The true and fair view construct in the context of the Polish transition economy: some local insights

This paper addresses issues of financial reporting within the context of European harmonization and accession. The construct of the True and Fair View (hereafter TFV) constitutes a locus of reflection for the establishment of a mutually intelligible foundation for financial reporting in the New Europe including applicant states for European Union (hereafter EU) membership. This paper provides insights as to the meaning and the local embeddedness of TFV in the context of the Polish transitional economy. The Audit Act 1994 and the Accounting Act 1994, as amended by the 2000 Acts, incorporate the provisions of European law with the aim of harmonizing Polish accounting and financial reporting regulations with the corresponding regulations in the EU. The Accounting Act 1994 for the first time introduced in Poland the current wording of the TFV construct in accordance with the requirements of the Fourth Directive. The question addressed in this paper is how the construct of TFV is understood and operationalized. This paper demonstrates the particular local understanding of the TFV construct in contemporary Poland through (1) textual analysis of the legal pronouncements (both national and international) and (2) narrative analysis of local debates and commentaries in the national press and academic journals. Given the difficulty of expressing judgements based upon accumulated experience, where much of the experience is constituted by continental influence, in particular the German tradition, and regulatory arrangements of a centrally planned economy, Polish practice perceives the TFV requirement primarily as a formal and legal compliance, and not yet as something with a substantial rationale in the observance of the rule of accounting law. The paper concludes that TFV is a contingent construct which resides in a particular socio-economic, historic and cultural context and is understood differently outside this context. The local Polish reception and understanding is articulated.

The Relationship between Economic Performance and Accounting System Reform in the CEE Region: The Cases of Poland and Romania

The transition towards a free-market economy and democratic society in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries encompasses complex processes of socio-economic transformation from the centrally-planned economy and communist regime. The reforms of the accounting systems in the CEE countries can be envisaged as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, incorporating legal and educational changes at national, institutional, organisational levels. These reforms are shaped, in large, by the cultural specificity of every country and their professional and local traditions. In this paper we develop a framework for analysis of accounting systems reforms in the CEE countries. Applying this framework, we explore national accounting system reforms embedded in structural local conditions in two contrasting examples of the CEE region: Poland and Romania. What emerges from the study are insights indicating that accounting system reform represents an essential medium in reducing the resistance to transition change, in particular in the processes of familiarisation (socialisation) with capitalist principles and ways of thinking supportive of a market-driven economy.accounting system, socio-economic development, Poland, Romania

True and Fair View or rzetelny i jasny obraz1? A survey of polish practitioners

Abstract The ongoing harmonisation processes with the European market (EC regulation 2002 on the application of International Accounting Standards, hereafter IAS) drive reforms in the Polish accounting framework. In 2000, the Accounting Act introduced significant changes to the 1994 Accounting Act, its predecessor. New accounting terminology and provisions based on the IAS framework were introduced and a substantial number of existing regulations modified. This paper outlines recent developments in Polish accounting and discusses their implications for the realisation of the True and Fair View construct (hereafter TFV). Legal changes (de jure analysis) are confronted with the insights from an exploratory study on the local operationalisation of the TFV construct. The questionnaire survey with Polish practitioners was conducted in the years 2000 and 2001. Then, follow-up interviews were carried out in order to validate the questionnaire data categorisation. Insights from the study raise issues of the (un)transferability of constructs such as the TFV across languages and culture though there is emerging evidence indicating that the current regulatory framework putatively supports the TFV concept. In practice, there appears to be a lack of consensus in translation and grammatical construction of the TFV concept, revealing a general local unfamiliarity with the substance of this ‘Western’-originated and constructed predominantly in the British and American context construct. The paper concludes that a Polish equivalent for the TFV as a multifaceted construct, a derivative of a hybrid experience, cannot be realised outside the localised Central and Eastern European reality in which it is situated, despite the new Europe discourse.