Accounting education at the university level in developing SEE countries has often been criticised for the inability to develop essential skills of graduates necessary for a career in professional accountancy in the 21st century. Our research study presents the results of a survey among students enrolled to an accounting degree program and employers for their perceived importance of a wide range of generic and technical skills for successful entrance to the profession. The study also investigated perceived effectiveness of the university accounting education to develop important skills at an appropriate level. The results indicated agreement between the two respondent groups in respect of the greater importance of generic skills, where students gave more weight to personal skills of time management, good presentation and characteristics of self-confidence, motivation and selfpromotion. Employers valued more oral communication, knowledge of foreign languages, ethical attitude and credibility and commitment to life-long learning. The employers and students agreed that education process and program need improvements in order to allow for better development of technical and generic skills among successful graduates.

Abstract:This research study examines the importance of financial information and information contained in the ISA's New Audit Report effective from 2016 for lenders as capital providers. We base our findings on a survey conducted in September of 2016 with corporate loan officers for medium-large corporate clients in Macedonia. The results show that the annual report of the company, except for the management report and notes to the financial statements, has consistently high importance and usability for respondents' decision making. Various accounting ratios related to liquidity, financial stability and profitability of the company are considered very important and regularly used in credit analysis. However, respondents were not consistent in their shared perceptions regarding high importance of projected profits and historical information on operating cash flows. All loan officers gave high importance to the information found in existent auditor's report format regardless of the form of expressed opinion. Also, information on key audit matters, additional information on going concern and related auditor's judgement, procedures related to fraud risk were considered of high importance. Lenders rated as less important the disclosure of the name of engagement partner, auditor's statement on independence and compliance with ethical requirements and the level of materiality used in the audit.

PurposeThe state audit is crucial for society in ensuring the transparent and legal spending of public funds. In the Republic of North Macedonia, although state audit-related activities have existed since the state's independence, the State Audit Office started operating as a Supreme Audit Institution in 1999. The purpose of this research was to explore the development of the State Audit Office in the Republic of North Macedonia over the past two decades regarding the organisational aspect and the state audit-related activities.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a detailed analysis performed using statistical tests of data collected from the State Audit Office's annual reports on operation and performed audits in the period 2001–2020, concerning the budget, organisational size, audit engagements, audited public revenues and expenditures, audit reports, and given recommendations and their implementation. The survey method was used to determine other factors that could have a correlation with the development of the State Audit Office.FindingsIn general, it can be concluded that the State Audit Office has grown in terms of financial resources at its disposal and the organisational size (number of employees). Although there is no correlation between the regularity audit engagements and the audited public revenues and expenditures, there is still a positive correlation between the audited public revenues and expenditures. The implementation of the given recommendations by the auditors is not related to the number of recommendations in the final audit reports. There are several internal, external and international factors that have a positive correlation with the development of the State Audit Office.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation of this paper pertains to the period of existence of the Supreme Audit Institution in the Republic of North Macedonia not being very long in order to be able to draw more significant conclusions. The second limitation concerns the measurement of the variables from the survey being based only on the perception of the state auditors. Such a measurement method might be considered less accurate in describing the actual situation.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this paper is the only one that explores the development of the Supreme Audit Institution in the Republic of North Macedonia. Furthermore, it provides a good basis for further detailed research on areas relevant to the issue. We believe that this research will enrich the existing body of literature on state audit by offering a concrete example of the development of a Supreme Audit Institution in a less-researched geographical area.

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Research Question: Is there a gap in research preferences on disruptive technologies between academia and practitioners? Motivation: Disruptive technologies in accounting represent a new evolutionary phase of accounting impacted by emerging technologies that are part of industrial revolution 4.0. The relevance of emerging technologies, their potential, and the opportunities they offer for the accounting profession attract both academia and professionals with accelerated research efforts. Academia and scientific researchers must research and provide an appropriate theoretical basis to help practitioners better adapt and increase their awareness and trust in technology. Idea: This paper provides early quantitative research data on publication trends related to most disruptive technologies in accounting such as big data, data analytics, cloud, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Data: The data were collected through detailed analysis and research of websites and publishing platforms on Big Four accounting firms, professional accounting associations, and institutes, and selected high-ranking journals for the period from 2016 to 2020. Tools: The research was conducted using bibliometric analysis to identify how many articles were published by individual parties. Findings: The results highlight that there are no significant discrepancies or different views of academia and practitioners. It is a positive result indicating that academia and scientific researchers exploit in the same direction as practitioners, thus providing support for adaptation and alignment to technology trends. Contribution: The significance of the results of such research is important for obtaining directions in which the academy should research in the future but also for the regulators as well.