Hungarian Accounting Standardization Effects

Abstract

Nowadays, especially during the current global financial crisis, companies in Hungary are striving desperately to remain competitive and achieve sustainable levels of economic development. The highly competitive environment requires companies to create a clear business strategy, and accounting has to be part of this strategy since it helps individual enterprises to achieve their strategic objectives. International accounting standards are new global methods for business information systems and they are able to harmonize financial regimes both in Hungary and world-wide. The increased globalization of markets, the complexity of commercial trading and the concentration of business in global competition have led to a still greater need for international accounting harmonization. It is expected that a unified, standardized accounting information system will lead to new types of analysis and data – with the possible integration of new indicators used in the business practice of certain countries as an additional benefit.

The purpose of this study was to measure the differences between national (Hungarian)l rules and the international standards, evaluating and analyzing their effects on the business environment. The financial data are taken from accounts published on the Budapest Stock Exchange and in the Hungarian Business Information database. The results show that those businesses which have adopted international standards achieved higher and statistically significant positive coefficients than those following local accounting rules. We found that larger firms (those with more leverage, higher market capitalization and substantial foreign sales) were more likely to have adopted international accounting standards.