Some considerations on accounting for pawnshops in Romania

Because of the financial and economic crisis that has affected Romania since October 2008, many people do no longer qualify for the bank loans they need to finance their investments or daily expenses. The alternative could be getting the money by pledging a personal good (especially jewelries) to a pawnshop. According to Romanian laws, pawnshops are non-banking financial institutions that offer monetary loans in exchange for movable assets that are pledged by the customers. They are organized as commercial companies and are supervised by the National Bank of Romania, being recorded into the Entry Register held by this institution. Nonetheless, the pawnshops do not apply accounting rules available for credit institutions, but they prepare the financial statements according to the regulation applied by commercial companies. The paper addresses the peculiarities of the pawnshops’ activities in terms of legal, fiscal and accounting aspects. By giving a practical example, the paper emphasizes the application of the specific Romanian legislation, taking into account three different scenarios. The paper discusses the fiscal aspects (mainly the value added tax) that rise from the sell of the items or the cashing of the interest and loan