IMPROVING COMMUNICATION THROUGH FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: SOME EFFECTS OF APPLYING THE INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD INITIATIVE

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of the IASB Initiative on Improving Communication through Financial Statements and the resulting changes to IAS 1, IAS 7 and IAS 27. The most debatable issues related to presentation, disclosure and over-disclosure are analyzed, as well as the search for reasonable solutions to optimize the volume and usefulness of the information disclosed in financial statements. Two samples of Bulgarian enterprises from different industries, listed on the large taxpayers and insurers list, were studied: the first covers 12 enterprises applying IAS/IFRS and the second - 6 companies which switched back to the National Accounting Standards (NAS) in the 2015-2018 period. Our results suggest that the problem of the complexity of IFRS, which is combined with increasing disclosure requirements, is one of the leading reasons for some Bulgarian companies to move back to the National Accounting Standards.