Reliability of reporting information from the standpoint of Yaroslav Sokolov's Accounting Paradox Theory

Abstract

Subject. This article considers the reliability of reporting information as one of the most important qualitative characteristics that ensure the usefulness of accounting data to interested users to make management decisions. Objectives. The article aims to articulate an issue of the implemented methodology of research in the field of accounting, aimed at improving the reliability of accounting data. Methods. For the study, I used the methods of analysis, systematization, comparison, and logical generalization. Results. The article presents various definitions of the category of Fairness of Accounting Statements. It finds that compliance with the statutory regulations determines the boundaries of the accounting methodology. However, the statements do not reflect all the accounting events of the enterprise, and what is reflected is not always recorded correctly. In this regard, the perception of reporting data and the interpretation of the results of analysis by users may differ from the meaning implicit in the data, determined by the implemented accounting methodology. This kind of discrepancy between the content of accounting statements, determined by the accounting methodology, and the perception of these data by users can cause a situation that was defined by Russian academic economist, professor Yaroslav V. Sokolov (1938–2010) as the Paradox of Accounting. Quite a number of research papers are devoted to this problem, but most of them are not verified in practice. Conclusions and Relevance. The article concludes that the financial statements, in reality, cannot be reliable, since they are just a simplified model of the financial and operating activities of the enterprise. The results obtained can be considered as a determination of the directions of further research in the field of the Accounting Paradox Theory by Yaroslav V. Sokolov.