Different types of results in the Portuguese cooperative. Multiple case study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the different types of results in the Portuguese cooperative, understand the legal and accounting treatment of them and assess whether the accounting standards allows to highlight the specificities of the results. Using a qualitative methodology, using content analysis and a multiple case study, we study the legal and accounting regime of the results of cooperatives. We find that the legal and accounting treatment of the results is not properly suited to the reality of cooperatives. There are no clearly identifiable in the current legislation the different types of results, which are subject to the same accounting treatment results of commercial companies, despite substantial differences between the two legal forms. Thus, we advocate the change of accounting framework applicable to cooperatives, subjecting them to the normative applicable to non-profit organizations, in order to highlight the real object of these, namely its mutualistic scope, which will differentiate, in the accounting documents, the different types of results, as the model of the statements contained therein allows the deployment of the results by activities.