Accounting Harmonization for SME-S in Europe: Some Remarks on IFRS for SME-S and Empirical Evidences

Abstract

The debate on accounting truth is an old problem (Briloff, 1979) and it is at present more and more important in harmonization process, especially involving small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Their users’ needs regarding the extents and type of accounting information as well as the costs of their providing are widely discussed as the arguments for differential reporting for SMEs, although there is still more literature focusing on financial reporting of large enterprises. The standards setters try to decrease the reporting burden for SMEs, keeping the relevant information for their reports users, while considering harmonization goals in the same time. In such an attempt, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued an International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) designed for use by small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) the 9th of July 2009, however some national European standard-setters seem not to be keen to introduce them. The aim of our paper is to analyze, the attempts and difficulties to reach all these goals in the same time and to implement the IFRS for SMEs, such as drawn by the IASB, in the European countries. Croatian experiences presented, running from International Accounting Standards (IAS) implementation as obligatory for all the companies, towards Croatian Financial Reporting Standards (CFRS) introduction for SMEs, represent an interesting experiment in the European context.

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