The Accountants Association in Poland has initiated a process of wide consultations regarding the definition of the accountancy profession, and more precisely the term of an “accountant”.
Nowadays provision of the accounting services is not regulated by any law or regulation in Poland. This situation AAP perceives as disadvantageous to the budget of the state and to the safety of the business operations because the accurateness of the financial settlements and the reliability of the financial information depends on the accounting qualifications.
AAP postulates to define competencies of accountants which should be as wide as possible to cover present and future-oriented abilities. Besides knowing of accountancy and taxes, the qualifications of accountants should include:
- Knowledge of the modern technologies and ability of their application,
- Risk management in times of changes & uncertainty,
- Management of information for the purpose of internal and external reporting,
- Awareness and use of general knowledge for the benefit of efficient accounting.
AAP recognizes ethics as the core of performing the accountancy profession and believes it should be included in the regulation of the accountancy profession.
In the opinion of AAP, the accountancy profession might be regulated by means of the accounting law, which would define the competencies of at least those accountants who are responsible for preparing and signing critical documents like financial statements.
Accountancy qualifications could be confirmed by the certificates which should not be indefinite because the accountants are responsible for upgrading their knowledge through the lifetime career. A certificate would be a document confirming possession of the qualifications determined by the law.
