Union of Accountants

Union of Accountants is a voluntary and independent special-purpose national organisation established in keeping with the Civic Association Act no. 83/1990 Coll., as amended, which, since 1990, has been associating under its present name accountants, auditors, tax advisors, and other interested people who agree with its programme defined in the statutes of the Union and in other documents. The work of the Union links to the activity of the former Czech Union of Accountants and Statisticians founded in 1969 in Plzeň.

Members of the Union of Accountants associate themselves in territorially distributed branch organisations or in the Chamber of Certified Accountants established in April 1999 (www.komora-ucetnich.cz).

The chief task of the Union today is to contribute to the advancement and improvement of the profession of accountants in this country and to achieving standards comparable to the European Union countries. This goal has mainly been implemented through the system of certification. The system has been designed for the accountancy profession at large, i.e. it offers education in disciplines indispensable for the performance of accounting at the lowest level of skills through to the top accountancy professions.

The system was created on the basic of a project of the Union of Accountants, prepared over last years in consultation with leading European experts in accountancy and professional education of accountants (particularly the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - ACCA) in scope at the Phare Project "Harmonisation of Accounting in the Czech Republic with E.U. Directives". The system consists of three levels of qualification - Accounting Assistant - technician, Balance Accountant - executive accountants and Accounting Expert.

The principle objective was create the system comparable with similar systems in Europe in order to guarantee recognition of certificates in other countries in the same way as it is now practised by individual European countries (see Directive on Mutual Recognition of Professional Education of EU and 8th UE Directive). The application of the system began at the end of 1997.

Beside the certification project, the Union has been involved in an extensive and systematic educational and advisory activities (through the Union of Accountants' Institute in Prague and the individual branch organisations in the regions).

Of special importance is its methodological activity directed to the resolution of any emerging specific partial practical issues as well as the systematic efforts exerted in the accounting field and associated legislation and accounting methodology. The National Accounting Council was founded in January 1999, with the main task in co-ordinating and unifying the relevant action taken in this field by its founders, i.e., the Union of Accountants, the Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic, the Chamber of Tax Advisors of the Czech Republic, and the Prague School of Economics.

Also, the twice-yearly exhibition called SFAMEX (Software For Accounting And Management And Services For Businesses) is fairly well known. The Union of Accountants also publishes the magazines "Účetnictví" (Accounting) and "Metodické aktuality" (Methodology News) and a number of specialised publications and has co-authored the software "Účetní poradce" (Accounting Advisor).

The Union of Accountants joined the prestigious International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in New York in 1998, an organisation associating national organisations of accountants and auditors all over the world, and the Bonn-based European Management Accountants Association (EMAA) which also has members in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The ease with which the Accountants' Union has joined the two organisations demonstrates its image enjoyed internationally but at the same time it poses high expectations on it in its development into an acknowledged professional organisation.