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

LE CONTRÔLE DE GESTION EN ROUMANIE – UN ESSAI D'IDENTIFICATION DES PRATIQUES ET PROPOSITIONS DE RECHERCHE

Les changements radicaux dans l'environnement interne et externe de l'entreprise ont créé des nouvelles exigences et possibilités pour faire de la recherche en contrôle de gestion dans les économies en transition. Cet article se propose d'identifier quelques directions pour faire de la recherche en contrôle de gestion en Roumanie. Dans ce but, on réalise une revue des études menées dans d'autres économies en transition et on essaie d'identifier des pratiques de contrôle de gestion utilisées en Roumanie en examinant 48 annonces d'offres d'emploi dans ce domaine.contrôle de gestion, recherche, Roumanie, offres d'emploi

A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS REGARDING THE EVOLUTION OF PROFIT TAX REGULATIONS IN ROMANIA - AN EMPIRICAL VIEW

The study conducted a longitudinal analysis regarding Romanian profit tax regulations. Beginning with the first profit tax regulation implemented in 1991 and until now, we analyzed based on a empirical approach all changes that have occurred over time in the Romanian accounting environment. The motivation of the study conducted was based on the strong relationship between accounting and taxation in the Romanian accounting environment over time, the profit tax being one of the main items of this relation. This particular study is divided into five sections. After a short introduction and presenting the motivation of the study (section 1), in section 2 we conducted the literature review based on international and national studies regarding the profit tax regulations through the relationship between accounting and taxation. Section 3 presents a brief review of the main Romanian regulations that concerned the profit tax and the most important changes that have occurred over time. In section 4 we conducted the empirical analysis. In this section is realized a series of analysis, aiming the following: (1) the total number of regulations that have amend the main regulations presented in the previous section; (2) the type of amendments implemented over regulations (abolishment, text amendment, adding new articles or alignments); (3) the total number of amendments approved by law without modifications, respectively the total number of amendments approved on the Official Journal through Government Ordinance or Emergency Ordinance and unapproved by law. The empirical analysis conducted documented that the main shortcoming associated with the profit tax regulation is due by the multiple changes which have been subject of the 5 main profit tax regulations. The last section (section 5) consists in presenting the conclusions of the study. As main conclusion, the profit tax regulation is stable only in terms of the small number of main regulations, the large number of amendments creating difficulties in the understanding and application by practitioners.profit tax regulations, longitudinal analysis, Romania

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości

Sustainable Development, Accounting and AccountantsContext for the Special IssueAccounting, traditionally considered a tool for optimizing the economic per-formance of entities, has also been perceived as a means for addressing the social and environmental areas of their operations (Unerman et al., 2007; Bebbington et al., 2017; Carnegie et al., 2021) to inform managers seeking to make businesses sustainable (Wenzig et al., 2022; Lambert and Sponem, 2011). Therefore, accountants are regarded, at least potentially, as a crucial element of a company’s contribution to sustainable development (e.g., Tilt, 2009; Albu et al., 2011; Bebbington and Unerman, 2018; 2020; IFAC, 2016; ACCA, 2021). This is not a new notion. In fact, it has been developing over the years as social environmental ac-counting (SEA) and has been evidenced by the involvement of accounting re-searchers, practitioners, and accounting-related organizations in sustainability issues (Chung and Cho, 2018).SEA is defined as the communication of an organization’s social and environmental economic impacts to specific stakeholder groups and the general public. It requires expanding the responsibilities of companies beyond the traditional provision of financial statements to owners of capital, particularly shareholders. This necessity is based on the assumption that companies have responsibilities other than making money for shareholders (Gray et al., 1996, 2017; Carnegie, 2022a, 2022b). As Bebbington et al. (2017) note, the original framing of the SEA literature is concerned with the social and environmental impacts of organiza-tions and accounting (e.g., Gray et al., 1987; Gray et al., 1996). It was recently expanded to explore the interrelationship between sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals, governance, organizing, management, and accounting.SEA has been developing as an area of research in accounting, while the broad understanding of accounting per se has remained unchanged. One of the popular definitions of accounting by the American Accounting Association defines it as “the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgments and decisions by users of information” (AAA, 1996). Drawing on the extensive accounting literature in the sociological, interpretive and critical tradition since the early 1980s (including Gray et al., 1996), Carnegie et al. (2021) propose to redefine accounting in order to the discipline to reach its full potential for shaping a better world. They proposed the following new multidimensional definition of accounting: “Accounting is a tech-nical, social and moral practice concerned with the sustainable utilization of resources and proper accountability to stakeholders to enable the flourishing of organizations, people and nature” (Carnegie et al., 2021, p. 69). Their proposal poses new challenges for accountants and the organized accounting profession. Principally, accounting information systems and accountants must evolve to respond to sustainability-related concerns by adapting traditional characteristics and developing new, broader concepts and capabilities (Twyford and Abbas, 2023).There are concerns about whether and to what extent the accounting profession may be willing to consider and meet these challenges. As Deegan (2013) argues, the fact that t-accounts, and therefore debits and credits, have been in use since the 1400s, and did not cease to be used after negative numbers were introduced into mathematics, shows that accountants are reluctant to change and inspires little confidence that they are capable of making quick adjustments as environments and technologies transform. This view is support-ed by others (e.g., Wenzig et al., 2022; Krasodomska et al., 2020) who note that accountants express eagerness to learn, though rarely about sustainability. However, this knowledge may prove useful to them in the context of recent changes in the sustainability reporting and assurance landscape, introduced – in the Eu-ropean Union – by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and – at the global level – by the International Sustainability Standards Board mandated by the Inter-national Financial Reporting Standards Foundation.Guidance for AuthorsAgainst this background, the purpose of this Special Issue is to stimulate the debate on the challenges that contemporary accounting is facing in the con-text of sustainable development. We welcome submissions (ca. 32,000-44,000 characters long) on various aspects related to accounting and sustainability, literature reviews, and conceptual, quantitative, and qualitative studies. Possible topics include but are not limited to:•The contemporary understanding of accounting and the role of the ac-counting profession in relation to the sustainability agenda.•The current state of academic research on accounting and sustainability, sustainability reporting, Sustainable Development Goals reporting and as-surance.•The way existing management accounting systems and practices can sup-port managers in capturing commitment to sustainable development and/or undertaking efforts towards sustainability. •The organizational actors involved in external and internal sustainability reporting and the role of accountants and accounting systems.•The modifications that should be made to accounting education systems to enable them to equip future accountants and managers with the knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of sustainable development and how such modifications should be introduced.•The potential role of digitalization in helping accountants to get more in-volved in sustainability-related topics. The way AI transforms the roles of accountants and assurance providers regarding sustainability reporting and Sustainable Development Goals reporting.•The differences between sustainability-related challenges accountants face in large versus small companies, and whether these challenges are country or industry-specific. •The differences between mandatory versus voluntary sustainability re-porting initiatives in terms of consequences on the reporting quality and organizational responses.•The competencies that accountants or assurance providers need to suc-cessfully collaborate with non-accounting experts in sustainability-related areas. The factors that can facilitate such collaborations. •The way professional accounting organizations support the engagement of the profession in sustainability-related issues in various countries and in-ternationally. The factors that may influence their engagement in this field.•The extent to which accounting (and reporting) systems can address the Sustainable Development Goals and the relationships and interdependencies between them.•The impact of the recent regulatory changes within the European Union related to the forthcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and European Sustainability Reporting Standards on the engagement of the accounting profession in sustainability, sustainability reporting, re-porting on Sustainable Development Goals, and assurance of information provided.•The impact of global changes, including the recent consolidation among the main standard setters and the establishment of the International Sustain-ability Standards Board by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foun-dation on how the accounting profession approaches sustainability.The deadline for submitting papers is 30th June 2024.The accepted papers will be published in December 2024 (Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości/The Theoretical Journal of Accounting, vol. 48, no. 4).To view the author guidelines for this journal, please visit the following page: http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/FORAUTHORS. Submissions for the Special Issue will be made through ICI Publishers Panel:http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/DEPOSITSMANUSCRIPT When submitting an article, please state that your paper is for Special Issue 2024 with Guest Editors in the additional comment in the Publishers Panel Index Copernicus system. The coordinators of this Special Issue are Anna Szychta and Marek Masztalerz ([email protected])

Types of Intellectual Capital Employed in Bioeconomic Projects – A Longitudinal Case Study

In this paper we investigate the existence and evolution of bioeconomic projects of OMV Group, a major global player in the oil and gas industry. We further study the intellectual capital components utilized by OMV Group in supporting these bioeconomic actions. We conduct a longitudinal case study over the 2010-2016 period and illustrate with the case of OMV Group how the oil and gas organizations mobilize various types of intellectual capital to engage in bioeconomic projects. Since the global importance of bioeconomy increased exponentially in the last years, we employ a theoretical framework recently proposed in the bioeconomic literature to ascertain the type of vision followed in the bioeconomic projects and its evolution. We find that the number of bioeconomic projects proposed by our case organization increased over time, and that the projects’ focus evolved from bio-technology and bio-resources to bio-ecology, which has the potential of providing more long-term sustainable outcomes