THE ROLE OF THE ACCOUNTANCY PROFESSIONAL BODIES IN DEVELOPING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING

In March 2010, the European Commission renewed its strategy to promote Corporate Social Responsibility in order to ensure long term employee and consumer trust. Corporate Social Responsibility is considered more relevant in the context of the economic crisis because it can help to build (and rebuild) trust in business and to identify new forms of value creation based on addressing societal challenges, which may represent a way out of the crisis. A priority area is repesented by companies' transparency on environmental and social issues. This research aims to assess the involvement of the professional accountancy bodies in the development of social and environmental reporting. After a review of research studies on corporate social and environmental disclosure and the role of the accounting profession in this context, the research identifies the strategies, policies and actions taken by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and of the Federation of European Expert Accountants (FEE) based on content analysis of public documents issued by the two bodies. The cases were selected having the influence exerted by the two organisms on other professional bodies and their ability to trace the strategic lines of the accounting profession at the international and European level. The basis upon which the accounting profession was founded and continues to exist is public trust, which is the degree to which the public has confidence in the services provided by the accounting profession. Society is currently expressing high demands on the discipline of accounting and therefore the profession is under pressure to expand its horizons to better reflect these demands. The research revealed that both accounting bodies had an intense activity and initiated political actions in the corporate social and environmental reporting field including sustainability in their strategic objectives. The following areas of involvement have been identified: issuance of assurance, education and ethics standards (in the case of IFAC which is also regulator), educational and web materials, participation in working parties, cooperation with other organisations in the development of reporting and assurance standards, research projects to support decision making, encouraging member bodies to develop similar policies, public statements inviting responsible parties to act. Based on its conclusions the study identifies some research directions to be developed. Academic and professional curricula of Romanian accountants could be analysed in order to determine how they could be improved in order to respond better to these societal requirements.This study identifies the political actions of main profesional bodies (IFAC and FEE) that might influence the actions of other bodies and future profile of accountants.Social and environmental reporting, accountancy profession, professional bodies

IMPLICATIONS OF THE APPLICATION OF IFRS FOR SMES IN ROMANIA ON TAXABLE AND DISTRIBUTABLE PROFIT

On 9 July 2009, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium Sized Entities ("IFRS for SMEs") which aims to provide a financial reporting framework for SMEs falling within its scope. It is a matter for authorities in each jurisdiction to decide which entities are permitted or required to apply IFRS for SMEs. Because of the connection between accounting and taxation certain european countries had a reluctant position related to the application of IFRS for SMEs. Opponents focused on the incompatibility between IFRS for SMEs framework and the principles commonly accepted for tax purposes. As the individual financial statements drown up in compliance with IFRS for SMEs will serve for profit distribution under the 2nd European Directive the question arises weather the profits determined under these accounting rules can be considered as realized for distribution purposes. In order to mitigate the mismatch between accounting and distributable profits, Member States will need to reconsider the circumstances in which gains and losses arising from re-measurement at fair value through profit and loss should be considered as realized. In this scenario, two important questions arise: What are the potential tax effects of the application of IFRS for SMEs? Is the profit determined under IFRS for SMEs available for distribution or some adjustments are necessary? The paper addresses these issues in the context of the Romanian accounting and taxation systems. Romania represents a relevant case study, as it is one of the European countries with a close linkage between financial and tax, where the fiscal profit is dependent on the accounting profit (currently determined under domestic regulations). The methodology consists in a comparative analysis of the recognition and measurement rules between national accounting regulations and IFRS for SMEs in order to identify the differences with possible consequences on taxable and distributable profit. The comparative analysis identified tensions between accounting and taxation that should be solved and new accounting policies with impact on taxable and distributable profit. Under these circumstances regulators should analyse if new policies proposed by IFRS for SMEs are acceptable considering the purpose of specific regulations and modify the legal framework.IFRS for SMEs, taxable profit, distributable profit

THE TRUE AND FAIR VIEW CONCEPT IN ROMANIA: A CASE STUDY OF CONCEPT TRANSFERABILITY

There is an enormous literature relating to the true and fair view (hereafter TFV). We are concerned with how the concept is actually perceived by various actors in an emerging economy which has only recently joined the European Union, i.e. Romania. Romania has a code law system with an obvious preference for the legal form. Two main steps have been taken for the purpose of our study. First, textual analysis of all accounting regulations has been performed with respect to the provisions regarding the TFV concept. Second, nine in-depth semi-structured interviews have been conducted with top representatives of the Romanian regulator, preparers, auditors and professional bodies. The perception on TFV depends firstly on the category: for auditors, this is a guide or a vital concept, closely related to substance over form, relevance and usefulness for users, while for regulators and preparers, TFV is primarily compliance with the rules.true and fair view ; true and fair view override ; Romania

THE CHANGING ROLE OF ACCOUNTANTS IN A TRANSITION ECONOMY – EVIDENCE FROM ROMANIA

Recently a number of interventions have impacted the Romanianaccounting system, such as the harmonization with the European Directives,International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and an increased move towardsmodern information technologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)software. In this study we directly explore these influences by applying job offeranalysis as a reflection of current and future organizational practices (Bollecker,2000). We determine the competencies expected from accountants in Romanianbusinesses and ask whether financial accounting and management accounting areseparate specialized positions in Romania, or are they developing into hybrid monistpositions? We conclude that the state of the Romanian accounting profession is one oftransition with some alignment with recent global trends. However, our inter-temporal analysis also suggests a degree of intransience with management andfinancial accountants, whilst sharing some common competencies, still maintaining anumber of attributes associated with the two-cycle accounting system. Finally, weshow that ERP competencies are the more important drivers of the hybridization ofaccountants in Romania.accountants in transition, hybridization of accounting roles, Romanian accountingprofession, two-cycle accounting system, enterprise resource planning, job-offer analysis

Underground economy modelling: simple models with complicated dynamics

The paper aims to model the underground economy using two different models: one based on the labor supply method and a generalized model for the allocation of time. The model based on the labor supply method is conceived as a simulating one in order to determine some reasonable thresholds of the underground sector extension based only on the available macroeconomic statistical data. The generalized model for the allocation of time is a model based on direct approach which estimates the underground economy through extrapolation of the data collected from a limited number of households. Developing the Lemieux model, the map of the entire process of allocation of time was obtained.underground economy; labor supply method; Laffer curve; allocation of time; Lemieux model

Trends in Structural Changes and Convergence in EU

Despite the multitude of models created, their predictions are often contradicted by the empirical data, so that investigating macroeconomic structural changes continues to be a challenge to economists. Based on empirical data from countries around the world, our study tries to estimate a generic long-run model for analysing structural changes along with the general process of economic development. Moreover, from such a methodology a specific “EU model” was derived. Among the results, the long-run dynamics of structural changes seems to converge within the EU-27; the remaining problem being how long the convergence period is. This study shows how some more detailed interpretations could be extracted from the simulation of the model by using 3D maps or contour plot in the case of the EU countries.structural changes, non-linear model, asymptotical trajectory, stages of economic development.

STRUCTURAL CHANGES AND CONVERGENCE IN EU AND IN ADRIATIC-BALKANS REGION

Coming from standard economic growth theory and empirical evidences, we concentrated on the convergence process as a result of structural changes in economy. We investigate the differences among countries in EU in terms of the share in total economy of main sectors. Then, based on the spatial (empirical) distribution of such shares in EU we are proposing a model to estimate a typology of the convergence process in the European area. Taking into account the existing differences among sectors in matter of productivity, there are two versions of the model: considering the share of sectors in total employment and the share of sectors in GDP respectively. Moreover, we developed several modelling schemes that could be useful to improve the strategies oriented to achieve a real convergence in EU and further in Adriatic-Balkans region. In this way, we can obtain simulations from a country or group of countries (European Union, for example) on long term and quantifying the impact of structural changes on the convergence process. Indeed, the actual global crisis seems to influence negatively the convergence process in EU. As a rule, just new adhered countries were more affected by the actual crisis. Today all forecasts are suffering by uncertainty. Thus, further efforts must be allocated to evaluate the negative impact of actual crisis on the convergence process.

SPATIAL ECONOMETRICS - APPLICATIONS TO INVESTIGATE DISTRIBUTION OF CO2 EMISSION IN EUROPE*

Over the last decade economists were more and more concentrated on studying the impact of the greenhouse effect on economy. At the same time, they tried to find solutions to stop the CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and, implicitly, to make changes in the structure of energy production and consumption. This challenge forced them to use new models and methods in order to estimate more accurately the future economic development. Among the special tools, the so-called spatial econometrics begun to be used for studying, for example, the distribution of gas emissions in extended geographical zones, but also to quantify their implication at the macroeconomic level. Using available data, in this study we try to build a simple model dedicated to estimate on medium and long terms some likely major changes in the macroeconomic correlations under the circumstances of increase in the total quantity of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and how that will influence the economic growth in the future. Certainly, under the unchanged actual technological conditions the growth rate of the economies in Europe or even worldwide could be dramatically affected at least in the long run by stronger restrictions on CO2 emission and on its corollary - production and consumption of energy resources. * (This paper is partially based on the author's study "Elaboration of a General Macroeconomic Model Specific to Romania for the Forecasting of Gas Emissions with Greenhouse Effect", achieved within the National Research Project of Excellence Advanced Forecasting Models for the Estimation of Gas Emissions with Greenhouse Effect Adapted for Romania, Institute for Economic Forecasting, Romanian Academy, Phase II, June 2006, Contract No. 638/3 October 2005, Contracting Authority - MENER, Contractor ICEM, Interval : 2005-2007).spatial econometrics, CO2 emission, three-dimensional map, contour plot, distribution

A model to estimate informal economy at regional level: Theoretical and empirical investigation

Many problems emerge since it is widely believed that high tax rates and ineffective tax collection by government are the main causes contributing to the rise of the informal economy. Already the economists have established a relationship between tax rates and tax evasion or size of the informal economy. The higher is the level of taxation, the greater incentive is to participate in informal economic activities and escape taxes. At the macroeconomic level, there is a number of so-called indirect methods used to estimate the size and dynamics of informal economy, reported in literature as “Monetary Approach”, “Implicit Labour Supply Method”, “National Accountancy”, “Energy Consumption Method”, etc. Unfortunately, many times there are huge differences among the estimated shares of informal or underground economy obtained by various methods. For instance, in case of Romania the figures are between about 20% of GDP, obtained on the base of the energy consumption method and more than 45% computed by using the monetary approach. Also, the figures reported by the National Institute for Statistics (NIS), based on national accounts methodology, increased (mainly due to changes in methodology) from about 5% in 1992, to 18% in 1997 and to 20-22% after 2000. Adding to these figures about 7% of GDP, representing the estimated level for self-consumption in case of a rural household, legal non-registered but informal, resulted that last years the informal economy is responsible of 27-29% of national economy. In this article, coming from certain general accepted finding of the theory in matter of modelling underground economy, we concentrate on evaluating analytically the limit-values of certain important parameters involved in models used to estimate the size of underground economy and to explain the mechanisms of its dynamics. Then we shall simulate some exercises on available data. The second goal of the paper is to report some conclusions of our investigation based on data supplied by special surveys organised in Romania. Also, in order to see since certain hypotheses (referring to the complex transmission mechanism from the tax policy decisions to the effective implication of agents into informal economy) are statistically verified and to extend the study from the aggregate level to a deep research inside the population set in regions, we used data supplied by this special large survey, which already were processed and are available in our database.informal economy; invisible sector; tax rate; probability of detection; risk-aversion; computer assistance

A dynamic model to estimate the long-run trends in potential GDP

To estimate long-run growth based on the so-called potential GDP became a constant preoccupation among economists. However, one remaining problem in every long-run growth model is to estimate a persistent trend in labour productivity outside of it, in order to avoid the implicit circular relationship between actual productivity growth and potential level of production. Coming from recent literature on natural rate of unemployment estimation we used a specific methodology in order to estimate NAIRU in case of post-communist economies and based on it to evaluate the potential GDP. Taking into account that the “classic” Hodrick-Prescott method is in fact equivalent to an interpolation procedure, we used in our experiment other three filters demonstrating very similar output. Moreover, we conceived a simple autonomous model in order to estimate the growth of a so-called “pure” productivity independently from the actual level of employment and to compare its dynamics with that of natural rate of unemployment.natural rate of unemployment; potential GDP; pure productivity