Overview

The Financial Reporting Technical Assistance Program for Poland (FRTAP POLAND) program, funded by the Swiss Contribution to the Enlargement of the EU, aimed to improve the capacity of the main institutions involved in corporate financial reporting in several of the countries of central and eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The Polish component, launched in December 2009 and running to December 2015, was the largest of the national FRTAP programs with a total budget of CHF 10 million.

Project features

The Polish program contained measures to improve the ability of accountants to prepare financial reports under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and of auditors to carry out statutory audits under International Standards on Auditing (ISA). In the area of audit regulation, the program included assistance for the Public Audit Oversight Commission and the National Chamber of Auditors (KIBR) in designing and operating effective systems for the public oversight of audit and for quality assurance of auditors. The program funded study tours and training for audit inspectors and was supporting the creation of a national register of auditors.

In addition, the Polish FRTAP included a range of activities to improve the capacity of local policy-makers and financial regulators to use the information in financial reports to carry out their activities. These included training courses for tax officials on IFRS, more targeted courses for financial regulators, focused particularly on the application of IFRS to the banking and insurance sectors, specialized English language training for policy-makers, a study of the local market for the provision of accounting and audit services, and a study to clarify and enhance the relationship between financial and tax reporting in Poland.

In order to monitor how well the program was meeting its objectives, an updated Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes in Accounting and Auditing (A&A ROSC) for Poland was prepared in 2012. A second update of the A&A ROSC was prepared in 2015, when the Polish program was concluded.