ustawa o rachunkowo 234ci nowelizacja tekst jednolity(1), Studia, BSIF

Journal of Laws of 2002, No. 76, item 694

2003-04-24              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 60, item 535 (Art. 527)

2003-08-23              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 139, item 1324 (Art. 1)

2003-10-01              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 60, item 535 (Art. 527)

2004-01-01              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 124, item 1152 (Art. 145)

2004-01-15              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 229, item 2276 (Art. 2)

2004-05-01              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2004, No. 96, item 959 (Art. 14)

2004-07-01              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2004, No. 146, item 1546 (Art. 304)

2004-07-10              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2004, No. 145, item 1535 (Art. 1)

2004-10-15              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2004, No. 213, item 2155 (Art. 1)

2005-01-01              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2004, No. 213, item 2155 (Art. 1)

2005-02-01              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2005, No. 10, item 66 (Art.2)

2005-10-24              amendment              Journal of Laws of 2005, No. 184, item 1539 (Art. 108)

THE ACCOUNTING ACT of 29 September 1994 «

(uniform text)

Chapter 1

General provisions

Art. 1. Lhe Act specifies accounting principles and the procedures for auditing financial statements by statutory auditors.

Art. 2. 1. (1) Lhe provisions of the Accounting Act (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") shall apply, subject to the provisions of Paragraph 3, to the following entities whose registered offices or place of executive management are located on the territory of the Republic of Poland:

1)                 commercial companies1 (partnerships and companies, including those in the process of setting up) and civil partnerships, subject to the provisions of Point 2, as well as other legal persons, except for the State Lreasury and the National Bank of Poland;

2)                 natural persons, civil partnerships established by natural persons, general partnerships established by natural persons and professional partnerships, if their net revenue from the sales of goods for resale, finished goods and financial transactions for the prior financial year amounted to at least the Polish zloty equivalent of EUR 800,000;

3)                 (2) business units which operate on the basis of the Banking Law, regulations on trading in securities, investment fund regulations, insurance regulations or regulations on the organization and operation of pension funds, irrespective of their revenue;

4)                 communes, districts, provinces and their associations, as well as state, communal, district and provincial entities such as:

a)                  public sector entities;

b)                 auxiliary units of public sector entities;

c)                  public sector organizations;

d)                 (3) special purpose funds without the status of a legal person;

5)                 business units without the status of a legal person, except for partnerships referred to in Points 1 and 2;

6)                 foreign legal persons, foreign entities without the status of a legal person, as well as foreign natural persons who carry out business operations on the territory of the Republic in Poland in person, by an authorized person, with the aid of employees - in respect of business activities conducted on the territory of the Republic in Poland, irrespective of their revenue;

1 Commercial companies means here the entities established on the basis of the Code of Commercial Companies.

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7)              entities not mentioned in Points 1-6, if they receive subsidies or subventions from the state budget, budgets of local

authorities or special purpose funds for carrying out assignments commissioned to them - from the beginning of the financial year in

which such subsidies or subventions were granted.

2. Natural persons, civil partnerships established by natural persons,  general partnerships established by natural persons and

professional partnerships may apply the accounting principles specified in the Act from the beginning of the following financial year,

if their net revenue from the sales of goods for resale, finished goods and financial transactions for the prior financial year is less than

the Polish zloty equivalent of EUR 800,000. In such a case, these persons or partners are required to notify, before the beginning of the

financial year, the tax office relevant to income tax matters.

3.(4) Entities which prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Accounting Standards, International Financial

Reporting Standards and related interpretations published in the form of regulations of the European Commission, hereinafter referred

to as "IAS", shall conform to the provisions of the Act and its related secondary legislation, in matters not regulated by IAS.

Art. 3. 1. Whenever the Act refers to:

1)                 an entity, it means entities and persons specified in Art. 2 Paragraph 1;

2)                 a bank, it means an entity which operate on the basis of the provisions of the Banking Law;

3)                 an insurer, it means an entity which carries out insurance activities on the basis of insurance regulations;

3a)              (5) regulations on trading in securities, it means provisions of the Act on Trading in Financial Instruments, the Act on Capital

Market Supervision, the Act on Public Offering, Conditions Governing the Introduction of Financial Instruments to Organised Trading and Public Companies;

4)                 shares or shareholders, it means shares of and shareholders in a limited liability company as well as shares of and shareholders in a joint stock company;

5)                 a local currency, foreign currencies and foreign exchange instruments, it means local currency, foreign currencies and foreign exchange instruments specified in the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Law;

6)                 (6) an entity's manager, it means a person or a body composed of one or more persons (the management board) which, by virtue of the law, articles of association, partnership or company deed, or a title of ownership, has the right to manage a given entity, except for proxies appointed by the entity. In the case of a general partnership or a civil partnership partners who manage the affairs of the partnership shall be regarded as an entity's manager; in the case of a professional partnership - partners who manage the affairs of the partnership or its management board; and in the case of a limited partnership or a limited joint stock partnership - general (non-limited) partners who manage the affairs of the partnership. In the case of a natural person conducting business activities, such a person is regarded as an entity's manager; this provision applies to freelance professionals accordingly. A receiver, as well as an official receiver or a bankruptcy trustee appointed in the bankruptcy proceedings - if they manage the enterprise of the bankrupt - shall also be regarded as an entity's manager;

7)                 an approving body, it means a body which, by virtue of the law, articles of association, partnership or company deed, or a title of ownership, has the right to approve the entity's financial statements. In the case of general partnerships (except for a limited joint stock partnership) and civil partnerships, their partners are regarded as the approving body;

8)                 a reporting period, it means a period for which financial statements are prepared on the basis of the procedures specified in the Act or a period for which other statements are prepared on the basis of the books of accounts;

9)                 a financial year, it means a calendar year or another period which lasts 12 full consecutive calendar months, applied for taxation purposes as well. The financial year or its changes shall be specified in the articles of association or a partnership or company deed on the basis of which the entity was set up. If an entity commenced its operations in the second half of the adopted financial year, its books of accounts and financial statements for that period may be combined with the books of accounts and financial statements for

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the following year. If the financial year is changed, the first financial year after the change should cover a period longer than 12 consecutive months;

10)             a balance sheet date, it means the date at which an entity prepares its financial statements;

11)             (7) adopted accounting policies, it means accounting solutions allowed by the Act, selected and applied by an entity, including those specified in IAS, ensuring the required quality of the financial statements;

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