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Financial Reporting and Ethics - The Institute of Chartered ...

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ACCOUNTING STANDARDSin the year incurred; other entities in the same business treat thecost as intangible assets to be amortized over future years. <strong>The</strong>sedivergent practices, no doubt, prevent the financial statements<strong>of</strong> different entities from being readily comparable.(c)(d)(e)<strong>The</strong> entities that are adopting the practice <strong>of</strong> writing <strong>of</strong>f the cost<strong>of</strong> research <strong>and</strong> development rely on the provisions <strong>of</strong> Section8(2) <strong>of</strong> schedule 2 to the Companies <strong>and</strong> Allied Matters Act, 1990which stipulates that research <strong>and</strong> development costs shall notbe treated as assets in any entities’ balance sheet. However, thoseopposed to this practice opine that research <strong>and</strong> developmentcosts are so significant that writing them <strong>of</strong>f in one accountingyear will distort the information content <strong>of</strong> the financialstatements <strong>of</strong> the entity. <strong>The</strong>y further argue that it will be adisincentive to investors who are really interested in thedevelopment <strong>of</strong> the economy.A review <strong>of</strong> the financial statements <strong>of</strong> some entities reveals thatonly a few entities carry the cost <strong>of</strong> research <strong>and</strong> developmentactivities as asset in their financial statements whilst others donot. This, no doubt, creates problems <strong>of</strong> uniformity <strong>and</strong> comparabilityin financial reporting. <strong>The</strong>refore, these Statements are expectedto provide an acceptable <strong>and</strong> uniform accounting practice forreporting research <strong>and</strong> development costs.<strong>The</strong> two St<strong>and</strong>ards, especially IAS 38, also made adequateprovisions on the accounting treatments <strong>of</strong> intangible assets suchas goodwill, website costs, br<strong>and</strong>, etc.5.2.12 Investment PropertyRelevant St<strong>and</strong>ards are:(a)(b)Statement <strong>of</strong> Accounting St<strong>and</strong>ard 13: Accounting forInvestmentsInternational Accounting St<strong>and</strong>ard 40: Investment Property<strong>The</strong>se st<strong>and</strong>ards address the following matters:(a)(b)Organisations, in the course <strong>of</strong> their business operations, applyall or some <strong>of</strong> their resources in acquiring assets to be held forcapital appreciation, income generation, or other purposes suchas securing trading advantages.Many financial statements published in Nigeria do not discloseadequate information about the investment held by the reportingenterprises. <strong>The</strong>se statements, therefore, seek to provide a guidefor the accounting treatment <strong>of</strong> investment transactions <strong>and</strong> their105

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