Human resource accounting

Human resources is an old field of research in economics, as reflected by accounting treatments. This paper reviews this contribution from accounting literature and the European legal framework. Different institutional attitudes toward this topic were collected from such organizations as the Financial Accounting Standards Board [1984, 1993] and the American Accounting Association [1970]. After that, a detailed revision is made of the main costs related to human resources: training and selection costs and exit costs. This analysis is made from the points of view of external and internal (or managerial) accounting and from historical costs and opportunity costs. Finally, no unique solution to this problem is given, but all possible alternatives are evaluated and open for discussion. (JEL J40).