Accounting and reporting intellectual capital of a company: Initiatives and perspectives

Objectives. One of the most urgent and still unsolved issues in the field of disclosure of information on the activity of a company is the valuation of intellectual capital and the presentation of relevant information to external stakeholders. A number of initiatives to perform this task have been observed: work groups were created, standards were set and tried out in real life for companies of various profiles. Based on the feedback received the suggestions were further developed and ultimately submitted for extensive application. However, no generalizing research striving to produce comparisons has been undertaken. That is why the current paper aims to explore worldwide initiatives of standardization and regulation of accounting and reporting of intellectual capital so as to assess the prospects for practical application of the developed models. Data/Methods. The present research employed the common method of investigation based on analysis and synthesis of scholarly papers. Academic works and empirical research in the fields of intellectual capital valuation, accounting and reporting were mostly used. Due to the novelty of the research topic and in order to achieve higher conciseness and visualization levels, information obtained from various articles and journals served as proof for practical valuations and observations. Results/Expected results. The paper deals with the concept and structure of intellectual capital, reveals the importance of capital and deals with the practices of its disclosure. It explores various current intellectual capital reporting guidelines and frameworks, outlines their advantages and drawbacks and provides generalizations. Next, the paper outlines the need for reforms in the current reporting system and presents requirements imposed on this type of data disclosure. Finally, the paper discusses the direction of the potential reporting system reform so that newly included intellectual capital-related information can be beneficial to various external stakeholders.