Joint Conference of SCAAK-IEKA on "Education system - the right way to raise awareness of stakeholders and maintain the reputation of the profession"

2018-07-06 - 11:50

On June 30, 2018, a joint conference of the Association of Certified Accountants and Auditors of Kosovo (SCAAK) and The Institute of Authorized Chartered Auditors of Albania (IEKA) of Albania was held in the historical city of Vlora on topic  " Education system - the right way to raise awareness of stakeholders and maintain the reputation of the profession ".

The conference aimed to unite the members of these two professional associations with the aim of discussing the challenges for the implementation of multiple applications for the professionals of the two countries, informing them on the importance of education standards in capacity building of professionals and preserving the reputation of profession, and the importance of quality assurance of the services provided by the members.

The opening of the conference was made by the President of IEKA, Hysen Çela and the President of SCAAK, Nazmi Pllana. In his welcome speech, Pllana emphasized that "Universities will have to develop or incorporate new units, such as cloud computing, digital technology, integrated reporting, and so on for accounting students. Professional accounting organizations should consult with universities to include experts and lecturers in new fields and develop new courses. At the same time, universities should either invest in existing faculty members for training and lessons in these new areas or recruit external experts to coordinate and legislate new units".

In addition to the members and the Councils of respective Associations, representatives of the State Institutions of the Republic of Albania and Republic of Kosovo, as well as representatives from the international organizations of accounting and auditing, participated in this conference. From the Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, participants were Mr. Fatmir Gashi, Deputy Minister of Finance and Mr. Sakip Imeri, General Director of Tax Administration of Kosovo.

In his greeting speech, Fatmir Gashi said that "The development of the profession and the services provided by him brought the necessity of arranging and organizing the members of this profession in institutions that guarantee both the safety of the public for the services performed and the protection of the professionals themselves. The regulation of the profession can be accomplished through several routes that start with spontaneous regulation, through the request-offer report; the second way is the self-regulation where the profession itself is regulated and sets the mechanisms that make it trustworthy to the public, and the third path is regulation by state authorities and other independent authorities. In order to further develop the profession of accountant and auditor as well as the need for further knowledge of these areas, it is necessary to redesign world-class curricula in accounting and auditing in the university units that cover this segment of education".

Further, Mr. Sakip Imeri gave another perspective on the need for co-operation between tax professionals and tax authorities, enphasizing that "The most effective way to realize and sustain volunteering is to build trust and mutual respect between the Tax Administration and taxpayers of Kosovo. Collaboration with accounting professionals, their professional associations and taxpayer representatives is the greatest security of law enforcement.
 
TAK is oriented towards delivering electronic services, creating applications that facilitate voluntary taxpayers' compliance, perfecting risk analysis in selecting taxpayers that potentially avoid paying taxes and using the Law force against those who make tax evasion while jeopardizing competition the right of honest taxpayers.
 
TAK, with its capacities and in cooperation with other Law Enforcement Institutions, is prepared to implement all Government Initiatives in order to facilitate business engagement in Kosovo, we are committed to working with business representatives to support all efforts for a greater economic development and fair competition in the market. Priority is fighting the informality in Kosovo, especially in the gray economy, where TAK is responsible".

The conference continued with presentations on the role of professional organizations in the education of candidates and professional development, where Mrs. Ardiana Bunjaku, Executive Director of SCAAK and Mrs. Edona Perjuci-Uka, Head of the Department of Education and Professional Standards, presented on the background, achievements, and collaborations of the Association since its establishment, the accounting and auditing education system in Kosovo, and SCAAK education programs.

Conference participants also had the opportunity to be informed about the digitization in the profession of accounting and auditing as one of the most influential factors in the future of the profession through the presentation by Ms. Melita Ymeraga; as well as global managerial accounting principles as a non-developed field in our region through the presentation by Ms. Samantha Louis, Vice President of International AICPA-CIMA Advocacy.

The conclusions that emerged from this conference are that:

• Professional accounting and auditing organizations should be innovative in developing vocational education to meet market requirements by developing professional specializations.
• Digitalization is a new area in which professional accounting and auditing organizations and its members need to be updated and keep in step with time.
• The quality assurance of member services affects the reliability of the financial statements and influences the attractiveness of investors, which helps the country's economic growth.
• In the process of developing the profession and the relevant legislation, it is necessary to work closely with policymakers in order to have legislation that meets the requirements of the EU and standard voters, but at the same time be clear in the division of oversight responsibilities and professional organizations.
• Professional accounting organizations cooperate with each other in developing education programs to reduce the costs of being updated with global developments.