Transparency of the accounting information

Abstract

Introduction. The need to ensure the transparency of accounting information is due to the need to reduce asymmetry of information for different groups of stakeholders, reduce the risks of financial fraud, and strengthen corporate governance. It is extremely important to assess the transparency of financial reporting in the context of truthful presentation of accounting information by management personnel on the formation of financial results of activities to owners and investors. A number of issues remain unresolved related to the analytical procedure for assessing the level of transparency of the company's financial statements, which would take into account the protection of investors' interests and the possible opportunistic behavior of management personnel. The goal is to develop an analytical procedure for assessing the transparency of the company's financial statements, which is based on the determination of a composite risk indicator of falsification by management personnel in the financial statements of information on the formation of profits. Method (methodology). The methods of scientific generalization were used in the justification of theoretical approaches to assessing the transparency of the company's financial statements; methods of general scientific abstraction, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, analogy - when developing proposals for the practical calculation of a composite indicator for assessing the risk of falsification of financial statements by management personnel; method of coefficients - to form an information base for assessing the risk of falsification of financial statements; index method - to detect changes in the coefficients included in the model for assessing the risk of falsification of financial statements. Results. A critical analysis of existing approaches in foreign practice to assessing the level of transparency of accounting information and identifying the risk of its falsification in financial reporting was carried out. It is summarized that the lack of transparent accounting information for investors negatively affects the growth and development of financial markets. The priority of protecting the interests of investors during the development of the company's accounting information transparency policy is determined. Three dimensions of the transparency of accounting information are justified: 1) the volume and structure of the content of disclosure of accounting information as characteristics of its disclosure, 2) access to accounting information as a characteristic of its disclosure, 3) truthful presentation of accounting information as a qualitative characteristic of its accuracy and clarity. The importance of financial transparency of these annual reports for investors and the need to minimize the risks of corporate fraud and reduce the asymmetry of information for different groups of stakeholders are argued. An analytical procedure for assessing the transparency of the company's financial statements is proposed, which is based on the determination of the composite risk indicator of falsification by management personnel in the financial statements of information on the formation of profits. According to the annual report of the National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine, an example of the implementation of the proposed procedure for assessing the risk of falsification of financial statements by management personnel is shown. The considered tabular formalization of the analytical procedure enables the unification of analytical calculations, contributes to the digitalization of the analytical process and ensures an increase in the efficiency of obtaining relevant data by investors.