Centre for International Accounting Studies
UNIWERSYTET ŁÓDZKI
WYDZIAŁ ZARZĄDZANIA
KATEDRA RACHUNKOWOŚCI
Ośrodek Międzynarodowych
Studiów Rachunkowościprof. zw. dr hab. dr h.c. Alicja Jaruga
ul. Matejki 22/26tel. (42) 635 52 24
90-237 Łódźfax: (42) 635 53 10
e-mail:
Centre for International Accounting Studies
The Centre for International Accounting Studies, established on 1 Jan. 1992 as the Regional accounting Centre for Central Poland, is a faculty-based academic research unit. It is headed by prof. dr hab. Alicja Jaruga. In accordance with 1 Jan. 1992 order of the Rector of the University of Łódź, the Centre conducts educational and research activity as well as acts as an information center for individuals and institutions engaged in accounting. The Centre started its activity within the framework of the “Programme for Accountancy Development and Education in Poland”. This programme was realised through the organization of seminars for academic teachers , run by lecturers from Great Britain. About a dozen such seminars were held in the years 1991-1995, attended by the academic staff of the University of Łódź and faculty members from NicolausCopernicusUniversity in Toruń, the University of Warsaw and Main School of Commerce in Warsaw. The Centre also organizes training courses for accounting practitioners. It co-organized an open conference for practising accountants entitled “Balance-sheets, annual closures for 1995”, which was very favourably received by the participants. Open seminars of this type, organized jointly with the Accounting Department, were held in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The Centre’s activities include preparation of publications, training programmes and materials. The so-called British schools of accounting were conducted with the aid of training materials developed jointly by the British partners and the Centre. The materials were prepared not only for the purposes of these courses, but were also used as teaching materials for students and accounting practitioners. The Centre is engaged in organization of study visits abroad. As part of this activity, members of the faculty of the Accounting Department and seminar participants were able to spend study periods at North Wales University in Bangor and the University of Northumbria in Newcastle (Great Britain), and students were given the opportunity to take one-year full-time courses of study at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle. In addition, a number of the Accounting Department faculty members were delegated to foreign conferences, including annual congresses of the European Accounting Association and the British Accounting Association.
Another form of the Centre’s activity is organization of conferences, seminars and lectures. In 1994 an international conference was held, bringing together representatives of the academic community from Poland and abroad, accounting practitioners and government officials. In 1996 there was a conference on public sector accounting, focusing on Polish accounting regulations in the context of international practices. A number of lectures have been presented by American, British, Japanese and German academics, such as a series of seminars and lectures given by prof. Denise de la Rosa and prof. Barbara Merino of the University of North Texas in Denton (USA). Prof. Merino visited Poland thanks to being named by the Fulbright Foundation as a distinguished expert on accounting. In 1997-1998 prof. Kurt H. Buerger of San AngeloUniversity (Texas), also a Fulbright scholar, delivered a series of lectures on international accounting.
Many universities in the USA and Great Britain have this type of centres for accounting research and education. The UŁ Centre cooperates with some of these institutions (e.g. the Centre at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, the so-called CIGAR at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and the Centre at the University of Glasgow). The UŁ Centre continues its engagement in international research projects, participates in annual sessions of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR-UNCTAD) in Geneva, provides opinions and comments on draft versions of international accounting standards and participates in the development of national accounting regulations.
The Centre conducts joint comparative research on Polish accounting law and EU Directives, international accounting standards, and accounting regulations in selected countries. The findings of these research projects provided a basis for five doctoral dissertations completed within the last few years. The results of comparative international research have been presented in the following publications:
-Międzynarodowe regulacje rachunkowości. Wpływ na rozwiązania krajowe ( International accounting regulations. Impact on national practices), ed. A. Jaruga, C.H.Beck, Warszawa 2002;
-Międzynarodowe Standardy Rachunkowości a ustawa o rachunkowości (InternationalAccounting Standards and the Accounting Act),collective work ed. By A. Jaruga, SKwP, COSZ, Warszawa 2004;
-Accounting reform in Central and Eastern Europe, OECD,Paris 1991;
-Komentarze do ustawy o rachunkowości. Ustawa. MSR. Podatki (Comments on the Accounting Act. The Act. IAS. Taxes),ed. A. Jaruga, T. Martyniuk, Gdańsk 2002, 2004.
The Centre provides assistance to parliamentary Commissions working on preparation and amendment of the laws. The Head of the Centre has since 1990 been a member of the Finance Ministry delegations to annual sessions of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting in Geneva and OECD in Paris, as well as to meetings of the EU standard-setters and the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). In the years 2000-2004 the Centre participated, beside renowned educational institutions from the EU, in the European Union’s 5th Framework Programme ‘Research Training Network HARMONIA – Accounting Harmonization and Standardization in Europe: Enforcement, Comparability, and Capital Markets Effects’, being the only representative of Polish institutions for higher education.
Doctoral students from Estonia and Italy have undergone doctoral traineeships in the Centre, and a doctoral student from the UŁ Centre has conducted research in Portugal. Four persons are currently writing doctoral dissertations under prof. A Jaruga’s supervision. The scholars co-operating with the Centre on a regular basis are: dr Radosław Ignatowski, dr Mikołaj Turzyński, dr Anna Szychta, dr Ewa Śnieżek, dr Przemysław Kabalski and doctoral students: Justyna Fijałkowska and Maciej Frendzel.
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