The impact of the change in accounting principles of the National Bank of Poland on equity, financial results and payments to the state budget - opportunities and threats

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the causes and effects of the National Bank of Poland’s (NBP) reporting of negative equity and to test whether a modification of the NBP’s accounting rules would allow it to report positive equity. An analysis of the legal acts relating to the NBP’s accounting principles was carried out, the causes of the NBP’s negative equity were investigated and the historical data contained in the financial statements were restated assuming the application of other accounting principles. The studies showed that the appreciation of the PLN occurring between 2022 and 2023 led to a significant decrease in the value of foreign currency assets and consequently to huge financial losses. The accumulated losses led to negative total equity. The adoption of different accounting policies by the NBP would have avoided the reporting of losses and preserved positive equity. The topic undertaken in the article is an attempt to analyze and assess the adaptation of the NBP accounting principles adopted by the Monetary Policy Council to the specific nature of the central bank’s activities, as well as an attempt to answer the question of how the change in accounting principles affects the financial results presented in the financial statements.