Difficulties on the measurement of biological assets in Colombia

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the most important sectors for Colombian economy. However, its accounting management has represented some difficulties, especially at the moment of measuring the biological assets by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In fact, thirty-six consultants of agricultural financial information were interviewed, in order to know their perception of the difficulties at the moment applying the costs model and the fair value model when measuring the biological assets. The results show the lack of reliable information for measuring the biological assets due to factors, such us the impossibility of quantifying the biological transformation of the assets on every stage of productiveness; they also show, the lack of rates of reference on each moment of the measurement, the difficulty for estimating the future income expected for the harvest, and the low interest of the farmers in on financially managing their exploitations and not considering the specific characteristics of each agricultural activity.