Applying Benfordʼs Law on assessing the reliability of financial information in European companies from the rental and leasing sector before and after the adoption of IFRS 16

• Authors: Luty Piotr , Petković Miloš , Vavrek Roman

Title variants

PL

Zastosowanie prawa Benforda do oceny wiarygodności informacji finansowych w europejskich spółkach z sektora wynajmu i leasingu przed i po przyjęciu MSSF 16

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Purpose: The purpose of the manuscript is to ascertain whether the introduction of IFRS 16 changed the reliability of financial information in companies in the NACE 77 sector. Benfordʼs Law was applied to identify errors within a selected sample of European leasing and rental companies (NACE code 77). Methodology/approach: The study examines accounting manipulations in positive profit and loss (P&L) before tax in 2015 and 2019; Part 2 explores manipulation within negative P&L before tax in 2015 and 2019; Part 3 discovers manipulations in operating revenue in 2015 and 2019. In the empirical part of the study, MAD and Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests were applied. Findings: The study confirmed that the reliability of financial information did not change even though the small differences in the distribution of digits appeared, before and after IFRS adoption. Research limitations: Limitations from this research refers to the sample size; only com-panies from the leasing and rental industries are included in the study Originality/value: The study adopts Benford's Law in accounting for IFRS leasing ad-justments.

PL

Cel: Celem artykułu jest zbadanie porównywalności informacji finansowej przed i po przy-jęciu MSSF 16 Leasing dla spółek z sektora NACE 77. W celu oceny występowania anomalii w wynikach spółek, w próbie europejskich firm leasingowych (kod NACE 77) wykorzystali-śmy prawo Benforda. Metodyka/podejście badawcze: W badaniu poszukujemy potencjalnych anomalii w war-tości wyniku finansowego przed opodatkowaniem w 2015 i 2019 roku, a także w przychodach operacyjnych w latach 2015 i 2019. Dopasowanie rozkładów empirycznych i teoretycznych jest mierzone za pomocą MAD i testem Kołmogorowa–Smirnowa. Wyniki: Badanie potwierdziło, że w teście pierwszej cyfry Benforda nie zauważono istotnych zmian w kształtowaniu się informacji finansowych, mimo że pojawiły się drobne anomalie w rozkładzie cyfr przed i po przyjęciu MSSF 16. Ograniczenia badawcze: Podstawowym ograniczeniem badania jest wielkości próby, a więc firmy z branży leasingowej. W kolejnych badaniach planujemy rozszerzenie badania o spółki korzystające z leasingu. Oryginalność/wartość: W badaniu przyjęto prawo Benforda do ujawniania występowania anomalii w rozkładach cyfr danych finansowych spółek przed i po wdrożeniu MSSF 16.

Keywords

EN

IFRS 16; adoption; Benford’s Law; profitability; European companies

PL

MSSF 16; wdrażanie; prawo Benforda; zyskowność; spółki europejskie

• Publisher: Stowarzyszenie Księgowych w Polsce (SKwP), Zarząd Główny, Rada Naukowa
• Journal: Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości
• Year: 2022
• Issue: 46(4)
• Pages: 51-68

Contributors

author

Luty Piotr

• Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, Faculty of Management, Poland

author

Petković Miloš

• Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia

author

Vavrek Roman

• VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Economics, Czech Republic

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