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Tolkningsutrymmet inom IFRS - Konjunkturens påverkan

Olsson, Linda LU ; Trokic, Ena LU ; Nadarevic, Rico LU and Pettersson, Pontus LU (2012) FEKH95 20121
Department of Business Administration
Abstract (Swedish)
Eftersom IFRS är ett principbaserat normsystem finns det utrymme för tolkning. Detta tolkningsutrymme kan föranleda möjlighet att jämna ut
resultat i företaget utifrån företagsledningens subjektiva val. Ett samband torde finnas att tolkningsutrymmet kan leda till manipulering av resultatet.
Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om noterade svenska företag
använder sig av earnings management i form av resultatutjämning och big
bath-redovisning, och i sådana fall om detta sker mer frekvent under
lågkonjunktur.
I uppsatsen har vi använt oss av en kombination av en kvantitativ
dokumentundersökning av årsredovisningar samt kvalitativa intervjuer för
att utforska vald frågeställning.
Genom intervjuerna har framkommit att det är svårt... (More)
Eftersom IFRS är ett principbaserat normsystem finns det utrymme för tolkning. Detta tolkningsutrymme kan föranleda möjlighet att jämna ut
resultat i företaget utifrån företagsledningens subjektiva val. Ett samband torde finnas att tolkningsutrymmet kan leda till manipulering av resultatet.
Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om noterade svenska företag
använder sig av earnings management i form av resultatutjämning och big
bath-redovisning, och i sådana fall om detta sker mer frekvent under
lågkonjunktur.
I uppsatsen har vi använt oss av en kombination av en kvantitativ
dokumentundersökning av årsredovisningar samt kvalitativa intervjuer för
att utforska vald frågeställning.
Genom intervjuerna har framkommit att det är svårt för en extern person
att, utifrån företagets årsredovisning, påvisa om företagsledningen gjort en opportionistisk tolkning av standarderna. Slutsatsen är att principbaserade redovisningsstandarder kan ge upphov till earnings management.
Big bath-redovisning innebär att företagsledningen vill redovisa ett
lägre resultat än väntat, och därmed med vissa justeringar gör resultatet
lägre. Om majoriteten av utvalda företag hade redovisat nedskrivningar av goodwill under lågkonjunkturen skulle detta vara ett fenomen för big bath. Vi har dock inte av vår forskning kunnat påvisa detta samband. Av vår forskning har framkommit att nedskrivning av goodwill är den post där det subjektiva valet är som tydligast för att justera företagets resultat under lågkonjunktur. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Since IFRS is a principle-based system of norms, there is room for
interpretation. This can lead to smoothing of the company’s net profit,
based on the management's subjective choice. A correlation can exist, that the scope for interpretation may lead to the manipulation of the net profit. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether listed Swedish firms use earnings management in the form of income smoothing and big bath accounting, and in such cases if this happens more frequently during a recession. In this paper we have used a combination of a quantitative examination of documents annual reports and interviews to explore the selected issue.
From the interviews, our conclusion is that it is difficult for an outside party,... (More)
Since IFRS is a principle-based system of norms, there is room for
interpretation. This can lead to smoothing of the company’s net profit,
based on the management's subjective choice. A correlation can exist, that the scope for interpretation may lead to the manipulation of the net profit. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether listed Swedish firms use earnings management in the form of income smoothing and big bath accounting, and in such cases if this happens more frequently during a recession. In this paper we have used a combination of a quantitative examination of documents annual reports and interviews to explore the selected issue.
From the interviews, our conclusion is that it is difficult for an outside party, based on the company’s annual report, to demonstrate whether the management has interpreted the standards in their own interest. One conclusion is that the principle-based accounting standards may lead to earnings management.
Big bath accounting means that the management, when the net profit
is lower than expected, makes adjustments to make the net profit even
lower. If the majority of the selected companies in our investigation had reported impairment of goodwill during the recession, this would be a phenomenon of the big bath, although we cannot, based on our research,
see such correlations.
The research has shown that impairment of goodwill is that item that
management can use to adjust the company's net income during the
recession, and where the subjective choice is evident. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Olsson, Linda LU ; Trokic, Ena LU ; Nadarevic, Rico LU and Pettersson, Pontus LU
supervisor
organization
course
FEKH95 20121
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Resultatutjämning, income smoothing, IFRS, earnings management, big bath
language
Swedish
id
2798162
date added to LUP
2012-06-19 09:32:18
date last changed
2012-06-19 09:32:18
@misc{2798162,
  abstract     = {{Since IFRS is a principle-based system of norms, there is room for
interpretation. This can lead to smoothing of the company’s net profit,
based on the management's subjective choice. A correlation can exist, that the scope for interpretation may lead to the manipulation of the net profit. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether listed Swedish firms use earnings management in the form of income smoothing and big bath accounting, and in such cases if this happens more frequently during a recession. In this paper we have used a combination of a quantitative examination of documents annual reports and interviews to explore the selected issue.
From the interviews, our conclusion is that it is difficult for an outside party, based on the company’s annual report, to demonstrate whether the management has interpreted the standards in their own interest. One conclusion is that the principle-based accounting standards may lead to earnings management.
Big bath accounting means that the management, when the net profit
is lower than expected, makes adjustments to make the net profit even
lower. If the majority of the selected companies in our investigation had reported impairment of goodwill during the recession, this would be a phenomenon of the big bath, although we cannot, based on our research,
see such correlations.
The research has shown that impairment of goodwill is that item that
management can use to adjust the company's net income during the
recession, and where the subjective choice is evident.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Linda and Trokic, Ena and Nadarevic, Rico and Pettersson, Pontus}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Tolkningsutrymmet inom IFRS - Konjunkturens påverkan}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}