ACCOUNTING OF INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES
Authors: KOVAL Liubov 
Published: February 2020

The strategy of economic and social development of Ukraine is aimed at introducing an innovative model of structural construction and economic growth. At the same time, the main source of such growth is innovation products, the creation and use of which is the main driving force of the country's economic development.

Currently, there are certain problems in Ukraine that hinder the development of innovation activity. These include:

- insufficient level of financing of scientific and technical works and associated derivative threats (loss of scientific personnel and intellectual property, inappropriate structure of scientific and technical potential, reduction of innovation activity, etc.);

- insufficient level of informational support of innovation sphere;

- unsuccessful tax policy of the state in the innovation sphere;

- weak development of technology transfer technology.

Innovative products become the subject of accounting since the documentary design of its adoption. Externally, such acceptance may have signs of copyright (certificates, etc.). Identification of objects of accounting of innovation activity involves their assessment.

Evaluation of innovation projects and programs should be carried out in three directions:

1) evaluation of innovations with a view to their selection (pre-investment stage);

2) accounting (accounting, cost) assessment of innovations (at the moment of innovation attraction and by the end of their period of operation);

3) assessment of the efficiency of innovations (in parallel with the operation of innovations and after the investment stage).

Having analyzed the Ukrainian legislation on the accounting evaluation of such an object of accounting as innovation, one can conclude that the regulatory and legal framework is inadequate and inconsistent.

The identified shortcomings therefore require improvements in the methodology and practice of accounting for innovation assessment.

The assessment should take into account the factors of influence and the specific situations in which the company is located.

In our opinion, the assessment of innovations as an object of accounting and analysis should:

- to show the quantitative and value value of a specific type of innovation;

- to give an assessment from the moment of introduction and for a certain date up to the release of innovative products and the implementation process;

- reflect market value and expert assessment for possible implementation through patenting and licensing;

- reflect the recoverable cost of innovative projects to be upgraded, reconstructed and improved during operation;

- take into account the liquidation value or the cost of the sale;

- serve as the basis for conducting an economic evaluation of the innovation process;

- to be an institutional basis for the legal services to perform certain activities related to the negotiation of the conditions for the development of innovations, the protection of property rights and the issuance of results by patents;

- to provide information on the requirements of statistical accounting, tax and investment regulation, administrative management, etc.

The peculiarity of accounting for innovations is their attribution to a particular type of activity. In this connection, there are some problems and inaccuracies.

In our opinion, the innovative activity will be classified as operational in the case when the enterprise is experimental and its operational activities involve the introduction of new varieties of plants, animal breeds, etc. Otherwise, the innovation activity will be expressed through investment.

The accounting of innovations should reflect the information on income, expenses and the process of development and implementation of innovations at the enterprise, which determines its purpose.

To account for innovations, appropriate accounting records should be assigned. However, the current legislation provides for the identification of information only for the cost of research and development. All other information about the innovative state of the enterprise development is reflected in the general accounts of assets, income, expenses, etc.

Using common accounts for innovation is not convenient, because information is sparse. In order to overcome this shortcoming, it is expedient to use the information of the accounting of innovation activity.

In addition, the amount of innovation costs should be used.

For successful construction of the models of accounting for innovations it is necessary to take into account the needs of internal and external users, in particular by changing the forms of both financial and statistical reporting.

The results of the research allow us to formulate the following conclusions and suggestions.

First of all, the regulatory framework for innovation assessment needs to be improved. It should take into account the peculiarities of the functioning of enterprises.

In addition, the urgent issue is the development of methodological recommendations for the accounting of innovations, which will form the basis for the development of the Order on accounting policies in terms of innovation activities of the enterprise.

The issue of reporting information about the entity's innovations will need to be resolved, for which it is proposed to use the Report of sources of financing of innovation-investment activity and the Indicator of the amount of innovative expenses.

The use of these proposals will improve the accounting of innovations in the enterprise.