What Does the Balance Sheet (Not) Show? Asset Valuation in the Hungarian Accounting System

Abstract

In interpreting corporate financial statements, the balance sheet total is often treated as a direct measure of a firm’s wealth. However, continental accounting systems, including Hungarian accounting regulation, are grounded primarily in accrual accounting, realization, and capital protection. This study examines which firm-level factors are associated with the use of asset revaluation in the Hungarian corporate sector. The empirical analysis is based on the CrefoPort database for 2020-2024 and comprises 811,998 firm-year observations for 164,712 companies. The relationships are analyzed using a logistic regression model. The results show that revaluation is associated mainly with asset structure and firm size, while a significant relationship is also observed with the firm’s capital protection position. The analysis provides large-sample empirical evidence that, in the Hungarian accounting environment, asset revaluation does not function as a general technique for approximating corporate wealth.