Challenges in financial reporting about biological assets

Abstract

Biological assets are one of the characteristic positions in the financial statements of the entities in the domain of agro sectors. Its accounting treatment is accompanied by numerous challenges, notably because of the need to measure fair value accordance with IAS 41 - Agriculture, but also because biological assets can be very heterogenous in terms of race, life cycle stages, health status, productivity and more. In order to review and assess the situation in the financial reporting of biological assets in the Republic of Serbia, we conducted a survey of the financial reports of the entities in the field of agriculture and agribusiness. The paper highlights the key constraints that arise in relation to the financial reporting on biological assets, which can seriously impair the value relevance of financial informations.

Biološka imovina predstavlja karakterističnu stavku stalne imovine entiteta u domenu agrosektora. Njeno računovodstveno obuhvatanje praćeno je brojnim izazovima, pre svega zbog potrebe odmeravanja fer vrednosti na koju upućuje MRS 41 - Poljoprivreda, ali i zbog činjenice da biološka sredstva mogu biti veoma heterogena u pogledu rase, faze životnog ciklusa, zdravstvenog statusa, produktivnosti i drugo. U cilju sagledavanja i ocene finansijskog izveštavanja o biološkoj imovini u Republici Srbiji sproveli smo pregled finansijskih izveštaja domicilnih entiteta iz domena poljoprivrede i agrobiznisa. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na brojna ograničenja kada je reč o finansijskom izveštavanju o biološkoj imovini, koja značajno narušavaju pouzdanost prikazanih finansijskih informacija.