Background Understanding the importance of educational accreditation standards for health and health workforce policymaking is needed more than ever given the growing circulation of physicians, cross-border care and pandemics. The World Health Organization National Health Workforce Accounts (NHWA) for education and training could support the achievement of health care quality through health workforce strategies.Objective To perform a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effect of accreditation standards on undergraduate medical studies through the lens of NHWA indicators on education and training, and to assess their potential to support quality improvement in health workforce education and health policy planning.Methods Accreditation standards for medical undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Medicine University of Belgrade, Serbia (FMUB) were analyzed using the NHWA indicators on education and training, in addition to the results of surveys of students and employers on the quality of accredited study programs in 2013 and 2016.Results Compulsory accreditation mechanism entails standards for the quality of education at FMUB including continuing professional development and in-service training but not for interprofessional education. Standards partly cover social determinants and social accountability. Students optionally participate in regulatory making. Alike healthcare managers who also serve as providers for training placement for students during the studies, students take part in FMUB accreditation surveys. Based on the results of the survey, the quality of undergraduate medical studies at FMUB has slightly improved from 2013 to 2016. A ten-year quantitative analysis showed a declining trend in freshman enrollment. The average duration of a six-year undergraduate study of medicine is extended to 7.2 ± 0.4 years.Conclusion For improving medical students' practical, organizational skills and independent work, as well as social accountability, and social determinants must be taken as priority standards in the future revisions of accreditation mechanism in Serbia. Health workforce organizations, civil society and the community should participate in accreditation regulatory bodies for establishing a foundation for socially accountable and interprofessional education. If implemented at institutional, local and national level, system of NHWA indicators can support the alignment of higher education standards and plans with the national health and health workforce standards and strategy/plan.