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Since 1986, Vietnam has been reforming its economic system, moving from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy connected to the rest of the world. This process has been shaped by the tensions and power relationship between moderate and radical reformers and the interaction of their reform strategies. This paper demonstrates that, unlike many reforms in former socialist countries, the Vietnamese accounting reform resulted from both external pressures and internal needs. Because Vietnam switched from state capitalism to a type of mixed capitalism, the country was in a position to adapt the former ‘socialist’ accounting system relatively ‘quietly’, moving towards a private capitalist accounting model but preserving many fundamental peculiarities of the old system. The maintenance of the old accounting structure can be explained by the continuity of the political, economic and social environment. However, the transformation has also generated some difficulties due to adapting a private capit...

The paper attempts an evaluation of the initial measures of accounting reform legislation undertaken in each of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the context of the successful struggle for the restoration of national independence and a transition from the command economy to a market economy.

The paper provides a theoretical construct as a frame of reference for understand-ing the possibilities for, and the nature of, accounting change in the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Within its context some of the practical issues arising from the accounting reform measures are considered.

The paper commences with a consideration of the objectives of accounting reform in Romania and proceeds to a review of the principles of accounting introduced. Next, there is provided an overview of the new accounting system and the newly created accounting profession. Finally, the current preoccupations of accounting specialists are considered.