Polish attitudes towards public sector financial reporting standards: national versus international

This article shows that the opinions of local government practitioners are important for standard-setters because they have hands-on experience of applying the standards in practice. The authors also present a number of managerial implications, such as the importance of training and the impact of employee turnover. The challenges related to IPSAS implementation in small municipalities provide relevant and actionable insights for policy-makers and accounting standard-setters both within and beyond Poland.ABSTRACTPoland has its own national accounting standards for public sector financial reporting. The authors explored changes in attitudes of Polish local government practitioners towards international financial reporting standards (the IPSAS) versus the national standards through the lens of attitude theory, together with the role of national identity as examined in social identity theory. Over a three-year period (2021–2023), the divide between supporters of IPSAS and their opponents appeared to widen, with the percentage increase in opposition being somewhat higher. The research participants became more assertive in their opinions on the implementation of IPSAS. Respondents from larger communities tended to be in favour of IPSAS. The need for accrual reporting and national standards was understood, but there was little support for the IPSAS—mainly due to lack of knowledge about them. This opinion appears to have strengthened over time, showing that the role of national identity is relevant for countries that already have developed their own standards. However, in the case of Poland, nationalism only has a minor role in IPSAS adoption, and economic and practical factors are more important.