A Systematic Approach to Essentiating the Professional Judgment of an Accountant
Authors:   State Biotechnological University, Marenych Tetiana H. , Kovalova Tetiana V. ,   Kharkiv National Automobile and Highway University
Published: December 2022

The purpose of the article is to study the essence of the concept of «professional judgment of an accountant» and the scope of its application based on the use of a systematic approach. The article emphasizes the important role of professional judgment of an accountant in reflecting a reliable idea of the financial condition and results of the enterprise’s activity, cash movement, providing useful financial information to internal and external stakeholders. The provisions of the current regulatory legal acts on the reflection in the accounting and financial statements of objects, facts and events that require the application of professional judgment of an accountant are analyzed. It is proved that in international accounting standards much attention is paid to the professional judgment of an accountant, but they often do not detail for a particular case the procedure for evaluating or recognizing the object of accounting. The goal of the professional judgment of an accountant is defined, which is to ensure the functioning of accountance as an integrated system, to promote the formation of complete, reliable, relevant information about the activities of the enterprise for diverse users in accordance with their information requests. It is concluded that the professional judgment of an accountant is applied at all stages of bookkeeping (financial, tax, management accounting) and the preparation of appropriate reporting forms, when developing and amending accounting policies and is aimed at observing the principles of accounting and financial reporting, substantiation of the continuity of activity, materiality and compliance of accounting information with specific facts and circumstances that occur in the business environment and activities of the enterprise, satisfaction of information needs of stakeholders. The main elements of the professional judgment of an accountant include: knowledge, professional obligations, customer orientedness, experience, ethical principles, and personal qualities. The main approaches to the disclosure of the essence of professional judgment of an accountant are determined as follows: in a narrow sense, professional judgment comprises the basis for the formation of accounting information in financial statements; in a broad sense it represents a tool for the formation of the minimum necessary accounting information for diverse users. The proposed stages of the formation of professional judgment will ensure the adoption of the correct and responsible professional opinion of the accountant, which will increase the reliability of accounting information. The authors’ own definition of the concept of «professional judgment of an accountant» as a professional opinion of a specialist (specialists) is proposed in order to form a qualitative characterization of information about an accounting object or reporting article, which is based on the specifics of the activity of an economic entity, the legal or economic situation, the quality of accounting systems and internal control.