Subject. This article examines the specifics of using accounting standards that regulated deferred tax accounting during the banking crisis in Japan in the 1990s and the global financial crisis in 2008. Objectives. The article aims to identify the 'political' motives behind using accounting standards to create the appearance of financial well-being in large companies during a crisis, as well as explain (or put forward a hypothesis) why the developers of accounting standards did not respond to problems related to defining the economic substance of deferred taxes and their accounting. Methods. The research is speculative. For the study, I used the dialectical method of scientific knowledge, the method of collecting theoretical and legal information, formalization, as well as analysis and synthesis, observation, and comparison. Results. The article finds that neither the banking crisis in Japan nor the global financial crisis prompted regulators to clarify the economic content of deferred taxes and reform their accounting procedures, and it also highlights and describes the key reasons for this. Conclusions. Nowadays, many researchers recognize the political motives behind setting accounting standards in a given country. Questions about whether the standards reflect the real, true financial state of companies are not being addressed. The accounting definitions of the categories Assets and Liabilities have essentially stayed the same for over 60 years. Deferred taxes are considered as an example of a deep contradiction: their economic substance doesn't meet the criteria for recognizing elements of financial statements, and accounting rules conflict with the principles and provisions of the theory.
Keywords: deferred taxes, global financial crisis, banking crisis, international accounting
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