توسعه حسابداری تورم در ترکیه

Turkey, as a developing country, suffered from high inflation rates for many years. However inflation accounting was not applied till the year 2003 because of some political reasons. The high rates of inflation heavily distorted the financial statements of the companies in Turkey. The companies tried to benefit from the incentives in the Turkish Tax Regulation negating the effect of inflation till the year 2003. At the beginning of 2004 inflation accounting was applied at last. The purpose of this study is to emphasize the effects of inflation on the companies in Turkey and what they did in order to protect from the distortions of inflation till the year 2003. Also the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and Capital Market Board considering inflation adjustment were examined and compared by illustrations.

Turkey experienced high inflation rates from 1950s to 2000s; even this was regarded as an economic policy. The Governments1 in Turkey postponed the economic stabilization program for reducing the inflation rates for years because the tax earnings of the State will be reduced if the inflation rates decrease. Although the Governments tried to reduce the inflation rates by several disinflation attempts, they were not successful and efficient enough, therefore, the continuous high inflation rates2 seemed like a confidential aim of the Governments. High inflation rates in Turkey directed management policies of companies for years and made distortions on the financial statements of the companies. The incentives in the Tax regulations negating the effect of inflation on taxable profits were applied by companies till the year 2003. In the year 2003 inflation adjustment was applied to the financial statements of the companies that follow Turkish Capital Market Law.3 For the other companies, Ministry of Finance made a regulation that requires inflation adjustment on the balance sheets of 2003. According to this regulation, balance sheets of the companies as at December 31st, 2003 are required to be adjusted for the past years, however the resultant profit of loss would not be taken into account for tax purposes. Ministry of Finance announced that if the conditions explained in the international accounting standards about hyperinflation4 exist, in the following year's inflation adjusted income will be accepted as taxable income. The year 2003 was a turning point for inflation accounting in Turkey. Inflation adjustments were made on financial statements, consequently understandable and comparable financial information was presented by these statements. Also the application of international accounting standards from the year 2003 as a part of convergence process in Turkey and abolishing the hyperinflation in Turkish economy through economic stabilization programs lead the financial statements of Turkish companies to become comparable with the financial statements of the foreign companies. The aim of this study is to examine the history of inflation accounting and its applications in Turkey. The incentives in the Tax regulations negating the effect of inflation which were applied till the year 2003 and the inflation adjustments which were regulated by Ministry of Finance and Capital Market Board by the year 2003 explained and compared by illustrations. We tried to emphasize the effects of inflation on accounting data in the framework of inflation–financial accounting relationship. High inflation rates effect the tax amounts paid by the tax payers5 through increasing the term profits of the companies; hence we also focused on the inflation–tax accounting relationship.

The application of inflation adjustment was a turning point for the financial statements of the companies in Turkey. The financial statements were heavily distorted by the high inflation rates of inflation for years. The incentives in the Turkish Tax Regulations could not bring permanent solutions to negate the effect of inflation on financial statements. The permanent solution for removing the effect of inflation is adjustment of financial statements through recalculating the figures of the balance sheets and income statements by multiplying them with the calculated adjustment coefficients. By means of inflation adjustment the real taxable income can be found. Consequently in Turkey the adjustments of the balance sheets of December 31st, 2003 according to the Regulations of Ministry of Finance and the following adjustments are referred as inflation adjustments. The adjustment of the balance sheets of December 31st, 2003 was only the adjustment of balance sheet items hence this adjustment removed the distortions of inflation on balance sheets only. The resultant profit or loss did not take into account for tax purposes.17 After the year 2004, when the cumulative inflation exceed 100% in the last three annual fiscal periods and the inflation exceed 10% in the current period, the inflation adjustment were made subject to the Regulations of Ministry of Finance and the resultant inflation profit/loss were taken into account for the determination of taxable income. The inflation adjustment would terminate if both of these conditions are not realized simultaneously. At the end of 2003 the inflation rates cumulatively and annually matched the conditions stated in the Regulations and the Ministry of Finance announced that the tax payers whose asset totals are higher than 7,500,000 TL and gross sales amounts higher than 15,000,000 TL on their December 31st, 2003 financial statements should adjust their balance sheets in line with the provisions set forth in the Law Numbered 5024. If taxpayers adjusted their balance sheets as of December 31st, 2003, they will continue to adjust their balance sheets as of the second and subsequent advance tax periods of the year 2004, even if their asset total and/or gross sales stay below the limits. Consequently, inflation adjustment was firstly applied at the end of 2003 in Turkey. At last the financial statements of the companies began to give correct, reliable and comparable information. At the year 2004, the annual and cumulative inflation rates met the criteria which was mentioned in the Regulations of Ministry of Finance only for the first two advance tax periods. The inflation rates decreased and did not meet the criteria for the last two advance tax periods of 2004. However the companies adjusted their financial statements in all of the advance tax periods in the year 2004 hence they applied inflation adjustment for the two advance tax periods, so they are required to continue for the following advance tax periods till the end of the year according to the Regulations of Ministry of Finance. For all of the advance tax periods of the year 2005, inflation adjustment was not made on the financial statements, because the conditions stated in the Law Numbered 5024 were not realized. Consequently, it can be said that in Turkey inflation adjustment was applied at the years 2003 and 2004. In Turkey companies were looking forward to apply inflation adjustment for years in order to reduce their taxable income and taxes. But unfortunately the Turkish companies were not happy with the inflation adjustment regulation of the Ministry of Finance. The results of the research by Acar and Tugay (2005) showed that 53.3% of the 148 accountants referred the inflation adjustment regulation of the Ministry of Finance as “insufficient”. 70.2% of them think that inflation adjustment should become effective earlier. The companies could not really present their real financial information hence the inflation adjustment regulation of the Ministry of Finance only required to the adjustment of balance sheets. Also by means of inflation adjustment, most of the incentives negating the effect of inflation in the Turkish Tax Regulation were abolished. Also the depreciation rates that were announced by the Ministry of Finance were decreased. The companies in Turkey recently do not apply inflation adjustment and also do not benefit from the incentives which provide tax advantage. The results of the research by Karapinar and Ayanoglu (2005) shows that majority of the 325 accountants agree that incentives negating the effects of inflation should not be abolished. It can be said that the communiqués of the Capital Market Board considering inflation adjustment are more satisfactory for the companies hence they are compatible with international accounting standards. According to these communiqués both the balance sheet and income statement figures of the companies are adjusted and the net monetary position profit or loss is calculated. However in Turkey only publicly traded and/or listed companies are subject to the Regulations of the Capital Market Board. One more problem behind the application of inflation adjustment was the education of accountants. The importance of education on inflation adjustment is supported by the studies of Karapinar and Ayanoglu (2005), Acar and Tugay (2005) and Civan and Yildiz (2002). The results of all of the studies imply that the majority of respondents (accountants) believe that the education opportunities on inflation adjustment are insufficient in Turkey and they need further education. Turkey, as a developing country, is in the process of convergence to international accounting standards. The application of inflation adjustment can be referred as a part of this process. As the financial statements of the companies become more reliable and comparable by means of inflation adjustment, they will be able to give correct information to the managers, public and foreign investors in the frame of globalization.