In 1990 a new Spanish 'Plan General de Contabilidad' (PGC) implemented the requirements of the EU 4th and 7th Directives in Spain. Included in the PGC is the requirement, derived from the 4th Directive, that accounts should present a 'true and fair view', in Spanish 'imagen fiel'. Where the term...

This study reports on the analysis of annual reports from 14- listed companies in Spain over a five-year period, from 1998 to 2002. Companies in the sample are selected on the basis of their knowledge-based assets and incentives to report on Intellectual Capital. The empirical analysis is...

After the accounting scandals that have taken place mainly in the United States during the last years, some Spanish leading authorities have defended the idea that this kind of accounting problems cannot happen in Spain. They argue that accounting regulation in Europe, and specifically in Spain,...

Gray (1988) has put forward a hypothesis on how a national accounting environment might reflect the cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede (1980, 1983). A number of studies have tested Gray's hypothesis, including one by Pourjalali and Meek (1995) which identified a match between changes in...

Creative accounting is a growing issue of interest in Spain. In this article we argue that the concept true and fair view can limit or promote the use of creative accounting depending upon its interpretation. We review the range of meanings that true and fair view can take at an international...

Research, teaching and service are the main activities carried out in almost all European universities. Previous research, which has been mainly centred in North-American universities, has found solid results indicating that research and teaching are not equally valued when deciding on faculty...

In Spain both accounting practice and accounting research have been strongly influenced by accounting practices developed in the English speaking world. This paper: 1) Summarizes a seminal English paper, the 'Corporate Report', that identified the potential for accounting reports to serve a wide...

During the 1990's studies of management accounting practices in Europe and in Latin America have given us data on 23 countries. In this paper we use this data to identify five distinct aspects of national management accounting culture being: 1. The influence of regulations on official...

'Creative accounting' involves accountants in making accounting policy choices or manipulating transactions in such a way as to give the impression in the accounts that they prefer. While regarded as unethical by most observers, a defence of creative accounting can be based on the ability of the...

The number of non-profit organizations has grown considerably over the last decades, however management control techniques are not being introduced with the same frequency as in lucrative organizations. The increased competition in this sector has created a growing interest in management control...