Scholarly record

THE IMPACT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REGULATIONS ON MODERN ACCOUNTING REPORTING

E.Papaj

Abstract

Recent changes in the business environment exposed the insufficiency of financial data traditionally presented in financial statements. Available researches emphasize that recipients of financial statements demand comprehensive data about the business activity. Modern accounting faces the formidable challenge to reflect company’s values not only by financial data but also by non-financial disclosures. The need for non-financial data disclosures has also been noticed by the Institutions of the European Union. The assessment of the European Union regulations and indicating their impact on accounting will be the main target of the article. This shall be achieved by a critical analysis of available literature on the topic and relevant legal acts. The theoretical part aims to emphasize the major impact of the European Union regulations on accounting processes in all its Member States. There is no doubt that the official EU slogan “Working together to create new growth” implies the need of raising the level of transparency in the information provided by business to a higher level, comparable among its members. The European Union acknowledged the importance of unifying the accounting law in order to enable the comparison of published information. The article also features an empirical part, based on the analysis and synthesis of financial statements of Polish companies listed on the Warsaw Respect Index. Basing on this analysis the author attempts to indicate the directions of development in accounting reporting. It remains an open question whether the changes in business reporting are beneficial for financial statements recipients in terms of usefulness. This matter requires consideration by both practitioners and theorists of accounting.

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