The Evolution of Public Accounting in Romania in the Post-Communist Period

Abstract

Since we can safely say about Romania that it had to go through a long process of transformation until the European Union member state stage, we can also state that the Romanian public accounting system has suffered multiple changes in order to match the level of the European accounting system, based, especially, on the accruals basis of accounting, supported by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). This transition hasn't been easy because we identify at least three periods of time in the evolution of the public accounting system after 1989, the year of the Romanian Revolution identified with the end of communism and the beginning of the capitalist era: as a starting point we have the public accounting system specific to the communist period, at least in what concerns the theoretical and legislative substantiation, which we cannot say that it ended in 1989 but which has continued until 2001; the interval 2002-2005 which marked the beginning of the public accounting transition from the cash basis system towards the accrual basis system; the interval 2006-present which acknowledges the accruals basis of accounting system as an accounting organizational system. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this evolution, segmented on the three defining intervals in order to get acquainted with what the public accounting system has been, how it has transformed itself, what modifications it has undergone, and what level it attained today.