Leszek Michalczyk
pages: 27-34, JEL classification: D21, L20, M21, M41, Key words: accounting engineering, variant accounting, praxeological accounting, Polish accounting standards, Abstract: In this article, we analyze the relations between modern trends in accounting and the decisionmaking process based on the classic profit-opportunity-cost-risk construction. In this aspect, four main types of accounting practices may be distinguished: bookkeeping (classic accounting), accounting engineering, creative accounting, and praxeological accounting. This study complements the author’s series of publications on accounting engineering (which is herein defined as a concept), the structure of economic auxiliary sciences, and causal relations in management practice and theory based on Bertalanffy’s general systems theory. The article covers accounting systems which emerged as a result of combining IAS solutions with domestic accounting standards and balance laws, and relates primarily to accounting theory and practice in Poland. Nevertheless, the Polish system is rooted in accounting solutions previously used in other countries, and as such may be perceived as more utilitarian, also on an international scale.