Corporate Annual Reports (CARS): Accounting Practices in Transition

The main goal of this book is to explain the way in which accounting practices that are constantly in transition generate the information that is disclosed in corporate annual reports (CARS). The book shows that CARS may be seen as a product of two main interrelated information processing systems, the first being the mandatory financial information system (MFIS) and the second the discretionary information system (DIS). The MFIS uses accounting practices such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in producing the information disclosed in CARS. On the other hand, the DIS, in order to provide a complete picture of business entities, uses discretionary accounting practices to produce the contextual information contained in CARS. These discretionary accounting practices are also in transition. They cater for the production of information on the business environment, and provide an operating and financial review, overview of strategy, risk areas, forward-looking information, key performance indicators and information on corporate governance and transparency. Contextual disclosures may be used to develop mandatory disclosures