Conclusions
The paper presents the conditions of IFRS implementation in Poland. To present an overall picture of the process, the authors describe the characteristics of the Polish accounting system. The history of Polish accounting was marked by the partitions of the country and wars, which resulted in implementing accounting solutions applied in the countries which occupied Poland's territory. After World War II, Polish accounting had to meet the requirements of a centrally planned economy. This period ended in Poland in the year 1989, which marked the beginning of the political and economic transformation. Over the recent years, changes in Polish accounting have been affected by the country's efforts to join the EU, leading to Poland's accession in 2004 and IFRS implementation, parallel to Polish accounting rules implemented in 2006.
The economic transformation affected a number of issues related to accounting including the relations between tax and accounting laws (currently two separate systems), the establishment of the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the National Chamber of Statutory Auditors.
From the perspective of listed companies, IFRS implementation increases the international comparability of financial statements, stimulates the inflow of international capital to Polish listed companies, reduces the costs of capital, increases the reliability, usefulness and transparency of financial reporting, increases the quality and scope of authority, mitigates accounting risks, improves companies' image and increases confidence in their activities as well as improves the quality of profits. On the other hand, the implementation of new standards is a long and labour-intensive process, especially for smaller companies. Overall, Polish accounting rules are highly compatible with IFRS despite a number of specific differences. Transition to IFRS did not result in major changes to companies' financial standing measured by financial ratios. IFRS are more precise as compared with Polish rules. IFRS are mainly applied by listed companies and rarely used by other business entities.
Finally it must be clearly stated that IFRS has strongly influenced national regulations and practice in Poland. As Larson and Street expected (2004: 104) IFRS is a key benchmark used by the Polish legislature when preparing accounting regulations. The majority of amendments to accounting law are driven by changed or recently introduced IFRS. Accounting education, training and literature also focus on IFRS issues.