Study of Turkish football clubs' financial statements traded in ise in compliance with Turkish accounting standards

Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes?s common point that there should be a market free from state intervention where the activities of the individuals with the target of utility and the activities of the producers with the target of profit are realized seems to be valid for today?s football sector which has turned into a huge industry. Indeed, today, football has turned into a huge sector with individuals as the ?soccer players? and producers as the ?clubs and their rich presidents? (Taha, 2005).During the last few years, the football clubs have turned into organizations with big budgets. Certain clubs that are difficult to be managed under the status of association have started to set up companies. However, in the competitive market of the contemporary football, the clubs represented with stadium investments and technical staff have gone into a search for funds in order to meet the rising costs. The method for finding funds with lower costs has been going into public in capital markets.In Turkey, the clubs that have gone into public are Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor. Only Beşiktaş among others has adopted the ?English Model? transferring all the club?s revenues/expenses and assets/liabilities related to football to the company; while the others went into public with the method known as the ?Income Based Model?. With this method, only the football teams? revenues go into public while none of the expenses related to the technical staff ?among the most important cost accounts ?take place in the financial statements.With the growth of the football sector, the financial reporting of the clubs that have gone into public has gained more importance for the growing interest groups. In this study, the impact of the above-mentioned initial public offering differences over the profitability of the companies in the football sector and, as a result of this, over their dividend policies; over their performance in stock markets, and in addition, over their way of reporting in financial statements are comparatively examined. During this research, for the purpose of understanding whether the interest groups are sufficiently informed or not, information taking place in the companies? annual reports are compared with the important three clubs among the richest 20 clubs in Europe. Besides, the accounting of certain operations unique to the football sector in the clubs? financial statements and their presentation in disclosures are explained in line with Turkish Accounting Standards and with reference to the auditors? reports and audit managers? opinions obtained through interviews.Key Words: Football, Going Public, Football Clubs, Football Player Contracts, UEFA