Intäktsredovisning i svenska byggföretag -En studie kring IFRIC 15 och IASB:s föreslagna standard och dess påverkan på intäktsredovisningen i tre svenska byggföretag

One of the most crucial entries in the financial statements is revenue. Despite the importance of revenue a lot of mistakes are made concerning this entry because of the extensive room for judgements. Especially in the construction companies where a lot of differences exist due to the fact that different standards are used for similar business transactions. The research concerning IFRIC 15 and the new upcoming standard for revenue recognition is not very extensive. Studies including both IFRIC 15 and the new standard are even more limited. Therefore this study aims to compare the effects of IFRIC 15 and the new upcoming standard for revenue recognition, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, in three Swedish construction companies. The study will portrait the effects on qualitative characteristics as well as the effects on the accounting principles. This study has some delimitations. First, it is delimited to revenue recognition within Swedish construction companies. Furthermore the companies in the study are all listed which means they all apply IFRS. The proposed standard Revenue from Contract with Customers is examined based on the draft presented in November 2011. To be able to conduct this case study, data was collected mostly through interviews but also partly from annual reports. The result of this study shows that effects on qualitative characteristics and the accounting principles due to IFRIC 15 are apparent, where most of the effects have been negative on the Swedish construction companies. This study also shows different expected effects on qualitative characteristics and the accounting principles considering the new upcoming standard for revenue recognition, where most of the effects are expected to be positive. Suggestions for further research concerning this area would be to conduct a follow up study concerning the effects of the characteristics and principles once the new upcoming standard for revenue recognition is implemented. Another area of interest would be to analyze the effect on different ratios in the construction companies due to the implementation of IFRIC 15. The following keywords have frequently been used: IAS 11, IAS 18, IFRIC 15, D21, comment letters, IASB, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, intäktsredovisning, revenue, revenue recognition, entreprenadavtal, kvalitativa egenskaper, control, transfer of control, redovisningsprinciper och principles