Spain

Accounting regulation in Spain is essentially a modern phenomenon, even though the accountability of companies has a long history. The first regulations date back to the reign of Queen Juana in the sixteenth century, and that of her son the Emperor Charles V. However, until as recently as the 1970s, corporate reporting was of little importance in Spain. It is worth recalling that, in the years following the Second World War, the economic development that took place in much of western Europe did not occur in Spain - the ideological proximity of the Franco regime to that of the defeated powers had given rise topolitical and economic isolation. It was only in the 1960s that Spain’s economy began to open up to the outside world, following guidelines set down by the International Monetary Fund. This led to an annual GNP growth between 1961 and 1974 of 6.8 per cent. On the death of Franco in 1975, Spain was able to accelerate economic change, to adopt democratic institutions and to take then ecessary steps to become a member of the European Community. It was during this period of social, political and economic change that accounting regulation emerged and the rules of accounting broke free from the influence of tax law (Caniibano, 1995a). The pressure came from many different sources, including accounting and auditing associations, international accounting firms, financial executives and company accountants, government specialists and accounting academics (Caniibano, 1995b). A new private professional accounting body appeared on the scene, capable of self regulation and of interaction with international standard setters. Thus, when Spain joined the European Community in 1986, 300