Questioning Financial Indicators of Civil Society Development

Until the introduction of the full accrual accounting concept in 2008, the system of governmental and private non-profit organizations in Croatia was very inconsistent, but nevertheless, withstood for a long number of years. Most of the changes were brought in for the purpose of adjusting our legislative regulations to the Acquis Communautaire. The Croatian accession to the European Union was used to implement reforms in various sectors, and also in the accounting for non-profit organizations. On January 1ST, 2008, a new accounting system was introduced, based on the application of the full accrual concept of revenues and expenses. As a result, the divergence of accounting systems for governmental and private non-profit organizations was significantly reduced. The reform results suggest that it is justified and reasonable, for all non-profit organization groups, to apply the same internationally comparable and acceptable rules of measurement and evaluation, recognition, and economic classification of revenues and expenses.