Accounting and Socio-economic changes in Poland

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 1,8 (A-), Oxford Brookes University (Business School), course: International Financial Accounting, language: English, abstract: "e;Accounting is not a science: It has been developed to serve a purpose"e;. A statementthat might be controversially discussed nowadays since the collapse of the socialism,growing globalisation and the convergence of international financial markets haveforced national accounting systems to change during the last decades. This paperwill examine the validity of this statement in particular on the example of the recentdevelopment in Poland. First it will briefly introduce the social and economicenvironment in Poland under socialism, its transition to a market economy and thecurrent situation and future prospects. Second, the economic and social developmentof Poland will be related to changes in the polish system of accounting and financialreporting. A short view on the development of the accounting profession will begiven. Finally, a conclusion will compare the given statement with the polish situationand give proof for its validity. After World War II Poland introduced a planned economy urged by the Russianparadigm. Private property was restricted to agriculture, manufacturing and fewbusiness services. In the late 70th Poland went into serious economic strugglesemerging from a high level of public debt from reinforcing the industrial sector. Poland had to face sustainable inflation problems which finally lead to the breakdownof the communistic regime (Roberts et al, 1998b). It was replaced by a coalitiongovernment under leadership of the trade union movement Solidarnosc in 1989. [...]