TFAS reikalavimų įgyvendinamas Lietuvos įmonių praktikoje: su pensijomis susijusių mokėjimų atvejis
ENLithuania along with other European Union member states and countries worldwide has been undergoing major changes in its financial accounting system. The process, commonly named as accounting harmonization, is aimed to eliminate the differences among the accounting standards used by various countries, to increase transparency, to make disclosed information more mutually comparable, to contribute to a better functioning of the financial markets. To reach these goals a set of high quality accounting standards, namely International financial reporting standards (IFRS) has been introduced. Accounting harmonization, its driving forces, outcomes and other aspects are being examined and followed closely by researchers and accounting professionals. It could be stated that one of the most interesting topics of current scientific research is to assess whether the accounting regulation (or de jure) harmonization leads to the accounting practice (or de facto) harmonization. It has to be noted that previous research conducted by the author in the field of accounting harmonization discovered some evidence that IFRS requirements are not always necessarily applied in practice by Lithuanian companies. To address this important issue further a research of financial information disclosed by Lithuanian listed companies has been conducted. The aim of the research is using an example of pension related payments to assess whether IFRS requirements are adopted in accounting and information disclosure practices of Lithuanian corporations. In IFRS pension related payments are named post-employment benefits and are classified into defined contribution and defined benefits plans. In Lithuania both types of post-employment benefits are enforced by law as companies have to pay defined contribution payments to state social welfare fund and defined benefit payments in the amount of 2 monthly salaries to all retiring employees.Therefore information about such payments has been expected to be found in the financial statements of the companies. Results of the research revealed that only less than half of Lithuanian companies disclose such information. In 2011 payments to the state social welfare fund were disclosed by total of 14 companies (or 45,16% of companies that participated in the research), when obligatory retirement payment of 2 monthly salaries – by total of 15 companies (or 48,39%). It was concluded that Lithuanian companies do not follow all the requirements of IFRS although they claim compliance with these standards. Such results raise questions about true and fair view, reliability of the disclosed information and competencies of managers and auditors. Moreover, results of the research also revealed a strong influence of auditors in preparation of disclosures about post-employment benefits. Although participation of the auditors is not a harmful practice, in this case question about competencies and independence of the auditors have to be raised.
