Użyteczność informacji w sprawozdaniu spółek z branży rolno-spożywczej

A fundamental problem emerging in contemporary accounting science is the assessment of the usefulness of reporting information and the determination of its impact on the process of making economic decisions. This is of great importance for the correct perception of the information contained in the financial statements by the stakeholders, who emphasise that the information extracted from a business entity’s report should be consistent, clear and logically linked to the financial information. The problem of selecting useful information for the financial statements also arises in the case of the agri-food industry, i.e. companies involved in the production, collection, processing and distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, the following assumption was adopted in the monograph: the specific nature of the agri--food industry determines the presentation of business results, which contributes to the usefulness of the information in the annual separate reports of agri-food entities. The first chapter, entitled „Financial reporting as the final product of accounting”, is oriented towards a discussion dedicated to clarifying the essence and emphasis of financial reporting. The chapter includes a presentation of agri-food activities in applicable legal regulations and an overview of contemporary research areas in accounting and financial reporting. The second chapter, entitled „The usefulness of information in the financial statements in the light of stakeholder theory”, identifies the impact of stakeholders on the usefulness of information in the annual separate financial statements. This chapter attempts to clarify the meaning of relevance and usefulness of reporting information and presents the results of survey research focusing on the assessment of the usefulness of financial statements by its stakeholders. Chapters three, four and five present proposed changes in the presentation of the results of a company from the agri-food industry in individual reports, such as balance sheet, profit and loss account, cash flow statement and additional information. The proposal of changes is preceded by a presentation of the current balance sheet law to successively recommend, based on performed statistical analyses, the scope of the necessary, voluntary, proposed disclosures in the financial statements. The chapters are supplemented with proposals for modifying the notes to the financial statements of companies from the agri-food industry. The study is a coherent presentation of the results of the assessment of the usefulness of information in the current financial statements of companies from the agri-food industry and proposals for its improvement.