Purpose: Identification of methods for presenting the components of other comprehensive income
in the statement of changes in equity in the reporting practices of public companies in Poland and
Germany.

Methodology: A study of domestic and foreign literature was conducted with analysis of annual
reports of public companies. The study followed the method of induction and to analyse the results,
the structure similarity index was used.

Results: The results of the study supported conclusions that the companies under study had not
developed a uniform presentation of the components of comprehensive income in their statements
of changes in equity. Five options of presenting the components of other comprehensive income in
the statement of changes in equity were identified. Companies both from the WIG 30 and DAX
indices most frequently presented the statement of changes in equity in option 1, which consisted
of presenting the total comprehensive income item in a row and detailed items of equity in columns
in which capital gains and losses were recognized. The differentiated forms of presenting the
components of comprehensive income made it difficult to compare financial statements.

Scope of research: The survey examined the annual reports of the largest Polish and German
public companies respectively from the WIG 30 and DAX indices. The components of other comprehensive
income presented in the statements of changes in equity were the main subject of the
study.

Originality: Comparative studies on the presentation of the components of other comprehensive
income in the statement of changes in equity by public companies in Poland and Germany have
not yet been conducted. This was therefore the research gap addressed in this study.