Financial reporting for capital market participants

Abstract

This chapter will deal with the theoretical background of the accounting principles. I will shed light on the design of the principles and point out their main objectives. This includes information on the general purpose and objectives of financial reporting, which include providing decision-useful accounting information. Further, I will point out the qualitative characteristics of decision-useful accounting information and ultimately link the decision usefulness of accounting information to the fair value approach introduced by the standard setter. By doing so, I will clarify the concept of fair value for investment properties as I chose this type of assets as my research context.