IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausact/v31y2021i4p273-285.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards a Solution to the Variety in Accounting Practices of Extractive Firms under IFRS

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Nobes
  • Christian Stadler

Abstract

Accounting for exploration and evaluation (E&E) costs is one of the last major issues to remain largely unregulated by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), even though extractive firms are an important part of several big stock markets. Under a temporary permissive standard (IFRS 6), which has been in place since 2004, firms use a wide range of accounting policies for E&E costs, thus undermining comparability. We review the IFRS annual reports of a large number of firms, looking for different policies. We identify many distinguishable methods of accounting. Along with this, we discover that disclosures are often confusing, partly because of the lack of definitions in IFRS 6. To aid insight into this complexity, we prepare a classification of these methods and give real examples of each. We then assess the methods in the context of IFRS 6 and other relevant parts of IFRS. We find that nearly all the methods comply with IFRS. This leads us to a proposal for narrowing the variety of practice by withdrawing IFRS 6, and putting E&E costs within the scope of IAS 38 Intangible Assets. As part of this, IAS 38 could be further revised to extend the scope of capitalisation of other development costs, thereby addressing one of the criticisms of current reporting practice and bringing IAS 38 more into line with the latest version of the Conceptual Framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Nobes & Christian Stadler, 2021. "Towards a Solution to the Variety in Accounting Practices of Extractive Firms under IFRS," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(4), pages 273-285, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:31:y:2021:i:4:p:273-285
    DOI: 10.1111/auar.12348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12348
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/auar.12348?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen H. Penman, 2009. "Accounting for Intangible Assets: There is Also an Income Statement," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 45(3), pages 358-371, September.
    2. David S. Gelb, 2002. "Intangible Assets and Firms' Disclosures: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3&4), pages 457-476.
    3. Douglas Skinner, 2008. "Accounting for intangibles – a critical review of policy recommendations," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 191-204.
    4. Cortese, Corinne L. & Irvine, Helen J. & Kaidonis, Mary A., 2010. "Powerful players: How constituents captured the setting of IFRS 6, an accounting standard for the extractive industries," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 76-88.
    5. Sudipta Basu & Gregory Waymire, 2008. "Has the importance of intangibles really grown? And if so, why?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 171-190.
    6. Corinne L. Cortese & Helen J. Irvine & Mary A. Kaidonis, 2010. "Powerful players: How constituents captured the setting of IFRS 6, an accounting standard for the extractive industries," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 76-88, June.
    7. Amir, Eli & Lev, Baruch, 1996. "Value-relevance of nonfinancial information: The wireless communications industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 3-30, October.
    8. Power, Sean Bradley & Cleary, Peter & Donnelly, Ray, 2017. "Accounting in the London Stock Exchange's extractive industry: The effect of policy diversity on the value relevance of exploration-related disclosures," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 545-559.
    9. Christopher Nobes, 2015. "IFRS Ten Years on: Has the IASB Imposed Extensive Use of Fair Value? Has the EU Learnt to Love IFRS? And Does the Use of Fair Value make IFRS Illegal in the EU?," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 153-170, December.
    10. Ann Tarca, 2020. "The IASB and Comparability of International Financial Reporting: Research Evidence and Implications," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 30(4), pages 231-242, December.
    11. Eli Amir & Baruch Lev & Theodore Sougiannis, 2003. "Do financial analysts get intangibles?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 635-659.
    12. Sidney J. Gray & Niclas Hellman & Mariya N. Ivanova, 2019. "Extractive Industries Reporting: A Review of Accounting Challenges and the Research Literature," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 55(1), pages 42-91, March.
    13. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    14. Luther, Robert, 1996. "The development of accounting regulation in the extractive industries: An international review," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 67-93.
    15. David S. Gelb, 2002. "Intangible Assets and Firms' Disclosures: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3‐4), pages 457-476, April.
    16. Hafez Abdo, 2016. "Accounting for Extractive Industries: Has IFRS 6 Harmonised Accounting Practices by Extractive Industries?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 26(4), pages 346-359, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sidney J. Gray & Niclas Hellman & Mariya N. Ivanova, 2019. "Extractive Industries Reporting: A Review of Accounting Challenges and the Research Literature," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 55(1), pages 42-91, March.
    2. Tega Anighoro, 2020. "Value relevance of the components of oil and gas reserve quantity change disclosures of upstream oil and gas companies in the london stock exchange," Papers 2005.14659, arXiv.org.
    3. Corinne Cortese & Lee Moerman & Millicent Chang, 2022. "Is the extractive industries standard still fit for purpose?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2807-2838, June.
    4. Power, Sean Bradley & Cleary, Peter & Donnelly, Ray, 2017. "Accounting in the London Stock Exchange's extractive industry: The effect of policy diversity on the value relevance of exploration-related disclosures," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 545-559.
    5. Yuan, DING & Gary, ENTWISTLE & Hervé, STOLOWY, 2003. "International differences in R&D disclosure practices : evidence in a French and Canadian context," HEC Research Papers Series 783, HEC Paris.
    6. Kannan, Yezen & Khallaf, Ashraf & Gleason, Kimberly & Bostan, Ibrahim, 2023. "The relationship between R&D intensity, conservatism, and management earnings forecast issuance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Denise A. Jones, 2007. "Voluntary Disclosure in R&D†Intensive Industries," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2), pages 489-522, June.
    8. Luc Paugam & Pierre Astolfi & Olivier Ramond, 2015. "Accounting for business combinations: Do purchase price allocations matter?," Post-Print hal-01277376, HAL.
    9. Zéghal, Daniel & Maaloul, Anis, 2011. "The accounting treatment of intangibles – A critical review of the literature," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 262-274.
    10. Omar Alsinglawi & Mohammad Aladwan, 2018. "The Effect of Invisible Intangibles on Volatility of Stock Prices," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(11), pages 290-290, November.
    11. Shawn Ho & Baljit K. Sidhu & Fan Yang, 2023. "The response of Australian firms to AASB 138 disallowing the recognition of internally generated identifiable intangibles," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3609-3641, September.
    12. Suliman Alshahmy & Hafez Abdo, 2023. "Impacts of reserve and decommissioning disclosures on value and performance of oil and gas firms listed in the UK," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 168-184, June.
    13. Khaled Hussainey & Martin Walker, 2009. "The effects of voluntary disclosure and dividend propensity on prices leading earnings," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 37-55.
    14. Teng Zhou & Jacqueline Birt & Michaela Rankin, 2015. "The value relevance of exploration and evaluation expenditures," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(3), pages 228-250, November.
    15. Abeysekera, Indra, 2016. "Does the classification of intangibles matter? An equivalence testing," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 135-142.
    16. Georgieva, Daniela & Georgieva, Teodora, 2020. "A study of social policies based on the example of the Bulgarian hotels on the Black Sea coast," MPRA Paper 105291, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    17. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Le Manh, Anne, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    18. Ahmad, Nglaa & Haque, Shamima & Islam, Muhammad Azizul, 2024. "Modern slavery disclosure regulations in the global supply Chain: A world-systems perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Smith, Julia A. & Cordina, Renzo, 2014. "The role of accounting in high-technology investments," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 309-322.
    20. Biondi Yuri, 2011. "The Pure Logic of Accounting: A Critique of the Fair Value Revolution," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-49, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:31:y:2021:i:4:p:273-285. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1035-6908 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.