THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION IN DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS: COMPARISON OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND CHINA

Examination of the role of accountants and accounting profession in different national environments is the goal of this study. In particular we investigate different perception of the role in the Czech Republic and China. We claim that the historical development and the nature of continental accounting system influenced by the specific features of accounting and accounting profession in the Czech Republic, where the main role of company accountants is assumed to be the tax calculation and optimization. On the other hand economic system, its rapid development, cultural and historical conditions of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) suggest different recourse. Here we claim that transformation of Chinese economic system to market principles and implementation of IFRS could cause changes in recognized accounting principles and country's accounting profession and this could impact the economic system as a whole. Many similar features can be seen in both national economies. In our study we want to verify whether there are any differences in perception of accounting and accounting profession in Chinese companies in comparison to those in the Czech Republic. To assemble the opinions of respondents we use the questionnaire survey method. To evaluate the results of the investigation we use the statistical tests of correlation and F-test to test for the differences between the two sets of responses. Our results confirmed the validity of our hypothesis of existence of different opinions depending on nationality of respondents. We found that there are differences in both opinions on the role of accountants in business and in attitudes to selected business problems. Although the findings have several limitations due to sample selection, we can sum up that there exist significant differences in perception of the role of accounting and accountants between the two countries depending on historical traditions and different national environment in the two economies.