Balance sheet theory

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Balance theories are theoretical models that, based on certain tasks and purposes, justify a fundamental approach to balancing .

Classic balance sheet theories

The static balance theory

In these theories, the annual financial statements are assigned the task of depicting the net worth ( assets minus external capital ) of the company / businessman on a specific reference date with the help of the balance sheet : By comparing the assets valued on the reference date on the one hand and the debts at the same time the net worth existing on the reference date is to be determined and its composition broken down. In the static conceptions, the annual surplus or the profit for the period results as a side effect of the determination of assets as a balance, namely when the company assets are compared with each other at the beginning and at the end of the period.

As part of the demolition statics , which was largely justified by the Reich Higher Commercial Court in 1873, the assets and debts are valued (and broken down) as if the company were being liquidated (broken up). The primary task of the balance sheet is to determine the merchant's debt coverage potential: by applying individual sales prices to assets, the company's liability potential or the assets that the creditors could access in the worst case scenario are mapped. As a result, only assets that can be sold individually are accounted for.

In the continuation of static that of Herman Simon was justified, on the other hand not of the destruction case, but it is the company's value in continuation of the business activities are ( going concern basis , English going concern ). The current Commercial Code (HGB) also generally assumes the continuation of business activities ( Section 252 (1) No. 2 HGB). However, Simon still assumes a single valuation of assets and debts, not a company valuation as a whole. All movable and immovable objects, receivables and (purchased) intangible objects are recorded as assets .

Representatives of static balance sheet views are in particular Herman Veit Simon , Walter Le Coutre , Heinrich Nicklisch and Wilhelm Rieger .

The dynamic balance sheet theory

The dynamic balance sheet theory was founded by Eugen Schmalenbach in 1919 and further developed by Erich Kosiol (on the pagatory balance sheet) among others . It sees the main task of the balance sheet or the annual financial statements in general in the determination of a comparable period result and thus the accountability (to external addressees, but also an instrument of internal control) for the past period. Compared to the goal of the correct determination of profits , the idea of creditor protection , which is more important in the static balance sheet concepts, loses its importance.

Since Schmalenbach was already guided by the principle of caution , which is still valid today , he called for a careful determination of profits and only wants to record profit contributions realized through sales (see also realization principle ).

The organic balance sheet theory

The organic balance sheet theory comes from the Frankfurt business economist and national economist Fritz Schmidt .

According to Schmidt, the annual financial statements are seen here from a macroeconomic perspective. Every company is a cell within the overall economy . The task of the balance sheet is now to determine whether the company has maintained its relative position in the overall economy in the sub-period. Schmidt expects price increases and sets the company's profit from sales profits and fictitious gains together. For bookkeeping purposes, a sub-account of the capital account is set up, which receives this fictitious profit. This is achieved within the framework of the valuation at replacement costs not at acquisition or production costs as the lowest value principle .

Newer approaches

Preservation of capital and assets

Similar to the question in organic balance sheet theory, the concepts in which capital or substance maintenance is in the foreground, primarily deal with the question of how the annual success is to be determined so that the capital or substance of a company is preserved.

The concept of nominal capital maintenance considers the development of nominal equity : An increase in nominal equity is shown as a profit. Both German tax law and German commercial accounting law are based on this concept, the main disadvantage of which, however, is that in phases of inflation the capital is nominally retained, but if profit distributions and profit tax payments are based on this concept of profit, real capital consumption occurs. as the remaining capital is no longer sufficient to procure the original assets again.

With the concept of real capital preservation, however, a purchasing power-adjusted capital determination serves to secure the real capital of the company. The problem here is the choice of a suitable index for the assessment.

The concepts of asset maintenance consider less the capital (sum of money), but the assets. Preservation of substance is guaranteed if at most that part of the proceeds is distributed (or taxed) that is no longer required for the replacement of the assets existing at the beginning of the period.

Economic gain

The assumption here is less an individual valuation of the assets based on balance sheet theory, but rather an overall valuation of a company on the basis of future sustainable earnings. The company value is the discounted withdrawal potential, the economic profit of a period is the difference between the company value at the end and the beginning of a period. In spite of the theoretical advantages of this theory, the objectification constraints necessary for commercial and tax accounting are not met here.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Schmidt: The organic balance sheet in the context of the economy . Leipzig 1921.