Accounting for SMEs – How Important is Size in Choosing between Global and Local Standards?

There is limited evidence from various countries about the possible impact of various criteria to be used to determine the scope of the IFRS for SMEs issued in 2009 and, research is needed in this area. We provide evidence from Romania, an emerging economy member of the European Union. The aim of this paper is to analyze in a local setting if size is a relevant factor for deciding between local and global standards for SMEs. Our results indicate that size is a moderate indicator of the existence of possible users interested in financial statements and that there is a difference between the scopes of the standard determined on various criteria.. Also, we suggest that the international exposure is quite reduced in the case of SMEs, but is sufficient to suggest that at least some SMEs would benefit from international comparability of financial statements




References:
[1] C. Albu, N. Albu, and D. Alexander, "Accounting change in Romania -
a historical analysis", 6th workshop on European Financial Reporting
EUFIN 2010, Stirling, Scotland, UK, 1-2 September 2010.
[2] C. Albu, N. Albu, and S. Fekete, "The context of the possible IFRS for
SMEs implementation in Romania. An exploratory study", Accounting
and Management Information Systems, vol. 9, no. 1, 2010, pp. 45 -71.
[3] R. Di Pietra, L. Evans, J. Chevy, M. Cisi, B. Eierle, R. Jarvis, "Comment
on the IASB-s Exposure Draft ÔÇÿIFRS for Small and Medium-sized
entities", Accounting in Europe, vol. 5, 2008, pp. 27-48.
[4] B. Eierle and A. Haller, A., "Does size influence the suitability of the
IFRS for SMEs? Empirical evidence for Germany", Accounting in
Europe, vol. 6, 2009, pp. 195-230.
[5] European Commission, "Think Small First" "Small Business Act" for
Europe, 2008, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/small-business-act/.
[6] Eurostat, European Business, facts and figures, 2009,
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/
[7] Financial Director, "How big is small", Financial Director, April 2007,
pp. 18
[8] J.R. Francis, I.K. Khurana, X. Martin, and R. Pereira, "The role of firmspecific
incentives and country factors in explaining voluntary IAS
adoptions: evidence from private firms", European Accounting Review,
vol. 17, no. 2, 2008, pp. 331-360.
[9] D. Herrmann, and W.Thomas, "Harmonization of accounting
measurement practices in the European Community", Accounting and
Business Research, vol. 25, no.100, 1995, pp. 253-265.
[10] IASB, IFRS for Small and Medium Sized Entities, IASCF, 2009,
available at www.iasb.org.
[11] IASB, Basis for conclusions on the IFRS for Small and Medium Sized
Entities, IASCF, 2009, available at www.iasb.org.
[12] IASB, A guide to the IFRS for SMEs, IFRS Foundation, 2010,
www.ifrs.org
[13] S.Ik├ñheimo, H.Ojala, E.M. Stening, V, Riistama, ÔÇ×The IFRS for SMEs:
Do we need it? An expert-based study in Finland", The 4th Annual
Workhsop on Accounting in Europe, 10-11 September 2008, Lund
University, Sweden
[14] E.K. Jermakowicz, and B.J. Epstein, "IFRS for SMEs - an option for US
private entities?", Review of Business, 2010, pp. 72-79.
[15] E.K. Jermakowicz, and S. Gornik-Tomaszewski, "Implementing IFRS
from the perspective of EU publicly traded companies", Journal of
Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, vol. 15, 2006, pp. 170-196.
[16] C. Nobes, and R. Parker, Comparative international accounting, 10th
edition, Prentice Hall, 2008.
[17] P. Pacter, and D. Scott, "The IFRS for SMEs", IFRS Conference, Dubai,
13 September 2012.
[18] C. Roberts, and S. Sian, Micro-entity financial reporting: perspectives of
preparers and users, IFAC, 2006.
[19] Schiebel, "Is there a solid empirical foundation for the IASB-s draft
IFRS for SMEs", paper presented at 31st Annual Congress of the
European Accounting Association, 23-25 April, Rotterdam, the
Netherlands, 2008.
[20] P.N. Tan, M. Steinbach, and V. Kumar, Introduction to Data Mining,
Boston, 2006.
[21] H. Theunisse, "Financial reporting in EC countries: Theoretical versus
practical harmonization. European Accounting Review. vol.3, no. 1,
1994, pp.143-162.