До Проблеми Методологічної Некоректності Принципу Превалювання Сутності Над Формою В Сучасному Бухгалтерському Обліку В Контексті Реалій Міжнародного Бізнесу

Abstract

Abstract. The article analyzes the historical process and factors contributing to the formation and development of the substance over form principle in both domestic and global accounting practice, its impact on doing business in specific countries and in international business. The organization and maintenance of accounting is based on a set of accounting principles that should ensure that economic events are properly accounted for and, as a result, converted into financial statements, which serve as a source of information for management decisions by various users of financial and economic information, international entities among them. Among these principles we can name the one of the substance over form. The philosophical basis for defining and applying the substance over form principle has been studied. It is discovered that the definition of the substance over form principle combines dialectically incompatible concepts. Namely, a set of internal, stable and defining links reflecting the main features and development trends of objects and processes (in this case, accounting and financial reporting in business transactions) prevails over the mode of existence and expression of meaning, organization and structure of accounting and financial statements. Such a combination of dialectically incompatible categories may lead to different interpretations of the substance of accounting records and, as a result, of the content of the financial statements. Cases of applying and using the substance over the form principle both in normative documents and in real-life accounting are considered. The main advantages and disadvantages of the application of the substance over form principle in the theory and practice of accounting while performing financial and economic activities and doing international business are analyzed. The research has shown that the application of the substance over form principle increases subjectivity in accounting and is largely determined by the qualifications of the accountant doing professional judgment and their moral and ethical qualities. The main causes of conflict situations while applying the substance over form principle are identified and ways to overcome the existing contradictions arising in the process of reflecting economic events in accounting between their legal (documentary) design and economic content are suggested.
 Keywords: methodology, principle, substance, content, form, accounting, international business, international relations.
 JEL Classification B41, M41, F23, F50
 Formulas: 0; fig.: 0; tabl.: 1; bibl.: 25.