The quality of SOEs’ annual financial statements: A critical analysis of the OECD guidelines

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National and international accounting literature and established accountancy laws now agree that the nature of invested resources, and — above all — pursued objectives, can modify the accountability of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This accountability is characterised as being of public interest, and the efficacy of the statutory accounts model derived from the chosen business plan is consequently reduced. Based upon this hypothesis, the present work proposes an evaluation of the mandatory accounting regulations for Italian state-owned enterprises via an evaluation of compliance with the OECD guidelines of November 2015 regarding “disclosure and transparency”. Although the work substantially evidences compliance with the majority of OECD recommendations, it also highlights a concentration of non-compliance in areas regarding company performance statements.

Keywords: State-Owned Enterprises, Disclosure, Transparency, Quality, Financial Reporting

JEL Classification: M4

Received: 20.10.2021
Accepted: 26.10.2021

How to cite: Smarra, M., & Sorrentino, M. (2021). The quality of SOEs’ annual financial statements: A critical analysis of the OECD guidelines. In K. M. Hogan, & A. Kostyuk (Eds.), Corporate governance: Fundamental and challenging issues in scholarly research (pp. 69–77). https://doi.org/10.22495/cgfcisrp11