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.