In search of accounting principles for the central bank

The paper presents the selected accounting principles applied by central banks. It has been emphasised that since 2004 the NBP accounting principles are in line with the Eurosystem accounting principles. The paper shows that the possible change of these principles depends on the perspective of adopting the euro by Poland. If the adoption of the euro takes place in the near future, NBP will have to continue applying the current accounting rules. In this context the paper presents how the NBP balance sheet would change on the date of the hypothetical adoption of the euro by Poland. On the other hand, if the adoption of the single currency becomes a distant prospect, NBP could consider changing the applied accounting principles. Due to the growing risks faced by central banks in the first two decades of the 21st century, this choice should be correlated with the need to build a bank's strong equity position and to reduce the volatility of its financial result. Hence, the paper proposes directions for modification of the existing NBP accounting principles, which would ensure the implementation of the adopted assumptions. The authors indicate that in the case of NBP the application of IFRS would be unjustified.