Abstract

BOHORQUEZ FORERO, Nohora del Pilar. Implementation of International Standards for Inventories in Colombia. Innovar [online]. 2015, vol.25, n.57, pp.79-95. ISSN 0121-5051.

The implementation of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in Colombia follows the trend of globalization and harmonization of accounting information that will allow the comparison of financial statemens among countries. Such comparability is important, since it allows companies to save time and money in relation to the conversion of financial statements. Among the items that will be significantly affected is the item of inventories. The valuation, cost and presentation of inventories are modified, and this will have an impact on the financial statements, its indicators and the determination of taxes for Colombian companies. Under the new accounting regulations, it is not possible to register financing interests as a greater value for inventories, such an issue has direct repercussions in the Income State of firms, which must reflect these payments as financial expenses, decreasing their profits. Additionally, these inventories should reflect their market value. When the inventories are superior to the value of the company, they will be adjusted so that they show an expense in the Income State, reducing in this way the profits of economic entities and generating even bankruptcy in the cases when the inventory item is very significant and its market value is lower than the one in books. The new accounting standards do not accept the valuation of inventory using the method "last in, first out" (LIFO). The intention of this is to avoid the alteration of profits when registering bigger values as cost, reducing profits. The companies whose inventories are perishable must have an optimization of the inventory turnover to suit IAS 2. Since the valuation of inventories under IAS 2 will have a significant impact on companies' profits and assets, the taxes to be paid for those profits and the determination of the presumptive income will also be affected by the convergence. Finally, service providers must record the value of labor and social benefits directly related to the service as intangible inventories. Such concept is completely new in the country, since Article 63 of the former Colombian regulations (Decree 2649/93; defined an inventory as tangible property for sale. The capitalization of such costs will affect the financial indicators of services providers, as it will increase their current assets and additionally increase their profits.

Keywords : IAS 2; inventories; IFRS; financial indicators; LIFO.

        · abstract in Spanish | French | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )