Reporting of Prior Period Errors and Changes in Accounting Policies by Czech Companies The paper investigates the extent and reasons for restatements of financial statements by Czech firms. In 2013, Czech accounting regulation was amended to remove inappropriate accounting treatment for prior period errors and changes in accounting policies. A sample of 3,407 financial statements for the period 2013-2017 also includes a significant amendment to accounting standards in 2016. The combination of both amendments creates a quasi-natural experiment enabling investigation into firms' response to regulatory changes. Empirical analysis shows that restatements occurred in 7.4% of the cases. Using non-parametric tests, we found that restatements are more frequent in joint-stock companies and that corrections of prior period errors dominate over changes in accounting policies. An expected one-time increase in restatements in 2016 is confirmed; however, the hypothesis that increased restatements are driven by changes in accounting policies required by new GAAP can be neither confirmed nor refuted. The main cause is that over 50% of the entities did not disclose their reason for restatement, despite the fact that disclosure is mandated by accounting standards and all financial statements are audited.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.