Purpose: The article aims to establish the scope of accounting tasks in the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle Ages based on the literature on the subject based on primary sources. Methodology/approach: ...Expert literature review, interpretative and inductive method. Findings: The duties and responsibilities of accountants in the medieval Muslim community were very broad (using information from the accounting system to ensure that the interests of the umma were respected in the context of religious law). In addition to operating seven accounting systems in the Caliphate and having knowledge of the complicated recording and control procedures associated with it, accountants had to demonstrate the ability to prepare periodic financial statements and budgets, used as an internal control tool and for the analysis and interpretation of reports. They also acted as auditors a mandatory practice in the Islamic Caliphate. They also offered their services to individual entrepreneurs (for the purpose of fulfilling zakat payments). Practical implications: The article provides a better understanding of the historical evolution of the accounting profession. Originality/value: The article presents little-known issues, such as the premises for the evolution of the accounting profession in the Islamic Caliphate, determining the scope of account-ants tasks and thus filling the cognitive gap.
Purpose: The aim of the article is to present the principles of Buddhist ethical educa-tion in the context of their usefulness for the study of ethics in accounting in Poland.
Methodology/approach: a ...critical and comparative literature analysis was used.
Findings: Buddhist ethics offers a significant development of Mele’s model, which is largely based on Catholic ethics and has great potential for application in the Polish cultural circle. The model expanded in this way illustrates the impact and importance of developing the right view on developing practical knowledge and virtues, meditating practice on cultivating the right view, and the conditioning between effective (right) meditation and the ability to concentrate properly. Finally, this model emphasizes the continuity and repetition of the processes leading to “moral behavior”.
Research limitations/implications: The model presented in the article can be used to develop new educational techniques in teaching accounting ethics.
Originality/value: The article fills the cognitive gap regarding the Buddhist model of teaching the ethics of accounting, which is a potential supplement to educational theo-ries and techniques in this field, and indicates the directions of research that may con-firm the possible usefulness of its application in combination with Mele’s model.
Factors such as different cultural determinants undoubtedly affect “the shape” of the economy. Mueller, Hofstede and Gray, among others, have studied the impact of the cultural factors on an economy, ...especially in fields such as accounting. Reflections on the topic have also appeared in the Polish literature, although relatively late. One of the cultural factors is, beyond doubt, religion, forming some ethical attitudes through the transfer of certain values which become the guiding principles for individual actions, exerting an obvious influence on the applicable standards in a given society. The author does not claim to consider the relations between religion and ethics, as only issues concerning a possible to demonstrate influence of religious norms on accounting are raised in the article. The aim is to discuss briefly the impact of Christianity, Islam and Confucianism on accounting systems and practices based on literature studies. In conclusion, the question arises about the sense of the convergence of accounting standards, at least in the context of the current efforts undertaken in this field.
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the connection between cultural factors and sustainable development reporting in Poland. Methodology/approach: We use a case study to explore in ...depth the object of our study – the reporting of non-financial information. The analysis was conducted from multiple perspectives based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Findings: The research suggests that the attitudes of stakeholders and companies towards the development of SDG reporting and the use of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are neutral. Poland’s performance on Hofstede’s dimensions is consistent with the frequency and type of GRI indicators companies use in their reports. Research limitations: A limitation of our research is that we only examine one area of non-financial reporting, and we only refer to companies in the WIG20. Additionally, we only study one year. Practical implications: This paper will be useful to academics and practitioners to enable an understanding of cultural dimensions in the context of sustainable development reporting. Originality/value: Our research explains the reluctance to report social areas. Our research analyzes the sustainable development reports of companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange WIG Index. We determine which social indicators are reported by companies and which are not, and using Hofstede’s theory, we explain the reasons for the lack of disclosures.
Purpose: The aim of the article is to present the role played by ethics and religion in shaping the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the example of Islam. Therefore, this paper ...focuses on CSR in Islamic companies and attempts to discover whether Islamic countries are a cultural circle where culture and religion are advantageous when developing CSR. Methodology/approach: A case study was used to determine CSR disclosure in airlines. Findings: The results showed that ethics and philanthropy were important to CSR disclosure in Islamic companies. Religion in Islamic countries has a huge impact on companies disclosing their philanthropical and ethical activities. Practical implications: This paper will better enable academics and practitioners to understand CSR problems in Islamic countries. Our research underlines the role of ethics and religion in the context of CSR. Originality/value: This paper makes an important contribution by highlighting the importance of ethics to CSR in Islam countries and raises the possibility of CSR reporting being adopted in Islamic companies.
The article introduces religion as a source of Muslim ethics and shows how it is shaping the system of Islamic accounting and the ethical behaviour of Muslim accountants. Cultural differences are an ...increasingly important factor to be taken into account in running a business. They are also the subject of scientific research, for example, in the context of their impact on the development of accounting systems in various cultural circles. The relevant reference literature and the Qur’an were used for qualitative analysis carried out by means of induction and deduction methods. The analysis conducted indicates that although the scope of ethical codes in Muslim and non‑Muslim countries is very similar, in the case of Islam, its message is strengthened by religion seen as a source of law as well as professional ethics. This means that the legal sanctions envisaged for breaking the rules are accompanied by the fear of being excluded from the community and losing an opportunity for salvation. This article can fulfill an informative role, allowing the reader to understand the reasons for some differences in perceiving ethical issues and the way of doing business in different cultural circles.
The financial reporting is considered to be a ‘universal’ language of business, the efforts to harmonize and standardize it are dictated by conviction, that the usefulness of financial and ...non-financial information delivered this way can be improved and might facilitate comparisons of companies operating around the world, etc. However, the real perception of information generated by financial statements is made by real people, not by the economic model of homo oeconomicus, that is why psychological and cultural factors are extremely important in the analysis of this process. There is a lack of comprehensive studies on this subject. Most of publications are contributory.The research is based on the critical review of the subject literature and using mostly the method of induction, the impact of selected cultural conditions on the formulation of expectations on the content of the financial statements is examined and proved. The example of Muslim countries is used as the beginning of series of articles in the taken subject.
The article concerns a type of obligatory tax (Zakat) that is the basis of the Islamic economy and the incompatibility of its charging and discharging with international accounting standards. The ...difficulties faced by Islamic accounting in adjusting it to the Western (conventional) accounting standards are one of the main reasons why the Islamic cultural and economic circle is rather inclined to create its own standards in this regard. The article discusses two key issues for understanding the source of the problem that Zakat poses – the need to adhere to the accounting principles (primarily the precautionary principle) and the valuation issues. They result in a lower (from the point of view of Muslim stakeholders) quality (in terms of usefulness) of financial statements prepared in accordance with international accounting standards. JEL: M41, M49
Purpose: The article aims to establish the scope of accounting tasks in the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle Ages based on the literature on the subject based on primary sources.
Methodology/approach: ...Expert literature review, interpretative and inductive method.
Findings: The duties and responsibilities of accountants in the medieval Muslim community were very broad (using information from the accounting system to ensure that the interests of the umma were respected in the context of religious law). In addition to operating seven accounting systems in the Caliphate and having knowledge of the complicated recording and control procedures associated with it, accountants had to demonstrate the ability to prepare periodic financial statements and budgets, used as an internal control tool and for the analysis and interpretation of reports. They also acted as auditors – a mandatory practice in the Islamic Caliphate. They also offered their services to individual entrepreneurs (for the purpose of fulfilling zakat payments).
Practical implications: The article provides a better understanding of the historical evolution of the accounting profession.
Originality/value: The article presents little-known issues, such as the premises for the evolution of the accounting profession in the Islamic Caliphate, determining the scope of accountants’ tasks and thus filling the cognitive gap.
Purpose: The aim of the article is to present the principles of Buddhist ethical educa-tion in the context of their usefulness for the study of ethics in accounting in Poland. Methodology/approach: a ...critical and comparative literature analysis was used. Findings: Buddhist ethics offers a significant development of Mele’s model, which is largely based on Catholic ethics and has great potential for application in the Polish cultural circle. The model expanded in this way illustrates the impact and importance of developing the right view on developing practical knowledge and virtues, meditating practice on cultivating the right view, and the conditioning between effective (right) meditation and the ability to concentrate properly. Finally, this model emphasizes the continuity and repetition of the processes leading to “moral behavior”. Research limitations/implications: The model presented in the article can be used to develop new educational techniques in teaching accounting ethics. Originality/value: The article fills the cognitive gap regarding the Buddhist model of teaching the ethics of accounting, which is a potential supplement to educational theo-ries and techniques in this field, and indicates the directions of research that may confirm the possible usefulness of its application in combination with Mele’s model.
PDF
