Open Access

The accounting of small and medium enterprises is specific, compared to the accounting of large enterprises, for several reasons. First of all, lower business volume implies less demanding accounting in terms of less turnover and the number of accounts to be processed, lower financial reporting requirements, more favourable tax treatment is expected and the like. Practical experience in the years of application of EU-accounting directives, which represent the framework of financial reporting of companies at the EU level, pointed to certain difficulties or excessive administrative burden of small and medium enterprises in relation to the requirements for large companies and identified areas for improvement. The complexity of these regulations as well as problems in practical application have led to the need to develop and publish a revised single accounting directive (2013/34/EU). This Directive was primarily adopted with the aim of simplifying the accounting and financial reporting of small and medium-sized enterprises. Today, it is common for small and medium-sized enterprises to go beyond the borders of one country. In the internationalization of business, SMEs face many challenges and potential barriers. First of all, it refers to financial, human and procedural barriers, but also to informational barriers related to regulations, rules and laws of other countries. Since the accounting and tax treatment of the same business transaction may differ between countries, it seems entirely justified to investigate whether there are differences in the regulation and regulation of the accounting system between the two countries. This paper compares the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises’ accounting systems between two economically strongly connected countries, Germany and Croatia, which is the main goal of this paper. It is well known that financial reporting is a particularly important, final phase of accounting data processing. Namely, financial reporting system of these two countries is compared by using the method of comparison and classification analysis. The types and scope of financial statements have been defined and the content of financial statements that SMEs are obliged to compile and publish has been analysed. The paper pays additional attention to the analysis of similarities and differences between these two accounting regulations as well as current events in the implementation of the revised accounting directive into national legislation, especially in simplifying the financial reporting of the smallest, but numerically most represented micro enterprises. The important finding of the research show that some changes have been made but there is still room to improve accounting regulations for this segment of entrepreneurship.

Ab dem Jahr 2017 müssen bestimmte große Unternehmen eine nichtfinanzielle Erklärung veröffentlichen, die berichtspflichtige Aspekte zu Umwelt-, Arbeitnehmer-, und Sozialbelange sowie Aspekte zur Achtung der Menschenrechte und der Bekämpfung von Korruption und Bestechung beinhaltet. Dies erweitert die Berichtsanforderungen vor allem mit dem Ziel, die Informationsbedürfnisse der Interessengruppen zu erfüllen und die Wirtschaft auf eine nachhaltige Orientierung zu lenken. Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist es, ausgewählte Osnabrücker Unternehmen hinsichtlich der Veröffentlichung von MD&As hinsichtlich einer nichtfinanziellen Erklärung zu untersuchen. Den Schwerpunkt stellt die Analyse der Lageberichte der Unternehmen im Berichtsjahr 2015 dar, um die Frage zu beantworten, ob die Unternehmen bereits in den Jahresabschlüssen nichtfinanzielle Aspekte veröffentlichen. Dies soll einen Beitrag zur Zukunftssicherung leisten und als Grundlage für Forschungsarbeiten nach Erstanwendung der neuen Regelungen dienen. Es wird festgestellt, dass einige der Aspekte bereits in der Berichterstattung angesprochen werden, während andere Aspekte nicht angegeben sind. Zudem wurde herausgefunden, dass alle analysierten Unternehmen zumindest spezifische nichtfinanzieller Aspekte angeben. Eine eingehendere Analyse listet diese Aspekte der einzelnen Unternehmen gesondert auf.