국제회계기준의 도입과 재무제표 작성자의 중요성 및 통합표시 판단의 변화

초록

This paper aims (1) to examine whether the materiality and aggregation on the Statement of Financial Position is determined appropriately in practice in the pre- and post-adoption period of K-IFRS, and (2) to investigate whether the practice of determining materiality and aggregation is changed after K-IFRS is adopted. With respect to materiality and aggregation, this study emphasizes that it is important to collect and analyze related data at the basic level. Considering the statement of financial accounting concept, the materiality is defined to be individual or collective influences on decisions made by users when financial statements are used. The universal judgement that is able to be used uniformly in every situation is hard to obtain because determination of materiality should be judged on the case-by-case basis. It depends on specific accounting and auditing practice. Therefore, it is important to observe related practice and to collect and analyze related data observed in the practice. These efforts would make it possible to have the in-depth understanding of accounting and auditing practice. Prior researches provide empirical evidences on judgement on materiality. For example, Sohn and Lee (2004) document that the material error corrections for prior periods are reported through restatement, instead of being reported as gains or losses on the income statement of current period. In addition, they show that the negative response of stock price to prior period error corrections in restatement is greater than that in the income statement of current period. Lee (2008) examines whether the change in materiality criteria in line with Regulatory Review Measure Guideline, which includes quantitative materiality threshold to assess the penalties on the misstatements found in its regulatory review process, affects change in earnings management. Lee (2008) finds that the absolute value of discretionary accruals decreased after the implementation of materiality criteria guideline. On the other hand, the firms that have the sound and effective corporate governance but also have the high level of earnings management report relatively higher absolute value of discretionary accruals. To date, however, there are a few empirical studies dealing with specific issues on materiality. Lee (2014) simply examines whether the practice of presenting reporting items on financial statement is changed after adoption of K-IFRS. We extend the materiality literature by providing observation on the changes in minimum amounts reported on Statement of Financial Position before and after mandatory adoption of K-IFRS. The initial sample consists of 1,434 firm-year observations listed on the Korea Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2011. We exclude firms without necessary financial data. We also exclude firms that voluntarily adopt K-IFRS. In addition, we restrict our sample to continuous availability over the 2010-2011 period in order to contrast K-IFRS against K-GAAP. As a result, a total of 1,216 firm-year observations are used for analyses. The results of this paper are as follows. First, we examine the minimum values of separate items reported on Statement of Financial Position and find that firms present separate items even though it is viewed as being immaterial. However, the result tends to be attenuated after the adoption of K-IFRS. Second, investigating the frequency of minimum value item shows consistent results. Taken together, this study contributes to academics, suggesting the better understanding of K-IFRS.

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