Speaking a common language
BDO International was founded 40 years ago when forward-thinking accountancy firms from the UK, Germany, Holland, the USA and Canada merged to form the Binder Seidman International Group. Ten years later, the member firms took on the common name of Binder Dijker Otte & Co (BDO).
In 1988, when the organization was well known on the international stage, its logo and name were once again changed, to BDO International. Today, BDO International is a worldwide network, with offices in all of Europe, North and South America, Asia, the South Pacific, in the Middle East and in Africa. It’s the fifth-largest international accounting and consulting organization and currently has representation in 99 countries – including Poland.
BDO in Poland
BDO Polska was formed in 1991; it was one of Poland’s first audit companies. At present, there are offices all across the country and over 180 people – mainly certified auditors, tax advisers, lawyers and economists – are employed by BDO Polska.
Mr André Helin, the Managing Partner of BDO Polska, was born in Warsaw, but he and his family moved to Denmark when he was young. He trained as a CPA in Denmark and he says that, “I didn’t really expect to live in Poland again.” In 1989, however, he was asked whether he’d be interested in helping to create some privatization models for Poland.
He says, “This was a new idea at the time, as everything until that point had been owned by the state. I agreed to give some training seminars to show Polish people how to succeed in the new competitive atmosphere. It was so exciting and dynamic, people were so determined and things changed literally overnight. Then, BDO Polska happened, and I just never left. It was wonderful to be part of it – right from the beginning.”
Today, BDO Polska’s clients can take advantage of the firm’s rich and varied experiences. The firm was active in the privatization of Budimex and KGHM Polska, and in the mergers of Petrochemia Płock and CPN, Budimex and Unibud, as well as Budimex and Mostostal Kraków. It assisted in amending the Accounting Act and trained financial personnel in the area of taxes, mergers and acquisitions, commercial company law and International Accounting Standards.
Mr Helin acknowledges, however, that for the average SME, these services are not relevant to their needs. He says that perhaps the number one challenge that faces SMEs is how to make sense of Poland’s complex and inconsistent tax regulations. BDO Polska interprets and explains these regulations, provides tax reviews and offers a wide range of consulting services.
Challenges to be faced
Despite this considerable experience, Mr Helin says that BDO Polska is in the process of tackling several new challenges, in order to prepare for Poland’s EU accession. He says, “In the early 1990’s, we knew that at some point Poland was going to join the EU, and we could foresee a problem. Poland’s accounting and auditing legislation was based on the EU’s standards of accounting – but the EU’s own framework was not unified.”
He explains that EU countries can be divided into two groups. First, there are ‘classic countries’, such as Germany, Italy, Holland and France, where accounting legislation is very highly regulated and detailed. Originally, ‘classic countries’ dominated the EU, so all members worked with the same accounting systems, procedures and notions of law.
It wasn’t until the UK joined the EU that the ‘classic’ model was challenged by a second accounting approach, favored by countries such as the UK, the U.S. and Canada. This system is diverse and has a very broad framework. Mr Helin says, “Because of the UK’s membership and increased North American interest in setting up operations in Europe, the second system of accounting raised the issue of how to unify the EU.”
Despite these difficulties, Mr Helin is upbeat: “Now is an extremely interesting time in accounting, since everyone is agreed that we need to have one, international accounting system. This way, the Americans can come here, Europeans can go there, and there are no discrepancies between the systems. It’s exciting for me to think about how to develop a single system – a common language of accounting.”
He is also excited about another challenge: “Accounting was originally developed to keep track of things that were owned. But we live in a knowledge-based world, and how do you quantify knowledge? How do you quantify your experts? In order to give a complete company overview and evaluation, you need to develop systems to account for knowledge, people value and other intangible things.”
These questions are definitely difficult. But by lending its impressive experience and perspective to the debate, BDO International will undoubtedly help to provide answers.
In 1988, when the organization was well known on the international stage, its logo and name were once again changed, to BDO International. Today, BDO International is a worldwide network, with offices in all of Europe, North and South America, Asia, the South Pacific, in the Middle East and in Africa. It’s the fifth-largest international accounting and consulting organization and currently has representation in 99 countries – including Poland.
BDO in Poland
BDO Polska was formed in 1991; it was one of Poland’s first audit companies. At present, there are offices all across the country and over 180 people – mainly certified auditors, tax advisers, lawyers and economists – are employed by BDO Polska.
Mr André Helin, the Managing Partner of BDO Polska, was born in Warsaw, but he and his family moved to Denmark when he was young. He trained as a CPA in Denmark and he says that, “I didn’t really expect to live in Poland again.” In 1989, however, he was asked whether he’d be interested in helping to create some privatization models for Poland.
He says, “This was a new idea at the time, as everything until that point had been owned by the state. I agreed to give some training seminars to show Polish people how to succeed in the new competitive atmosphere. It was so exciting and dynamic, people were so determined and things changed literally overnight. Then, BDO Polska happened, and I just never left. It was wonderful to be part of it – right from the beginning.”
Today, BDO Polska’s clients can take advantage of the firm’s rich and varied experiences. The firm was active in the privatization of Budimex and KGHM Polska, and in the mergers of Petrochemia Płock and CPN, Budimex and Unibud, as well as Budimex and Mostostal Kraków. It assisted in amending the Accounting Act and trained financial personnel in the area of taxes, mergers and acquisitions, commercial company law and International Accounting Standards.
Mr Helin acknowledges, however, that for the average SME, these services are not relevant to their needs. He says that perhaps the number one challenge that faces SMEs is how to make sense of Poland’s complex and inconsistent tax regulations. BDO Polska interprets and explains these regulations, provides tax reviews and offers a wide range of consulting services.
Challenges to be faced
Despite this considerable experience, Mr Helin says that BDO Polska is in the process of tackling several new challenges, in order to prepare for Poland’s EU accession. He says, “In the early 1990’s, we knew that at some point Poland was going to join the EU, and we could foresee a problem. Poland’s accounting and auditing legislation was based on the EU’s standards of accounting – but the EU’s own framework was not unified.”
He explains that EU countries can be divided into two groups. First, there are ‘classic countries’, such as Germany, Italy, Holland and France, where accounting legislation is very highly regulated and detailed. Originally, ‘classic countries’ dominated the EU, so all members worked with the same accounting systems, procedures and notions of law.
It wasn’t until the UK joined the EU that the ‘classic’ model was challenged by a second accounting approach, favored by countries such as the UK, the U.S. and Canada. This system is diverse and has a very broad framework. Mr Helin says, “Because of the UK’s membership and increased North American interest in setting up operations in Europe, the second system of accounting raised the issue of how to unify the EU.”
Despite these difficulties, Mr Helin is upbeat: “Now is an extremely interesting time in accounting, since everyone is agreed that we need to have one, international accounting system. This way, the Americans can come here, Europeans can go there, and there are no discrepancies between the systems. It’s exciting for me to think about how to develop a single system – a common language of accounting.”
He is also excited about another challenge: “Accounting was originally developed to keep track of things that were owned. But we live in a knowledge-based world, and how do you quantify knowledge? How do you quantify your experts? In order to give a complete company overview and evaluation, you need to develop systems to account for knowledge, people value and other intangible things.”
These questions are definitely difficult. But by lending its impressive experience and perspective to the debate, BDO International will undoubtedly help to provide answers.
