Formos charakteristikos elementų naudojimo Baltijos šalių įmonių atskleidžiamoje finansinėje informacijoje tyrimas
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Finansinė informacija; Formos charakteristika; Informacijos atskleidimas; Informacijos kiekybinės charakteristikos; Disclosure; Financial information; Form characteristic; Quantitative characteristics of information.
ENForm characteristic is one of the quantitative characteristics of publicly disclosed financial information and describes the means by which information is disclosed. The main elements of form characteristics are graphs, tables, text, and pictures. Analysis of scientific literature reveals that companies use some or all of the form characteristic’s elementsin theirinformation disclosure to enhance qualitative characteristics of the disclosure, that is to make information more understandable, comparable and even reliable. On the other hand, usage of the form characteristic’s elements in practice creates possibilities for misstatements and frauds in information disclosure. Form characteristic, its elements, and their usage in disclosure practices are frequently analysed in scientific literature. However, in the Baltic States corporate financial and non financial information disclosure receives little attention. Analysis of scientific literature has not reveal any papers related to the usage of form characteristics in financial information disclosed by the Baltic States companies. To evaluate the usage of form characteristic’s elements in financial disclosure of the Baltic States companies the research of total of 80 companies and their 305 annual reports has been conducted. The research has been divided into two parts. At first, the extent of usage of form characteristic’s elements by the companies has been evaluated and differences by the Baltic States companies have been assessed. In the second part of the research correlation between the extent of usage of the form characteristic’s elements and financial results of the companies has been tested.The research results show that almost all Baltic States companies use form characteristic elements to disclose their financial information. In total 4414 cases of the usage have been documented. The major part of all the form elements usage cases belong to Lithuanian companies – total of 2504 cases (558 graphs, 1383 tables and 563 pictures). All Estonian and Lithuanian companies used tables in their disclosed annual reports (but only 47,75% Latvian companies). Graphs were used by 92,86% Estonian, 82,35% Lithuanian and 28,13% Latvian companies. Based on the results of the research we conclude that Baltic State companies differ in usage of the form characteristic’s elements. The most extensively in a single document form characteristic’s elements are used by Estonian companies. Latvian companies have the opposite practice – their usage of tables, graphs and pictures is among the lowest. Estonian companies most often use graphs and pictures, while Lithuanian companies – tables. Analysis of the research data revealed that usage of the form characteristics elements are related to the operating results of the Baltic States companies. Among Lithuanian companies number of the graphs in annual reports correlate with income and net profit. In the case of Estonian companies positive correlation exists between number of the graphs and income as well as net profit and between pictures and income as well as net profit. Results of the research reveal that form characteristics elements are important part of corporate financial disclosure in the Baltic States. Currently this area is unregulated neither by accounting standards nor by any other regulations. We suggest that such regulation should be implemented to prevent possible misstatements and manipulations of financial information. [From the publication]
