The Development of Financial and Management Accounting After the IFRS Adoption: A Case from the Czech Republic

Abstract

Latest research indicates that business and reporting process have been gradually integrated. As a reaction to growing complexity of business, innovations, global competition, higher mobility of capital and integrating capital markets, the convergence of financial and management accounting has been emerging. The integration is supported by the development of information and communication technology. Financial and management accounting converge on the various levels, e.g. on data recording, calculation level and/or output level. Those motivations for integration are typical especially for developed countries.

The transitional countries are in process of switching to standard accounting practice similar to those utilised in developed countries. Unfortunately, financial reporting is heavily influenced by the tax legislation, which impairs the usefulness of financial statements for decision-making of external users. Due to weaknesses of financial accounting and reporting regulation, entities reporting under local accounting standards are forced to remove those lacks at least on the management accounting level in order to prepare information needed for internal management and decision-making. The separate coexistence of management accounting and financial accounting is therefore inevitable under such circumstances.

The implementation of the IFRS into the legislation of the European Union and its member states has brought new quality to financial reporting, esp. in the transitional countries, despite the fact that the necessity to prepare information according to the IFRS levies additional costs on the companies. In order to lower the cost burden, the IFRS are becoming the leading principles of management accounting for internal users. The paper assumes that the IFRS are the driver for convergence of financial and management accounting in the transitional countries such as the Czech Republic.

Keywords: IFRS, Czech Accounting Standards, Duality and integration of financial and management accounting, Performance, Revenue

JEL Classification: M41