Documenting, Accounting, and Valuing Material Damages Caused by Armed Aggression to the Non-Current Assets of the Company

Abstract

Apart from massive losses in human capital, armed aggression in Ukraine commenced in the late February 2022 has brought about significant negative material consequences to the business. These include interruptions or termination of operations, damages non-current and other assets, disruptions in supply chains, etc. This in turn aggravated certain accounting and valuation challenges as well. In Ukrainian practice, for such matters as documentation, accounting, and valuation of damages, there were no established and generally accepted approaches and algorithms. The purpose of this study is to explore theoretical and methodological, as well as empirical aspects of documenting, accounting, and valuing of material damages caused by armed aggression to the non-current assets of the business. Methods of theoretical cognition and empirical research constitute a methodological basis of the study, particularly systematization and generalization, induction and deduction, comparison and measurement, analysis, and synthesis. The paper systematises the opinions of the local experts on recording the damages, namely provides a joint step-by-step algorithm for identification of affected assets and documentation of damages. The analysis outlines key accounting treatment issues related to affected non-current assets such as necessity to conduct impairment and revaluation, loss of control or significant influence over assets, going concern uncertainty and provided the basis for further more detailed investigation of each of the matters in next research. The practical significance of the study is to present extent and nature of disclosures provided regarding the impact of armed aggression by Ukrainian companies in their interim financial reports. Such empirical analysis is possible to repeat and broaden later in the next studies after publication of annual financial statements