Moving on with the interview,accountants were asked if they were comfortable with
exercising their own professional judgement.A large majority (75 percent) said“no”.
A general consensus on that matter was that there is no need to make own judgements
while preparing financial statements, as there are rules that need to be followed,
otherwise “you can break the law”,was the response of many accountants.It is not a
surprise then,that the majority of accountants expressed their preference for a clear set
of rules and instructions.
The answers to the next question in the interview process re-affirmed Russian
accountants’views on making professional judgements expressed above.Moreover,the
author was made aware by the interviewees that according to one of the RAS(PBU 4/99
as it is called in Russia)on“Financial Reporting of Organisations” – in exceptional
circumstances,accountants are allowed to depart from existing rules,while preparing
financial statements. It is possible when the rules do not allow a full and fair
presentation of financial position of the company to be formed. Furthermore, any
departure from a prescribed rule needs to be disclosed in the explanatory notes to
the accounts,giving full reasons for the change of treatment and how it affected the
reported financial position of an organisation. The study found that none of the
interviewed accountants have ever used this norm.
The interviews also revealed that accountants do not make an assessment of their
organisation’s ability to continue as a going concern because there are no clear instructions
on how to do so.Many accountants replied that it was“not an accountant’s job to do”.
The study also found that accountants in Russia prefer to have a uniform set of
accounts rather than a less prescribed format of IFRS. One of the most common
explanations for this was because uniform accounts are“easier to follow”.They were
also deemed “more comparable” and “very systematic”. Other reasons included
providing clear evidence of where the items reported in the statements originate from to
assist the tax authorities and audit firms in checking through the statements.Russian
accountants do not consider it as their job to gather such external information as asset’s
market values.Nor do they consider it as their job to estimate future cash flows that can
be derived from assets. All the interviewed accountants believe it is to be left to a
financial analyst. However, only a third (32 percent) of interviewed accountants
deploy such measures and are aware of current market values for certain assets.
Nevertheless,every single accountant interviewed declared that they keep up to date
with changes in economic and legal environments as part of their day-to-day job.
Finally,when asked whether they could choose to recognise an asset at either its
book value or at its fair value, a predominant majority (60 percent) of participants
chose book value. The reasons given for such a choice were“because it is documented”,
“it can be reliably and objectively measured”, whereas fair value was deemed too
subjective and required estimation.Moreover,the fair value of an asset was simply
understood by those accountants to be its market value.