QUALITY OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION DURING THE PANDEMIC
COMPARABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS IN HEALTHCARE COMPANIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51320/rmc.v25i2.1560Keywords:
Financial reports, comparability, pandemic period, healthcare sectorAbstract
The study had as its main objective to investigate the impact of the pandemic period on the quality of accounting information and how it affected the comparability of financial reports within the healthcare sector. The analysis period covered the years from 2019 to 2022. The measurement of comparability was conducted using the model called “similarity of the accounting function,” which was developed by De Franco, Kothari, and Verdi (2011). The results demonstrate that in the years 2020 and 2021, the comparability of financial reports in the healthcare sector was lower compared to 2019. This finding demonstrates the negative impact caused by the pandemic on the quality and consistency of accounting information provided by healthcare companies. However, it is noteworthy that despite the onset of vaccination and the gradual resumption of economic activities in 2021 and 2022, there was no improvement in comparability compared to 2020. This suggests that challenges related to the presentation of coherent and comparable financial information persist, even with the mitigation of the pandemic’s effects. Since these findings impact not only healthcare companies but also investors, regulators, and other stakeholders who rely on accurate and comparable financial reports to make informed decisions, the results demonstrate a decline in the quality of financial statements. Therefore, this study underscores the need for continuous improvement of accounting and information disclosure processes within this sector to ensure greater transparency and reliability in financial reports.
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