本文是会计专业的Essay范例，题目是“Voluntary Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards | Case Study（国际财务报告准则|的自愿采纳案例研究）”，本文旨在提出一项研究的建议，该研究旨在识别和评估证据，以确定欧洲上市公司的会计准则是否影响了中小企业的会计方法。该提案旨在建议德国中小企业自愿采用国际财务报告准则的前景、机会和局限性。
1INTRODUCTION介绍
This paper aims to suggest a proposal for a study that aims to identify and evaluate evidence as to whether the accounting standard for listed businesses in Europe have influenced the accounting methods of small and medium sized enterprises. The proposal aims to suggest the prospects, opportunities and limitation of voluntary adoption of IFRS amongst small and medium sized organisations in Germany.
2BACKGROUND背景
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were designed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to act as a common global language between business transactions in order to provide understandable and comparable accounts across borders. The aim was to evaluate a fair value of a company’s business situation by harmonising financial reporting standards situation (Wiecek and Young, 2010). Within the context of Europe, the accounting standards of listed entities are regulated by the IFRS since 2005 onwards. Thereby the IFRS constituted a major change in the structure and representation of accounts for publically listed companies in member states. While the accounting rules for non-publicly listed companies are set by the European Accounting Derivative supplemented by the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of each member state. Therefore consolidated financial statements of publicly traded organisations have to be prepared under full IFRS regulations while it is voluntary for other organisations.
国际财务报告准则(IFRS)是由国际会计准则理事会(IASB)设计的，作为商业交易之间的一种全球通用语言，以提供可理解的和可比较的跨国会计核算。其目的是通过协调财务报告标准来评估公司业务状况的公允价值(Wiecek和Young, 2010)。在欧洲，自2005年以来，上市公司的会计准则由国际财务报告准则(IFRS)监管。因此，国际财务报告准则对成员国上市公司的账目结构和代表构成了重大改变。而非公开上市公司的会计准则是由欧洲会计衍生工具制定的，并辅之以每个成员国的公认会计原则(GAAP)。因此，上市组织的合并财务报表必须根据完整的国际财务报告准则编制，而其他组织是自愿的。
Over the past decade IFRS has also influenced the accounting methods of non-public organisations in the EU. During July 2009, the IASB published the IFRS for SME after years of consultation and discussion in order to provide organisations that do not have public accountability a complete set of internationally recognised rules (Quagli and Paoloni, 2012). However, various accounting options have been simplified or omitted from the IFRS for SMEs for example the revaluation model (IAS 16, IAS 38) or the annual review of of tangible and intangibles assets is not required, as these specifications are not relevant to typical SMEs (Quagli and Paoloni, 2012).The following scenario has also given birth to the phenomenon known as the ‘Trickle Down Effect’. This concept defines the impact of IFRS trickling down in non-public organisations. Therefore the following proposal aims to identify the importance of a study that aims to analyse the opportunities and limitations of adopting IFRS for German SMEs while assessing the appropriateness of IFRS in organisations with an international orientation.
3 LITERATURE REVIEW文献综述
This section of the proposal aims to identify and discuss relevant literature and evidence for the proposed study. In order to provide a basis for the following discussion, this chapter will firstly discuss the importance and situation of SMEs in Germany and then evaluate the literature in regards to the application of IFRS in German SMEs.
这一节的提案旨在确定和讨论相关的文献和证据的拟议研究。为了为下面的讨论提供基础，本章将首先讨论德国中小企业的重要性和现状，然后评价文献中关于IFRS在德国中小企业中的应用。
3.1 Small Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany
This paper focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Storey (1994) argues that there is no single and uniformly acceptable definition of a small sized firm as it can be measured by employees, turnover, profitability or worth. Consequently, multiple definitions of SMEs have emerged for example economic and statistical definitions provided by the Bolton (1971) or size differentiation according to customer-or product base provided by Wynarczyk et al., (1993)(Storey, 1994). As a result the European Commission pinned down the term ‘Small and Medium Enterprises and defined SMEs in terms of staff headcount and turnover or balance sheet total as demonstrated by Figure 1. Nonetheless, these limits on the figures only apply to individual firms and not groups of firms (Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs – European Commission, n.d.).
However, the EC definition has not been embraced by all countries and constitutions for example the World Bank or UNIDO’s definition. Similarly, the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (IfM Bonn; Institute for SME-Research Bonn, Germany) applies the following definition of classification for its SMEs. The main difference constitutes in the number of employees employed by different sized enterprises. Nonetheless, this study and proposal will comply to the EU given definition of SMEs in order to stay related and provide comparison with other empirical evidence from other member states.
The importance of SMEs is undeniable in stimulating economic development at national and international level (Jones and Tilley, 2003). The following can be put into perspective by identifying that there are around 23 million SMEs in the European Union providing 75 million jobs and representation 99% of all enterprises (Lang and Martin, 2017). Similarly, the German economy is strongly saturated by SMEs (Kayser and Wallau, 2002) as high numbers of family owned and owner-managed firms operate in the market. According to the European Commission 99% of 3.7 million companies in Germany can be constituted as “German Mittelstand” (KfW SME Panel, 2015). These companies employ around 15.5 million employees and contribute around 52% of the total economic output of the country. Consequently, it can be stated that SMEs are vital for the growth and prosperity of the national economy thereby they have immense importance in regards to the accounting impact derived by the rules and regulations enforced upon them. Accounting literature has identified that accounting quality has economic consequences such as cost of capital (Leuz and Verrecchia, 2000) or capital mobility (Young and Guenther, 2003).Thus, it is significant to understand the impact of accounting standards on accounting quality and thereby the impact on these organisations.
3.2 IFRS in GERMAN SME’s
The growth of internationalisation has increased the need for international standards in order to provide transparency and comparability as argued byHopwood (1989) in his book “International Pressures for Accounting Change” that accounting can never be characterised by national aspects only. As a result all EU members including Germany have to prepare financial statements of public listed companies in accordance with (full-)IFRS and are expected to show significantly higher levels of information than non-listed companies that can prepare their statements under the German-GAAP. According to empirical evidence the adoption of IFRS in the EU has led to information quality (Ball and Brown, 1968) ; (Ely and Waymire, 1999) through positive market reactions (Armstrong et al., 2007) and higher levels of decision relevance (Landsman, Maydew and Thornock, 2009).
国际化的增长增加了对国际标准的需求，以提供透明度和可比性，如hopwood(1989)在他的书《会计变化的国际压力》中所述，会计永远不能只以国家方面为特征。因此，包括德国在内的所有欧盟成员国都必须按照(完整的)IFRS编制上市公司的财务报表，并预期显示的信息水平显著高于可以根据德国公认会计准则编制报表的非上市公司。根据经验证据，IFRS在欧盟的采用导致了信息质量(Ball和Brown, 1968);(Ely和Waymire, 1999)通过积极的市场反应(Armstrong et al.， 2007)和更高水平的决策相关性(Landsman, Maydew和Thornock, 2009)。
Nonetheless, the vast majority of non-listed enterprises are not subject to IFRS but to the regulations laid by the European Accounting Directive and to any national laws or their own GAAP. However, the trickle-down effect has influenced accounting regimes of small and medium sized enterprises. Dumontier and Raffournier (1998) researched the reasons for voluntarily adopting the IFRS for Swiss listed companies and found that factors such as internationalism, size and ownership diffusion however Raffournier (1995) did not support a positive correlation of ownership diffusion and voluntary compliance with IFRS. A more recent study of 2017 by the European Federation of Accountants and Auditors (EFAA) identified multiple reasons why the trickle down effect may consume these non-listed enterprises which included: (1) reduced complexity (2) better understanding by readers of accounts (3) comparability between entities where IFRS is allowed as a basis for tax (4)having a comparable basis for the preparation of accounts within groups, and (5) efficiency in the training of accountants (Lang and Martin, 2017). The study also found numerical evidence identifying the volume of trickle down amongst 5 major European countries which included Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK as demonstrated in Figure. Consequently, it can be derived that the convergence (white plus green) of all countries evaluated in the study had at least 50per cent with Germany at 57 per cent. Thus, it clearly demonstrates that ‘trickle down’ has played a huge role in the convergence of IFRS.
3.3 VOLUNTARY IFRS PPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS
Various academics have identified the benefits and limitations of voluntary adoption of international financial reporting standards. However a cost-benefit analysis is vital when implying accounting standard and rationalising IFRS in SMEs. While organisations can quantify the direct costs of adopting IFRS however the total economic costs or the benefits have been hard to quantify (Gebhardt, 2000).
A major factor that supports IFRS is increased transparency and quality in comparison to national financial reporting standards as IFRS across the globe makes it easy and cost efficient for investors to compare. Kim and Shi (2012) identified that voluntary adoption of IFRS led to a 59 per cent increase in firm specific information capitalized in stock prices by providing evidence from a sample of firms from 34 countries that adopted IFRS voluntarily from 1998 to 2004. Moreover, Armstrong et al (2007) elaborated that the adoption of IFRS in Europe has led to positive market reactions and has thus provided greater levels of relevance. Gassen and Sellhorn (2006) identified that voluntary IFRS led to higher information efficiencies while Hung and Subramanyam (2004) argued better information in comparison to the German GAAP however Wang and Yu (2009) denied these findings.
支持国际财务报告准则的一个主要因素是，与国家财务报告准则相比，国际财务报告准则的透明度和质量有所提高，因为全球范围内的国际财务报告准则使投资者进行比较变得容易和具有成本效益。Kim和Shi(2012)通过从1998年至2004年自愿采用国际财务报告准则的34个国家的公司样本中提供证据，确定自愿采用国际财务报告准则导致公司特定信息增加59%，以股票价格为资本。此外，Armstrong等人(2007)阐述了欧洲采用IFRS导致了积极的市场反应，从而提供了更大程度的相关性。Gassen和Sellhorn(2006)指出，自愿IFRS导致更高的信息效率，而Hung和Subramanyam(2004)认为与德国公认会计准则相比，信息更好，但Wang和Yu(2009)否认了这些发现。
Eierle and Haller (2009) surveyed German SMEs and demonstrated how size influences the perceived benefits of the IFRS and identified that a large number of their respondents did not understand the importance of IFRS as they were unable to understand the benefits of international comparability and did not have in depth knowledge of the costs and benefits of IFRS adoption. Hence it supports the statement by Quaglu and Paoloni (2012) that it is not evident that all SMEs could be interested in adopting IFRS for SMEs as their results demonstrates that German-speaking countries show lower appreciation for the standard especially the preparers of the documents. Similarly M. Kreipl et al (2004) found that non-publicly traded companies prefer the German-GAAP over the IFRS for SMEs due to multiple reasons such as general skepticicism, lack of knowledge, the convergence of German-GAAP and IFRS owing to the German Accounting Law Reform Act or in-group biases.
4 MOTIVATION OF STUDY学习动机
The current literature provides some relevant evidence regarding the situation of adoption of voluntary IFRS however; it also leaves scope for more research to complement prior studies. Most previous studies have focused on the implication of IFRS on listed firms rather than non-listed. Moreover voluntary adoption of IFRS in regard to the German economy have been ignored even though there are a few studies that touch the topic however there is space for an in-depth investigation. Thus, this proposed study aims to complement prior literature by conducting an in depth study of Germany and the prospects of voluntary adoption of IFRS.
然而，目前的文献提供了一些有关采用自愿国际财务报告准则的情况的相关证据;这也为更多的研究提供了空间，以补充之前的研究。以往的研究大多关注国际财务报告准则对上市公司的影响，而不是对非上市公司的影响。此外，自愿采用国际财务报告准则在德国经济方面被忽视了，尽管有一些研究触及这个话题，但有深入调查的空间。因此，本研究旨在通过对德国和自愿采用国际财务报告准则的前景进行深入研究，补充之前的文献。
5RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS
This research aims to find valuable insights of the desire of German SMEs to adopt IFRS. The study will (1) understand the benefits of voluntary IFRS adoption (2) determine the limitations of voluntary IFRS adoption amongst German SMEs and (3) assess whether German SMEs with an international focus are more willing to adopt IFRS. In the light of this, the research shall examine why German SMEs should adopt the IFRS by addressing the following research questions:
Q1. What are the limitation of adopting IFRS in German SMEs?
Q2. What are the opportunities of adopting IFRS in German SMEs?
Q3. If unlisted firm with more international orientation are more likely to comply with IFRS
本研究旨在发现德国中小企业采用国际财务报告准则的愿望的有价值的见解。本研究将(1)了解自愿采用IFRS的好处(2)确定自愿采用IFRS在德国中小企业中的局限性(3)评估具有国际重点的德国中小企业是否更愿意采用IFRS。有鉴于此，本研究将通过解决以下研究问题来研究为什么德国中小企业应该采用IFRS:
问题1：德国中小企业采用国际财务报告准则的局限性是什么?
问题2：在德国中小企业中采用IFRS的机会是什么?
问题3：如果非上市公司更具国际导向，则更有可能遵守国际财务报告准则
6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY研究方法
6.1 Research Method of Study
Knupfer and McLellan (1996) define research as a process of describing, explaining and validating results through a four step process elaborated by Anderson (2013) as shown in Figure 2.
Knupfer和McLellan(1996)将研究定义为通过Anderson(2013)所阐述的四步过程描述、解释和验证结果的过程，如图2所示。
Consequently, business research aims to systematically analyse and interpret complex information (Wilson, 2014). Thus to systematically analyse the problem statement defined by this proposal this study will follow a research philosophy defined a positivism – an objective approach that allows the research to be independent of the researcher.
Furthermore, Figure demonstrates the difference amongst the two research approaches. in regards to the research approach the study is expected to follow a deductive approach (Bryman and Bell, 2015) which is a theory testing approach unlike the inductive approach. The study aims to analyse different given theories and data in order to find relevant observations and findings in the context of Germany.
此外，图片还展示了两种研究方法的差异。在研究方法方面，本研究预计采用演绎方法(Bryman和Bell, 2015)，演绎方法是一种不同于归纳方法的理论测试方法。本研究旨在分析不同的给定理论和数据，以便在德国的背景下找到相关的观察和发现。
As established the research aims to focus on Germany hence the research design proposed for the study is a Case Study design. Yin (2003) defines the case study design as an inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon with in a real life context. Moreover, Bell and Bryman (2015) distinguish between different types of cases based on a single organization, a single location, a person or a single event. Consequently, this study aims to present findings from a single location according to the case study design (copy pasted from thesis change wordings)
The research strategy the study is expected to follow a mixed method strategy (Bryman, 2001) which includes qualitative and quantitative data. In order to answer the rsearch questions data from various sources will be derived particularly secondary sources since primary data from non-listed organisations is hard to accumulate the study will use quantitative and qualitative information from journals, reports and official websites to answer the research questions and achieve the aim of the study effectively. Nonetheless, Wilson (2014) identifies a number of advantages of secondary data such as less-resource intensive, allows comparative analyses, can support longitudinal studies and easily accessible.
6.2 Ethical Considerations (copy pasted from thesis, all of this needs changing)
Trevino and Nelson (2016) define ethics as the principles, norms and standards of conduct governing an individual or group. Likewise, Anderson (2013) argues that ethical behaviour requires adhering to a code of conduct. While a number of ethical factors have to be taken into consideration in primary research such as approval of individual participants, approval of organisation, wellbeing of participants, informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality however since this research is only based on secondary sources hence the ethical considerations are only limited.
Consequently, it can be stated that the ethical aspect of secondary research was maintained as the ownership of external material has been acknowledged in the literature review and the data compilation. Moreover, prior to the research process ethical clearance was obtained from the university where the research is being conducted.
因此，可以说，由于在文献综述和数据汇编中承认了外部材料的所有权，二级研究的伦理方面得以保留。此外，在研究过程之前，研究所在的大学获得了伦理许可。
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