Nollavräkning av entreprenadprojekt: Teoretisk grund och praktisk betydelse

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the method called zero recognition that is used in accounting for construction contracts when the outcome is uncertain. When this is the case it is hard to make the necessary estimates needed for the percentage of completion method to be used. Both the meaning of the method from an accounting perspective and the practical importance and purpose of the method is investigated. The method used for this study is the qualitative one and the deductive model is used to relate the theory with the empirical research. The theoretical background consists of accounting theory and theories about individuals, companies and markets. For the empirical foundation interviews with Scandinavian construction companies that engage in these sorts of construction contracts, auditors, analysts and an accounting expert have been done. The study concludes that the theoretical base for zero recognition is found within conservatism and reliability over relevance. This is even though the method is not independent, but used within the percentage of completion method which has another theoretical base in the principle of matching. The information about that projects are using zero recognition can however also be seen as relevant without being quantified, since it in practice is seen as a risk indicator among analysts, representing the users of the financial statements. Even though the method influences margins, the number of projects using the method are too few to make this a practical problem in the accounting. However, the method is subjective and the empirical study showed that this causes the understandability and comparability of the financial statements to decline. Zero recognition has support in IAS 11, but in Sweden the use of it has also developed through Swedish GAAP according to the needs of the Swedish construction companies. The method can be seen as a part of “reasonable conservatism” in financial statements.