The impact of national regulations and company size on the structure and content of the statement of financial position under IFRS. Evidence from Poland

Abstract

Previous research on the IFRS practice in the world found the impact of country factors on IFRS financial reporting. Despite the use of the same set of standards there are differences between countries and differences between large and small companies in one country. This paper examines the association between Polish national regulations and the IFRS format of the statement of financial position of Polish listed companies and the differences between large and small companies. I found that IFRS statements of financial position of Polish listed companies are much more condensed than the obligatory format of balance sheet under the Polish Accounting Act. I also found that there are not large differences between the structure and content of the statement of financial position of large and small companies. This paper extends the IFRS adoption literature by examining the statements of financial position of large and small companies from a country where national regulations contain the obligatory formats of financial statements. Moreover, the research relates to a country from Central and Eastern Europe which is often under-represented in the international accounting research.