The Effects of the Accounting Reclassification of Members’ Shares in Cooperatives: An Approach

This study addresses the effects of the accounting reclassification of members’ shares in Spanish cooperatives motivated by the new accounting standards. The study reports the results of semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts. The accounting reclassification from equity to liability of members’ shares has effects even if there is no actual material change in terms of the members’ shares. Thus cooperatives are incentivised to modify their statutes in order to retain their equity accounting classification, even when this modification is not desired. The evidence is obtained from qualitative methods and a generalization using quantitative methods would be interesting if data were available. The present study provides a starting-point for further research into the use of lending technologies in the financing of cooperatives and the use of accounting information in granting bank finance to cooperatives, thereby contributing to the study of the use of accounting information by capital providers. There is very little literature on the effects of equity-liability accounting reclassification motivated by a change in an accounting standard. The study takes advantage of the recent accounting standard change in Spain which may be considered as a ‘natural experiment’ and contributes to the literature on the effects of accounting standards.