engleski

Education of public accountants in Croatia in the context of reform processes in the public sector

The need for more efficient public management as well as possibility of comparing performance results between EU members is constantly growing up. Aforementioned implicate the improvement of financial disclosures of public sector entities. Therefore, there is a need for harmonized reporting among EU Member State. The focus is also put on the development of European Public Sector Accounting Standards based on accrual. Mentioned requirements have great impact on the public sector accountants because they are responsible for financial reporting to external stakeholders and preparation of information for decision making process. Some of important preconditions, to answer on mentioned requirements as well as to enable the successful implementation of public sector reforms, are accounting education and training of public sector accountants. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to research knowledge and education of accountants in the area of public sector accounting in Croatia in the context of growing requirements for information needed for efficient public management. Research in this paper was conducted using a questionnaire emailed to public sector accountants in Croatia. In order to analyse the results descriptive statistics was used. The preliminary results show that formal education is not enough for position of public sector accountant because of insufficient specific knowledge from the field of public sector accounting and changes as well as amendments to university programs and lifelong learning are required.

public sector entities, education, reforms, public sector accounting

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