Financial Results: Retrospective Analysis of Bookkeeping Practice, Accounting Concepts and Methods

The financial results, calculated on a certain approach and methodology in the accounting system and made public in public reporting, serve as a key criterion for the effective functioning of the entity. Objective measurement by the accounting system of indicators of this type at all stages of the evolution of the economy has been and still remains extremely important. However, the methodology of accounting for the expression in this system of economic category, which reveals the effectiveness of the enterprise, is still considered debatable. The purpose of the article is to study the genesis and conduct of a retrospective analysis of historical developments regarding the recognition and measurement of financial results in the accounting system with the aim of formulating recommendations on the possibilities and feasibility of using individual developments of the past to improve modern accounting. The main methods used in the study were methods of historiographical generalization and systematization, comparative analysis. The historical and modern aspects of the contents of the category "profit" ("loss"), approaches and the basic principles of their reflection in the accounting system are revealed. The results of the retrospective analysis of the evolution of the content and essence of the accounting categories "profits" and "losses", the positioning of this object in the formulated accounting concepts and accounting practices, the methods developed for the calculation of the results of the enterprise activity are systematized. The current most important accounting and reporting problems concerning the correlation of indicators of financial results with changes in the capital of the enterprise and its solution in historical developments have been analyzed. On the basis of the obtained results the expediency of use of separate components of past developments of scientists and accounting schools in further researches has been substantiated for the solution of the above-mentioned problems in modern accounting, analytical and managerial theory and practice. In particular, in order to improve the accounting of financial results of the enterprise, it is proposed to systematically separate operating gains (losses) in the system of accounting accounts from financial results as informational support for changes in the value of capital due to market conditions, one-time (accidental) incomes or losses, and the productive impact of the intangible component of capital on cost enterprise parameters. This approach will methodically approximate the calculated results of the enterprise to the current market criteria, will enable to postulate the recognition of financial results based on the concepts of financial and physical capital conservation.