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 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

Trends in inflation-unemployment relationship before and after accession to EU

First of all, we present synthetically a few empirical results regarding changes in the inflation-unemployment relationship in West European countries during last three decades and in few Central and Eastern countries during the last fifteen years. Then, coming from a general standard model for estimating natural unemployment (Ball and Mankiw, 2002) and using four smoothing filters, we estimate some possible trajectories for this relationship and for the potential GDP in Romania.inflation, unemployment, natural unemployment, Romanian economy

Trends in Structural Changes and Convergence in EU

Despite the multitude of models created, their predictions are often contradicted by the empirical data, so that investigating macroeconomic structural changes continues to be a challenge to economists. Based on empirical data from countries around the world, our study tries to estimate a generic long-run model for analysing structural changes along with the general process of economic development. Moreover, from such a methodology a specific “EU model” was derived. Among the results, the long-run dynamics of structural changes seems to converge within the EU-27; the remaining problem being how long the convergence period is. This study shows how some more detailed interpretations could be extracted from the simulation of the model by using 3D maps or contour plot in the case of the EU countries.structural changes, non-linear model, asymptotical trajectory, stages of economic development.

A dynamic model to estimate the “pure” productivity

As asserted in standard literature, there is an implicit circular relationship between the productivity growth and the potential level of production (and, consequently, the estimation of the natural rate of unemployment is also altered). In order to avoid such emerging impediment in any estimating macroeconomic model, an autonomous dynamic model to estimate the trend of productivity growth must be used. Moreover, taking into account that the current level of productivity is implicitly influenced by the actual unemployment rate, it is usually recommended as a more accurate solution to try to obtain firstly an estimate for the “pure” productivity. This must be neutral relating to the short-term changes in employment, but in long run, it is affected by factors such as the general technological progress, the increase in the educational level, the growth of the R&D system, the expansion of the “new economy”, etc. In this paper, we use a simple dynamic model to estimate the growth of pure productivity independently of the actual level of employment and, implicitly, of the unemployment rate. Afterwards, the estimated changes in the pure productivity level are compared with the potential production trend in the case of the Romanian economy during the transition period.pure productivity; potential GDP; natural rate of unemployment; smoothing filters

Underground economy modelling: simple models with complicated dynamics

The paper aims to model the underground economy using two different models: one based on the labor supply method and a generalized model for the allocation of time. The model based on the labor supply method is conceived as a simulating one in order to determine some reasonable thresholds of the underground sector extension based only on the available macroeconomic statistical data. The generalized model for the allocation of time is a model based on direct approach which estimates the underground economy through extrapolation of the data collected from a limited number of households. Developing the Lemieux model, the map of the entire process of allocation of time was obtained.underground economy; labor supply method; Laffer curve; allocation of time; Lemieux model

A simulation model of public debt sustainability

There is a long period since the problem of public debt sustainability captures the attention of economists. However, there is no unanimity concerning an adequate unique sustainability indicator or function generally accepted. Just in this line of elaborating new models and improving methodologies in order to quantify the impact of various factors on public debt sustainability is our paper. Moreover, last years, during its pre- and post-accession into EU period, Romanian economy is facing to numerous problems. Among these, the public debt sustainability plays a central role, its implications practically expanding on all fields connected to the economic dynamics.public debt, sustainability function, contour plot, primary deficit, interest rate

A Model to Estimate the Composite Index of Economic Activity in Romania – IEF-RO

One of the most significant impediments for short-term forecasts is the frequency of publishing GDP. At present, national institutes of statistics are publishing officially registered GDP only quarterly. In our study, we tried to build a composite indicator based on usually monthly data and to use it in order to obtain short-term forecasts for economic activity at national level. This indicator could be useful taking into account that actually there is no synthetic indicator to describe the short-run dynamics of economic activity. Thus, such an estimating model we are proposing for the Romanian economy is coming from the last results in this field, especially from the OECD methodology. Moreover, to validate the main hypotheses of the estimating model for the composite indicator in the case of the Romanian economy we used the quarterly data and, as benchmark indicator was considered the quarterly published GDP. Using certain models based on composite indicators (leading indicators, coincidence indicators, and post-cycle indicators), beside other models to analyse high frequency time series and to obtain sort-term forecasts (such as principal component method, so-called virtual monthly GDP method or various interpolating methods), it can result in richer information for the business environment which in modern times founds itself in an accelerated process of change.business cycle indicators, coincident and leading indicators, composite index

A model to estimate informal economy at regional level: Theoretical and empirical investigation

Many problems emerge since it is widely believed that high tax rates and ineffective tax collection by government are the main causes contributing to the rise of the informal economy. Already the economists have established a relationship between tax rates and tax evasion or size of the informal economy. The higher is the level of taxation, the greater incentive is to participate in informal economic activities and escape taxes. At the macroeconomic level, there is a number of so-called indirect methods used to estimate the size and dynamics of informal economy, reported in literature as “Monetary Approach”, “Implicit Labour Supply Method”, “National Accountancy”, “Energy Consumption Method”, etc. Unfortunately, many times there are huge differences among the estimated shares of informal or underground economy obtained by various methods. For instance, in case of Romania the figures are between about 20% of GDP, obtained on the base of the energy consumption method and more than 45% computed by using the monetary approach. Also, the figures reported by the National Institute for Statistics (NIS), based on national accounts methodology, increased (mainly due to changes in methodology) from about 5% in 1992, to 18% in 1997 and to 20-22% after 2000. Adding to these figures about 7% of GDP, representing the estimated level for self-consumption in case of a rural household, legal non-registered but informal, resulted that last years the informal economy is responsible of 27-29% of national economy. In this article, coming from certain general accepted finding of the theory in matter of modelling underground economy, we concentrate on evaluating analytically the limit-values of certain important parameters involved in models used to estimate the size of underground economy and to explain the mechanisms of its dynamics. Then we shall simulate some exercises on available data. The second goal of the paper is to report some conclusions of our investigation based on data supplied by special surveys organised in Romania. Also, in order to see since certain hypotheses (referring to the complex transmission mechanism from the tax policy decisions to the effective implication of agents into informal economy) are statistically verified and to extend the study from the aggregate level to a deep research inside the population set in regions, we used data supplied by this special large survey, which already were processed and are available in our database.informal economy; invisible sector; tax rate; probability of detection; risk-aversion; computer assistance