The challenges for the profession of accountant in the changing global economic environment

Abstract

Nowadays we observe dynamic growth in the global economic environment and rapid changes in information and communication technologies. These factors have a strong impact, they cause changes in the expectations of parties involved and greatly impact the conditions and competencies of any profession. Technological progress and the importance of behavioral competencies, both ethically and legally, exercising professional judgment and emotional intelligence will bring many challenges and opportunities for those who have chosen the profession of an accountant. The professional organizations of accountants are organizing different workshops and open discussions where participants exchange their experiences, share examples of best practice and the vision for the future. The purpose of the article is to explore the latest tendencies of development of the profession of accountant in the context of the changing global economic environment and to make recommendations for improving professional skills and competencies of accountants. The study is based on theoretical aspects of scientific researches that were carried out in different countries and the guidelines developed by the major professional organizations for education of the accountants, as well as on empirical research results. The study underlines the main key points regarding the skills and competencies of professional accountants – abilities to use information technologies in combination with expertise regarding accounting standards, economics, tax laws, as well as respect for professional ethics and maintaining professional competence. The challenge for professional accountants will be finding new ways to add value for their customers. During this research widely accepted quantitative and qualitative methods of economic science were applied including synthesis and logical constructive methods. The article has theoretical and practical significance, it provides recommendations which will allow to identify the directions for improvement in the education system of professional accountants.