Filing Practice of Small and Medium-sized Companies

Abstract

Most EU countries differentiate not only applicable accounting standards between companies but also the filing requirements imposed on them.The main objective of allowing small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) to file abbreviated financial statements is to protect them from disclosing too much information to their competitors. However, so far there is a lack of empirical research on the costs and benefits of statutory filing requirements and the usefulness of available filing concessions.This article begins to explore these issues by analysing the compliance with statutory filing requirements as well as the take-up level of available filing concessions and revealed preferences for filing options of a large sample of Austrian GmbHs qualifying as SMEs under Austrian legislation.The study reveals that the take-up level of filing concessions differs strongly between small and medium-sized GmbHs, suggesting that some medium-sized GmbHs expect net benefits from voluntary disclosures, whereas small GmbHs in general value costs arising from voluntary disclosures more highly than the benefits associated with them.