Investing in Poland

[Arski]

Found some interesting companies in Poland, only I'm new to investing over there. So does someone know that it is save to invest Poland? (Not many scam companies and falsification of balance sheets and income statements etc.) Or any other advise?

[rb]

If they're listed they need to have an audit. Check who the auditor is. If it's not one of the big 4 then I wouldn't touch it. Also pay close attention to the cash flow statement.

[Jurgis]

I'd guess that most companies will not give a damn about small shareholders and may do subpar capital allocations for various reasons (though that's somewhat true everywhere, but it's likely more true in Eastern Europe). Some companies may try to actively screw small shareholders. You may be better off with companies that don't have large controlling shareholder. Outright fraud is probably 2x-5x more common than in US, but that's still probably 1-2% of all companies. There's likely going to be more grey area activities where companies bribe politicians, break laws/regulations, use inside connections to get preferential treatment or screw competition. These can be positive or negative for company and shareholders.

 

Things have gotten better in last 30 years AFAIK, just not completely to Western European or US standards.

 

FWIW from a cynical Lithuanian.