A Reemerging Professional in an Emerging Market: The Story of the Modern Serbian Accountancy Profession

In the market economy the state is primarily interested in protecting the social order and ensuring that the basic rules of the game are observed. In order for market institutions to function, it is necessary to ensure that there is a high level of trust in the structure of social organisations. Therefore, the certification of those who perform various functions for the public has been a tradition in leading Anglo- American market economies. Continental European countries, however, placed their emphasis on formal education, rather than acquired competencies gained through professionally supervised practice and skill-focused examinations. In Continental European countries, accounting was primarily regulated by law, while in Anglo-Saxon countries self-regulation flourished. This was the case of affairs for more than 100 years (see Barber, 1963; Ben-David, 1963–64; Larson, 1977; Millerson, 1964; Perkin, 1989, 1996; Smith, 1992; Wirt, 1981). However, with a number of recent scandals where accounting and/or auditing companies badly failed to discharge their public duties and companies that were regarded as sound for years went bankrupt, then even in Anglo-Saxon countries there emerged an issue of what was to be done with the accounting profession. Manyin the USA would like to see accounting more tightly regulated, and professional bodies stripped of their self-regulatory powers. Recent statements by many leading government officials and leading figures in the business world certainly point in the direction of a legislator deciding to introduce new laws. These would change the face of the profession that we know in the USA and Britain, as the leading countries of the Anglo-Saxon world (see Liesman et al., 2002; Economist, 2002).