Abstract

Title: How has IAS 38 affected accounting in small and large companies?

A study of the differences in the accounting of financial ratios between small and large companies.

Authors: Jasmine Choudrey & Rana Qadri

Main Course: Business Economics

The aim of this study is to make a comparative examination between small and large companies in Sweden and to analyse how accounting of intangible assets has been affected or changed due to the introduction of the new accounting recommendations and IAS 38.

Main theory: There are no theories available on these type of researches due to the fact that the introduction of the IFRS is relatively new. Instead the essay discusses facts about the financial ratios and IFRS as a starting point for the study.

Method: The examination will be a combination of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The quantitative part will be based on statistics and financial ratios from the different companies annual reports. These financial ratios will be analyzed by performing a confidence interval. In term the qualitative part will be based on an interview with an authorized accountant. The interview will be conducted according to the results from the quantitative analysis. The aim of the interview is to shed some light onto the attained results.

Results: The results from the confidence interval show that there is a significant difference between small and large companies in the accounting of intangible assets. In both the analysis of the financial ratios, solidity and return on equity H1 was accepted and H0 was rejected. Which in turn means that changes have occurred in the accounting of intangible assets since the introduction of the IFRS recommendations.

Keywords: IAS 38, financial ratios, return on equity and solidity.