AN OVERVIEW OF ROMANIAN ACCOUNTANTS REGARDING THE INTRODUCTION OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Accounting, Accounting Doctoral School, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract: Human capital is an indispensable element that strongly contributes to the success and performance of organizations, being considered the most valuable resource of companies. This study aims to bring to the fore the development of human capital and, at the same time, to identify the position of accounting experts regarding the quantification of human capital and how this measurement can contribute to obtaining a more accurate and faithful picture of the financial position of the company. Therefore, to achieve these objectives, a survey was created that was distributed to the members of the Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania (C.E.C.C.A.R.), thus obtaining a number of 139 responses. The results show that 122 of the respondents consider it necessary to quantify human capital to present the company’s image in a more accurate and realistic way. At the same time, 80 of these respondents do not consider that, once human capital is measured, it should be included in the financial statements, respectively in the balance sheet. This paper can provide an updated picture of the point of view of accounting professionals who have participated in the research on human capital, but also a starting point for the future steps of entrepreneurs in terms of human capital development, outlining new directions of development of professionals in the field. Also, this paper may be of interest to the institutions that regulate the relevant professions in the financial-accounting field, to outline new directions in the measurement and evaluation of human capital.
Keywords: human capital development, human capital quantification, human capital in financial statements, human capital measurement challenges.
