Construction contract revenue recording comparison

Abstract

Publicly traded companies prepare their consolidated accounts in conformity with the international accounting standards (IAS/IFRS) in accordance with the Regulation No. 1606/2002. This is obliged for all publicly traded joint-stock companies in the Czech Republic. Other companies prepare financial statements in accordance with national accounting standards. There are Accounting Act No. 563/1991 of Coll. and Regulation No. 500/2002 of Coll., Czech Accounting Standards in the Czech Republic. Both systems are based on different principles so there are many differences. The Czech Accounting System (CAS) is based on the rules while IAS/IFRS are based on principles (Kovanicová, 2005). These differences are mainly caused by the different philosophy. CAS prefers the fiscal policy to the economic substance while IAS/IFRS prefere the economic substance. One of the most significant differences is in the field of revenue recording. There are two standards concerning the revenues recording (IAS 18 - Revenue, IAS 11 - Construction Contracts) in IAS/IFRS. CAS 019 - Expenses and Revenue are dealing with the revenue recording in the Czech Republic. The paper is aimed at the comparison of the methodical approaches for revenue recording used by IAS/IFRS and by CAS. The most important differences are caused by the different approach to the long term contracts (construction contracts, software development contracts) revenues recording.