The transition towards a free-market economy and democratic society in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries encompasses complex processes of socioeconomic transformation of centrally planned economy and the communist regime. The reforms of the accounting systems in the CEE countries can be envisaged as a multidimensional phenomenon incorporating legal and educational changes at the national, institutional and organizational levels. These reforms are shaped largely by the cultural specificity of every country and their professional and local traditions. In this paper, the authors develop a framework for analysis of the accounting system reforms in the CEE countries. Applying this framework, they explore national accounting system reforms embedded in structural local conditions in the two contrasting examples of the CEE region: Poland and Romania. What emerges from the study is the insights indicating that the accounting system reforms represent an essential medium in reducing the resistance to transition, particularly in the processes of familiarization (socialization) with capitalist principles and ways of thinking, supportive of a market-driven economy.

Research has demonstrated that accounting follows different patterns in different parts of the world (International Accounting Guide, 2001). National systems are determined, largely, by sociopolitical conditions and are situated in the wider environmental and cultural milieux. Constructed accounting systems, in each country, serve the information needs of various groups of accounts users; their characteristics vary depending on public policies, national philosophies and culture, guiding the system’s methodology. Hence, the structural conditionsof the national accounting system impact upon local practices and attitudes towards disclosure of information (e.g., Parker and Nobes, 2000; Alexander and Archer, 1998; Gray, 1988).