Accounting and marketing dimensions of innovations

Innovations are an important, although imprecise conceptual category. They are perceived differently depending on the accepted scientific perspective. The article verifies the concept of innovation in terms of marketing and accounting. The main aim of the paper is to identify problems and formulate preliminary research hypotheses connected to the integration of the accounting and marketing functions of an enterprise within the context of the assessment of innovative activities conducted by the entity. Additionally, it is the authors' intention to draw attention to similarities and differences that occur between the regulations of the national accounting law and the approach of marketing within this domain. For the purposes of the research it has been hypothesized that the integration of the accounting and marketing functions of en enterprise concerning innovation is limited because of different perceptions of sources and results of innovation within these two fields. Assessments of the innovativeness of the same enterprise from the perspective of marketing and from the perspective of accounting are different. This aim has been realized through the use of scientific description based on the analysis of literature concerned mainly with marketing innovation. The perspective of accounting innovation was also analyzed through a literature study and using a comparison study of chosen accounting regulations contained in the Polish Accounting Act and the International Accounting Standard 38 'Intangible Assets'. In conclusion it should be stated that accounting has not defined the concept of 'innovation' nor, for the purposes of financial reporting, has not isolated innovation as an asset. In accounting, assets associated with the concept of innovation include intangible assets and tangible resources in fixed assets. Considering the presented approaches to innovation a distinct relationship on the type of incurred expenditures can be noticed: whether the expenses had been incurred for internally generated assets or for their acquisition. Only acquired resources and costs of completed development and development work in progress are a common part for these concepts. The presented initial stage of research also confirmed that from the perspective of accounting and marketing the assessment of the innovation level of an enterprise is not identical. It is assumed that the integration of the accounting and marketing functions within a company may have a positive effect on the process of information management.