THE THEORY OF ECONOMICS AND ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL FARMS IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARD NO.12. “AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES”

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is to present a critical assessment of the regulations in (National Accounting Standard) NAS No. 12 Pertaining to „Agricultural activity” against the background of the theory of economics and organization of agricultural enterprises (farms). The key issue concerns the compliance of concepts and categories regarding the measurement of the achievements of these agricultural enterprises (farms). The biological character of agricultural production casts doubt over the effectiveness of the traditional accounting model based on the historical cost principle and the principle of implementation, as it fails to properly reflect the effects of economic events related to agricultural activity (biological transformation). In particular, this applies to profit or loss arising at the time of initial recognition of the biological assets’ component at fair value (farm-gate price). A result which is established in such a way is, in other words, a profit or loss resulting not from sales but from production. This, however, is the right approach as far as agricultural activity is concerned, due to the fact that the categories of production are key measurements for the assessment of farm performance. Unfortunately, draft NAS No. 12 concerning „Agricultural Activity” fails to take this important fact into account which means that fair value is omitted during the valuation process. It introduces subjective methods of determining the costs of production of agricultural products, which violate the principle of „information economics” and its usefulness („the principle of the advantage of content over form”) and prevents the construction of a consistent system of concepts and categories in agriculture.