Poland is considered to have one of the healthiest economies of the post-communist countries and is currently one of the fastest growing countries within the EU. Since the fall of the communist government, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as a successful example of the transition from a centrally planned economy to a primarily capitalistic market economy. Poland is the only member of the European Union to have avoided a decline in GDP during the late 2000s recession.

In the past four years, Poland has had the following economic growth: 6.2% in 2006; 6.5% in 2007; 5.0% in 2008 and 1.7% in 2009 (the greatest GDP growth in the EU).

The privatization of small and medium state-owned companies and a liberal law on establishing new firms have allowed the development of an aggressive private sector. Restructuring and privatization of "sensitive sectors" such as coal, steel, rail transport and energy has been continuing since 1990. Poland has also a large number of private farms in its agricultural sector, with the potential to become a leading producer of food in the European Union.

Although the Polish economy is currently undergoing economic development, there are many challenges ahead. The most notable task on the horizon is the preparation of the economy (through continuing deep structural reforms) to allow Poland to meet the strict economic criteria for entry into the Eurozone. According to the Polish Minister of Finance, Poland is likely to adopt the euro in 2012 or 2013.

Due to its geographical location, international socio-economic stability, quality of HR, and membership in the EU, Poland became an attractive place to make investments for companies from all over the world.>

As initially reported by the NBP [National Bank of Poland], the year 2009 considered as critical, proved to be only about 16% poorer in foreign investment than the year 2008. FDI inflow into Poland in 2009 was 8.4 billion EUR. Sources of foreign capital came mostly from European Union countries.

The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) is a useful partner for foreign entrepreneurs entering the Polish market. The Agency guides investors through all the essential administrative and legal procedures that involve a project. It also provides professional advisory services for new investors in Poland and rapid access to complex information relating to legal and business matters regarding investments. Moreover, it helps with finding the appropriate partners and suppliers together with new locations. This Agency was established in June 2003 to coordinate the economic promotion of Poland, stimulate the inflow of foreign direct investment, assist foreign companies in their investment processes and promote Polish exports. It was created in a merger between the State Foreign Investment Agency (PAIZ) and the Polish Information Agency (PAI). Both institutions were established in order to support the development of Polish economy by raising the inflow of foreign investments and promotion of Poland abroad.
According to the head of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, in 2010 Poland will continue to be strongly attractive for foreign investors and investors will use the good condition and stability of the Polish economy. In the opinion of PAIiIZ foreign investors are increasingly committed to investing in Poland in the modern service centers, the electronic industry and high-tech sector.

• Receive the remuneration for his work. The employee may not earn less than the minimum monthly remuneration for full-time work,
• Use their holiday leave time - The employee has the right to annual paid leave, the length 
  of which depends on their seniority, but in general every employee is entitled to 20 or 26 days of paid annual leave,

• Receive sickness allowance,
• Working time rules,
• Special protection of some employees’ groups,
• Procedure of termination of employment.
  
  The Labour Code lists various forms of employment contract:

• For a trial period,
• For a fixed period,
• For an indefinite period,
• For a period of absence of another employee. 
  
  The employment contract must define the parties, working hours, financial conditions, type of work and place of its performance, and should be concluded in writing. 
  Apart from the employment relationship regulated by the Labour Code, there are other forms of employment based on the Civil Code – known as civil law contracts. The most common contracts under the Civil Code are as follows:

• Task contract,
• Service contract.
  
  The contract expires automatically with the end of the term or when a given task or activity has been completed. An employment agreement may be terminated upon mutual agreement of both parties (at any time and regardless of the type of contract), by one of the parties upon prior notice (at the end of a specified notice period), or by one of the parties without prior notice (if a serious breach on the side of the other party occurs or if employment cannot be continued for certain reasons). The notice period depends on the type of contract concluded by the parties and the actual duration of the employment. 

Citizens of all EU member countries in Poland do not have to obtain work permits.

Education
The educational system in Poland functions according to the Education System Act of 7 September 1991 and the Higher Education Law of 27 July 2005. 
The educational system in Poland includes:

• Compulsory full-time education which lasts 10 years and covers: one year pre-primary education (0 grade) for children at the age of six, the six-years of primary schools and the three-years of lower secondary schools

• Upper secondary and post-secondary education (general secondary schools, specialised secondary schools, technical secondary schools, basic vocational schools, post secondary schools) Schools can be public or non-public. Education in public schools in Poland is free-of-charge. The maturity examination is compulsory for all graduates who apply for higher education.

• Higher education

There are several types of higher education and study programmes in Poland: 
-  Professional higher studies (three-four years) – the graduates obtain a professional degree of licentiate or engineer (in the field of engineering, agriculture or economics). This is the Polish equivalent of a bachelor’s degree 
-  Master’s studies – (five-six years), the graduates obtain a professional degree of magister, or an equivalent degree, which is the Polish equivalent of master’s degree depending on the study course profile
-  Postgraduate master’s studies – (two-2.5 years), meant for graduates of professional higher studies and offering them the possibility of obtaining a professional master’s degree
-  Postgraduate studies – (one-two years), meant for graduates of all types of higher education institutions.

There are two types of higher education institution, the University type, which offers studies in humanities; science; medical science; economics; the arts; pedagogy and military studies and the professional type, which educates students in specific professional areas preparing them for practising a profession. 
According to Eurostat, Poland holds fourth place after the United Kingdom, Germany and France in terms of the number of people enrolled in tertiary education. In the 2007/2008 academic year, 1.93 million people studied at higher and tertiary education facilities, among which 56.43% were women.

Individual Business Activity
Individual business activity is the simplest and the cheapest form of business activity by its own account. Individual business activity is defined as paid activity, including:

• production, construction, trade, and services;
• standing for searching, identifying, and extracting minerals from deposits; and
• standing for using things and intangible assets.
  It is operated on its own behalf regardless of the result in an organized and continuous manner.

• accepting cash deposits due upon request or the coming deadline, as well as keeping accounts of these deposits,
• keeping other bank accounts,
• granting credits,
• granting and confirming bank guarantees, as well as opening letters of credit
• issuing bank securities
• conducting bank monetary settlements
• issuing electronic money instruments
• performing other activities provided for in other acts only with regard to banks

Apart from the commercial banks, there are also cooperative banks operating in Poland. The rules of organization, operation and affiliation of the cooperative banks, as well as affiliation of the banks affiliating cooperative banks are stipulated in the Act of 7 December 2000 on the operation of cooperative banks, their affiliation and affiliating banks. Under the Act of 7 December 2000 on the operation of cooperative banks, their affiliation and affiliating banks, a cooperative bank shall mean a bank that is a cooperative. 
The National Bank of Poland is the Republic of Poland’s central bank. Its tasks are stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the Act on the National Bank of Poland and the Banking Act. The fundamental objective of the NBP’s activity is to maintain price stability. The most important areas of activity for the NBP are: monetary policy, the issue of currency, the development of the payment system, the management of official reserves, education and information, services to the State Treasury.
The management authorities of the NBP are the President of the NBP, the Monetary Policy Council and the NBP Management Board. 
The Monetary Policy Council lays down the foundations for monetary policy, sets interest rates and defines the level of obligatory reserves for commercial banks. The Management Board directs NBP activities. Its fundamental tasks include the implementation of resolutions for the Monetary Policy Council, the adoption and implementation of the NBP plan of activities, the execution of the financial plan approved by the Council and the performance of tasks related to the exchange rate policy and the payment system.

• On Public Offering, Conditions Governing the Introduction of Financial Instruments to Organised Trading, and Public Companies;
• On Trading in Financial Instruments;
• On Capital Market Supervision.

The capital market tradition in Poland dates back to 1817, when the first Mercantile Exchange was founded in Warsaw. In its present form, the Exchange began operating on 16 April 1991.
The task of the WSE is to organise public trading in securities. The Exchange provides a concentration of buy and sell offers in one place and time in order to designate prices and execute transactions.
The following instruments are traded on the Warsaw Exchange: shares, bonds, subscription rights, allotment certificates, investment certificates, and derivative instruments: futures, options and index participation units.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange operates trading in financial instruments on two markets:

• The WSE Main List operates since the WSE began trading on 16 April 1991. The market is supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and notified to the European Commission as a regulated market.
• NewConnect is a market organised and operated by the WSE as an alternative trading system. It was established for young growing companies, particularly in the high-tech sector. NewConnect was launched on 30 August 2007. Trading in the alternative system may include shares, allotment certificates, subscription rights, depository receipts, and other equities.

The WSE is currently pursuing a growth strategy aimed at strengthening the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Polish market and creating a Central and Eastern European financial centre in Warsaw.

In January 1998, the Warsaw Stock Exchange launched its derivatives market as trading in futures contracts on the WIG20 index began.

Presently on the WSE there are several dozen derivatives series in the following categories:

• futures contracts on indices: WIG20, mWIG40; on stocks of six companies; on currencies: USD, EURO, GBP and CHF;
• options on the WIG20 index;
• Index participation units - MiniWIG20 - based on the WIG20 index reflecting the price performance of the 20 biggest and most liquid companies; the return rate on investment in MiniWIG20 corresponds with percentage changes of the WIG20 index.

All derivatives are traded in the continuous trading system:

The appointment of the entity authorized to audit financial statements or review books of account is made by the body approving the entity’s financial statements, unless articles of association, a deed or other applicable regulations provide otherwise. Management Board of the entity is not authorized to appoint the auditor. The entity’s manager signs only, with the entity authorized to audit financial statements, an audit contract on audit of financial statements or review of books of account at a date which enables this entity to participate in the stocktaking of significant assets. Audit fees are covered by the audited entity.

Audit Requirements

The Accounting Act of 29 September 1994 specifies accounting principles and the procedures for auditing financial statement by statutory auditors.

The audited entity’s manager should ensure that a statutory auditor who is auditing the financial statements has access to the books of account and documents being the basis for the entries as well as to any other documents. He should also provide full information, explanations and statements which are required to express an audit opinion on the entity’s financial statements.

A statutory auditor has a right to obtain audit-related information from the entity’s contractors, including banks and its legal advisers, upon the authorization of the entity’s manager.

An audit of financial statements is aimed at expressing by a statutory auditor a written opinion together with a report on whether the financial statements are correct and give true and fair presentation of the property and financial position and the financial result of the audited entity.

This opinion should in particular state whether the audited financial statements:

1)  were prepared on the basis of books of account kept in a proper manner;

2)  were prepared in accordance with accounting principles,

3)  comply in form and contents with the legal regulations applicable to the entity as well as its articles of association or deed;

4)  give a true and fair presentation of all information material for the assessment of the entity.

The opinion should also:

1)   provide information on non-compliance, as at the date of expressing the opinion, with the obligations to file with a relevant court register and to publish the financial statements for the year or years preceding the financial year;

2)   indicate any serious threats to the entity’s operations as a going concern which were detected during an audit.

The opinion should specify, in an unequivocal manner, the reasons for qualifications in respect of the financial statements, for expressing an adverse opinion or for a disclaimer of an opinion due to the existence of circumstances which make it impossible to prepare an opinion.

Accounting Profession

The oldest and the largest Polish organization comprising of the professionals in accounting and finance is The Accountants Association in Poland.

One cannot independently keep books of account as a service without an accounting certificate. In order to obtain such a certificate, one should pass a state exam. Statutory auditors do not have to apply for certificates. While not having a certificate, you cannot perform certain activities involved in keeping books. Keeping books of account without the required entitlements is subject to a fine or even imprisonment.

The legal grounds for imposing tax obligations are stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland effective since 17 October 1997. Pursuant to Article 217, the following shall take place solely by way of the Act:

• taxes,

• other public levies,

• subjects of taxation,

• objects of taxation,

• tax rates,

• the categories of subjects exempt from taxation,

• rules of granting reliefs and tax remissions.

The Polish tax system includes eleven tax titles subject to special substantive tax law. The notion of tax was defined in Article 6 of the Act of 29 August 1997 - Tax Ordinance as a public, free, compulsory and non-returnable levy towards the State Treasury, voivodship, poviat, or commune by virtue of the Tax Act. The provisions of the Tax Ordinance are also applicable to fees and liabilities other than taxes which are payable to the state budget and the budgets of local government units and which are established or specified by the authorized tax bodies, as well as the fees specified in the provisions on taxes and local fees.

The basic tax division is as follows:

• personal income tax,

• corporate income tax,

• inheritance and donation tax,

• tax on civil law actions,

• agricultural tax,

• forest tax,

• real estate tax,

• vehicle tax,

• value added tax,

• excise duty,

• gambling tax.