judgment
• information
• quality requirements
• financial condition
• risks