Being an exploratory study, we mainly use literature review (studies on the Romanian accounting system, and the European experience in applying the IFRS for SMEs), textual analysis of the standard and of national regulations, and qualitative data, gathered via means of interviews and our own experience. Some authors [15]show that exploratory studies enable researchers to develop hypotheses about the reasons for the existence
of particular practices. The interviews are the type of evidence most usually associated with case research [15]. It is important to emphasize that our selection of interviewees does not represent 'a sample' in regular statistical sense. They are not 'representative' statistically-speaking, but they are all involved in the decision-making process in their
organizations. The interviews were carried out in Romanian, in order to capture the nuances, to allow a
more fluent course of the discussion, and to ensure the consistency of interviews. Personal experience was already used as a researchmethod in previous studies. Some authors show that “Before we denigrate the validity of knowledge gained
through prior working experience, we should remember that Foucault (1988) in his ground-breaking first book
on the nature of psychiatry Madness and Civilization, used as his primary source of information knowledge gained from his time working as an intern at a French hospital”.