文档介绍：ountinginEurope:currentpracticeandfuturepotentialABSTRACTThispaperreportsandanalysestheresultsofatrans-:externalfinancialreporting;ountabilityreporting;ounting;-thegeneration,analysisanduseoffinancialandrelatednon-financialinformation,panyorbusiness,'andenvironmentalmanagersateighty-paniesinGermany,Italy,herlandsandtheUK,,goesontodiscussinternationaldifferences,-panyorbusinessspansseveraldifferentapproaches,andtheterm'ounting',anddefineatleastbroadboundarieswithinwhichempiricalworkcanbecarriedout,,first,thecontentoftheactivity-thebalancebetweenfinancialandnon-financialdata;and,second,theprimarypurpose,inparticularthewell-ountingdistinctionbetweenprimarytargetaudiences-howfartheprincipalobjectiveisinternaldecisionsupportformanagement,-forexample,passedwithinthedefinitionof'ounting'.TheofficialdefinitionoftheUK'ountants,forexample,claimsthat,aswellasreportinginternallytomanagementwithinanentity,'prisesthepreparationoffinancialreportsfornon-managementgroupssuchasshareholders...'(CIMA,1996)whereassomestandardtexts(Drury,1996)restrictitsscopetoprovidinginformationonlyto'anisation'.TheCIMAdefinitionalsorefersto'informationusedbymanagementtoplan,evaluateandcontrol...ountabilityforitsresources'-implicitlyincludingnon-financialaswellasstrictlyfinancialmeasuresandperfor