Compliance with International Education Standards of Accounting in European Union Countries, the Case of Albania as An Official Cand idate for Accession to The EU

The accountancy profession is based on standards, rests on their adoption and successful implementation, and is governed by the overarching principle of serving the public interest. These are complex sets of variables made even more difficult with sovereign interests and multiple stakeholders playing out on a global stage. The Evaluation of the status of accountancy education with its components of qualification, education and training in selected countries and Ballcan compared with the requirements of the IES. Nevertheless, the capital markets, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, are demanding a single set of high quality internationally accepted accountancy standards where transparency, comparability and reliability of financial information is paramount. The importance of adoption and implementation of IES and the use of benchmarking in identifying country accomplishments and gaps from these standards. To enhance comparability a distinction is made between the four competency sub-pillars of accountancy education: personal development, professional accountancy education, professional development, and competence requirements for auditors. Together the sub-pillars cover all IES in a comprehensive approach that strengthens the statistical analysis of the results. Country overviews contain information about the adoption and implementation of International Education Standards (IES). The discussion of the regions includes country information, regional characteristics, adoption and implementation of IES, and recognition of qualifications.