There is widespread recognition that reliable and credible financial information is vital for markets to function efficiently and for economies to grow. The quality of financial information is directly related to the quality of services provided by professional accountants. Sound systems of accountancy education increase the labor readiness and skills of the next generation accountancy workforce, produce competent and capable practitioners in an Accountancy Education Benchmarking Study whose expertise and professionalism contribute exploring accountancy education at both university significantly to financial decision making and and professional levels in order to identify the status help build public trust and confidence. of IES implementation by accountancy education providers and to identify priorities for change. • The Road to Europe: Program of Accounting Reform The Study offered a comprehensive assessment and Institutional Strengthening (EU-REPARIS) has of 14 universities and Professional Accountancy been designed to help and encourage the process Organizations (PAOs), who together provide 25 of integration of candidate or potential candidate academic and professional accountancy education countries for EU enlargement in the countries of programs to around 4,120 students. Curricula content, Southeast Europe. A key area of focus for the program learning outcomes, and proficiency levels from these is the development of accountancy education aligned programs were analyzed using a set of international with International Education Standards™ (IESs™) issued benchmarks, including the IESs. by the International Accounting Education Standards • The findings, results, and conclusions of the Study Board™ (IAESB™) and the educational requirements were disseminated at three regional and two of the EU’s Statutory Audit Directive for professional national workshops. Education providers and other qualifications, continuing professional development, stakeholders, including policymakers, accountants, and at university level. An Education Community of regulators, and the business community, discussed Practice was established as a means of achieving how to align accountancy education programs this objective. with international best practices and increase the • The six member countries of the EU-REPARIS labor readiness and skills of the next generation Education Community of Practice1, participated accountancy workforce. 1 Including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia FYR, Montenegro and Serbia. WIDE REACHING BENEFITS This Accountancy Education Benchmarking • For PAOs: evidence of whether they are successfully Study gives the participating institutions clear meeting the ongoing learning needs of members information on their educational provision and of the profession. It provides a gap analysis that how it compares to international expectations. aids transition to the learning outcomes approach A number of good practices in accountancy required by IES. It helps PAOs self-assess to what education emerged from the Study, including extent their program learning outcomes compare some unique insights into how often resource with targeted international benchmarks. It supports constrained institutions have innovated in comparability among different programs; provides order to implement IES. The benchmarking evidence to support applications for recognition of tool supports self-assessments, gap analysis, qualifications; and can be used to help attract new baseline assessments, and diagnostics. members to the profession. Benchmarking allows accountancy education • For accreditation bodies: verifiable schedules of providers worldwide an opportunity to better syllabus content that support an education providers’ understand and target educational reforms, application for accreditation or international bringing benefits to all stakeholders. These recognition. It helps national accreditation bodies include: assess new accountancy programs. • For students: clarity of the syllabus and course • For policy makers: an overview of national content. This assists decision-making during course accountancy education which can support effective selection, e.g. core versus elective modules, decisions on education resource allocations. It can undergraduate versus master’s programs. aid the development of competency frameworks at national levels and is a powerful decision-making tool. • For universities: specific detailed knowledge of their performance against the benchmark to guide • For society: findings have been used to facilitate revisions and updating of curricula to address core in-country focused discussions with a broad range IES requirements. The schedules of syllabus content of stakeholders (including policymakers, academia, can support an application for accreditation or the profession, regulators, private and public international recognition. It also offers a possibility for sector employers, business community, as well as analysis of gaps between academia and professional development partners). This can help build consensus education, facilitates better linkage with PAOs, and and facilitate accountancy education reforms. It also can be used as a tool to influence policymakers. feeds into wider public understandings of the role and expertise of accounting professionals and the • For employers: future access to an improved value they provide while supporting SME access to recruitment base. Closing the gaps between finance and private sector growth. international and national education programs develops the next generation of accountants with the knowledge and skills to meet the needs of business. Regional workshop, June 2015, Skopje Regional Workshop, June 2017, Vienna TESTIMONIALS University of Sarajevo, School of Economics and Business Sarajevo (SEBS) “At SEBS, the strongest emphasis is placed on the continuous improvement of the teaching process and programs’ curricula. SEBS introduced a new curriculum in September 2015. The initiative for changes in the curriculum design over the past five years has been encouraged by the need to meet the demand of the accreditation bodies and the many stakeholders including students, faculty, business community and administrative staff. SEBS participated in the CFRR pilot accountancy education benchmarking study performed in late 2014 and incorporated the results of this analysis into the curriculum revision process. The Study helped identify the discrepancies between SEBS’s accounting and auditing programs and the best international practices. It also provided SEBS with the tools to improve the learning experience for its students. With these results, along with all other inputs mentioned above, SEBS has managed to upgrade and redefine curricula for its accounting and auditing programs and bring them one step closer towards the highest international standards.” University American College Skopje (UACS), School of Business Economics and Management “At American College we’ve been trying to expand our offerings by exploring new majors that best serve the needs of the business community. The UACS School of Business Economics and Management has earned international accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) as of 2011. But this accreditation does not extend to programs in accounting and audit. It is a separate track. Having been a center of excellence for almost a decade now, we felt that we need to expand in the area of Accounting and Audit. But, we haven’t had experience, knowledge, and even more know- how about accountancy programs. In this sense, the Accountancy Education Benchmarking tools that have been developed within the World Bank EU REPARIS project were excellent for curricula development. We used the tool to develop the accountancy program curricula and have launched the program in the last academic year. Further, as a result of our interactions within the EU REPARIS Education Community of Practice we have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute of Certified Auditors and are in process of signing one with the Institute of Accountants and Certified Accountants.” Society of Certified Accountants and Auditors of Kosovo (SCAAK) “The accountancy benchmarking study greatly helped us to better coordinate professional and academic accountancy education in Kosovo. Often in Kosovo, academia and professional accountancy organizations have seen each other as competition, and as detached from each other. This study has helped us shows that cooperation and coordination between education providers at both levels is critical to advance in this area. Having a well-developed system of progression between university and professional education is especially useful for developing countries that struggle with capacity and resource issues and is essential for developing a quality education system at a country level.” University of Pristina, Faculty of Economics “The Accountancy Education Benchmarking Study was an excellent tool to benchmark our accountancy programs with international benchmarks, including the International Education Standards and we thank the World Bank’s Center for Financial Reporting Reform team and the EU-REPARIS program for making this study possible. The results of the study were very practical and easy to use. For example, we have used and applied the result of the benchmarking to update our undergraduate accountancy curricula. We also used the benchmarking study results to design a new Master in Accounting program, that is being launched for the first time during the academic year 2017/2018 after the accreditation process is completed.” SUPPORTED BY: The development of the Accountancy Education Benchmarking Study and its related methodology has been supported by expert teams of the International Accounting Education Standards Board™ (IAESB)™ and the International Federation of Accountants® (IFAC®). PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES AND PAOs: • University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics • Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty • Institute of Authorized Chartered Auditors of Albania of Economics - Skopje (IEKA) • Institute of Certified Auditors of the Republic of • University of Sarajevo, School of Economics and Macedonia (ICARM) Business Sarajevo (SEBS) • University of Montenegro, Faculty of Economics • University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Economics • Institute of Certified Accountants of Montenegro • Association of Accountants and Auditors of Republic (ICAM) Srpska (AAARS) • University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics • University of Pristina, Faculty of Economics • Serbian Association of Accountants and Auditors • Society of Certified Accountants and Auditors of (SAAA) Kosovo (SCAAK) • Serbian Chamber of Authorized Auditors (CAA) CONTACTS Kalina Sukarova Elena-Cornelia Salcher Senior Financial Management Specialist, Consultant, Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR), Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR), Governance Global Practice, Governance Global Practice, The World Bank The World Bank ksukarova@worldbank.org esalcher@worldbank.org +43-1-217-0732 +43-1-217-0730 Visit the EU-REPARIS Education Community of Practice webpage Centre for Financial Reporting Reform, Governance Global Practice, The World Bank Praterstrasse 31 1020 Vienna – Austria T: +43 (0)1 2170-700 F: +43 (0)1 2170-701 cfrr@worldbank.org www.worldbank.org/cfrr