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SPECIAL ISSUE TOPICContemporary challenges, conditions and directions of development of accounting Motivation Research on contemporary challenges, conditions, and directions of development in accounting is motivated by the need to adapt to technological advancements, regulatory changes, globalization, and evolving ethical standards. By addressing these areas, accounting research aims to enhance the accuracy, transparency, and relevance of accounting, ultimately contributing to the overall stability and efficiency of financial markets and organizations.Accounting is undergoing significant transformations due to various contemporary challenges and evolving conditions. Therefore, research in this area is motivated by several key factors:−Technological Advancements: The integration of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA) is revolutionizing accounting practices. The potential of blockchain technology to provide transparent and immutable records is another area of interest. Under-standing its implications for auditing, fraud prevention, and financial re-porting is crucial.−Regulatory Changes: The continuous updates and convergence efforts in IFRS require ongoing research to understand their impacts on global ac-counting practices. Increasing regulatory requirements for ESG disclosures are pushing researchers to explore how companies can effectively report on sustainability and social responsibility metrics.−Globalization: As businesses operate in a global marketplace, accounting practices must adapt to different legal, economic, and cultural environments. Research is essential to develop frameworks that accommodate these complexities. Understanding the impact of global economic changes on financial reporting and risk management is critical for the accounting profession.−Data Analytics: The vast amounts of data generated by modern businesses offer opportunities for more detailed and insightful analysis. Researchers are motivated to investigate how big data analytics can be integrated into accounting to improve strategic decision-making. Leveraging data to pre-dict future financial trends and outcomes is a growing area of interest, aiming to enhance the proactive capabilities of accounting functions.−Ethical Considerations: Ensuring ethical standards in accounting practices remains a fundamental concern. Research into how emerging technologies and new regulations affect ethical behavior is vital. Developing advanced methods to detect and prevent financial fraud is an ongoing challenge that requires innovative research solutions.−Educational Needs: As the accounting profession evolves, so must the education and training provided to future accountants. Research into effective teaching methods and curriculum content is necessary to prepare graduates for modern challenges. Understanding the best approaches for ongoing education and skill development for current professionals is crucial for maintaining a competent workforce.−Economic and Social Impacts: Research into how contemporary accounting challenges affect SMEs differently than large corporations is important for developing tailored support and resources. Exploring the role of accounting in promoting social good, such as through social impact measurement and reporting, is increasingly relevant.Suggested topics We encourage authors to prepare and submit articles on the focus of contemporary challenges, conditions, and directions of development of accounting. The following thematic areas are of particular interest in the light of the presented challenges:−Integration of Technology – the continued development and implementation of AI, RPA, and blockchain in accounting processes,−Enhanced Reporting Standards – the evolution of accounting standards to include comprehensive ESG and sustainability metrics,−Global Harmonization – efforts to harmonize accounting practices across different jurisdictions to facilitate international business,−Advanced Analytics – incorporating big data and predictive analytics into everyday accounting practices to improve decision-making,−Ethical Frameworks – the development of robust ethical guidelines and training to navigate new technological and regulatory landscapes,−Educational Innovation – updating accounting education and professional development programs to reflect current and future industry needs,−Focus on SMEs – tailored research and development to support the unique challenges faced by SMEs in adopting new accounting practices.The above-mentioned issues are not exhaustive as to the scope and complexity of research into contemporary accounting developments. Rather, they are intended to inspire authors when choosing the topic of their paper.We want to underline that the articles (ca. 32,000-44,000 characters) should pertain to the theme of the special issue of ZTR and should not have been published earlier in hard copy or in electronic version, whether in magazines, journals, books, or conference materials. The deadline for submitting papers is 30th June 2025. The accepted papers will be published in December 2025 (ZTR, vol. 49, no. 4).Each manuscript should be prepared in accordance with the guidance given in the section “Instructions for authors” on our website: https://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/DEPOSITSMANUSCRIPTArticles should be submitted through the online ICI Publishers Panel: http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/DEPOSITSMANUSCRIPT https://editors.publisherspanel.com/ppanel/indexWhen submitting an article, please enter that your article is for Special Is-sue 2025 with Guest Editor in the additional comment in the Publishers Panel Index Copernicus system. The coordinators of the Special Issue of ZTR with Guest Editor are Halina Waniak-Michalak and Anna Szychta (ztr@skwp.pl).

Sustainable Development, Accounting and AccountantsContext for the Special IssueAccounting, traditionally considered a tool for optimizing the economic per-formance of entities, has also been perceived as a means for addressing the social and environmental areas of their operations (Unerman et al., 2007; Bebbington et al., 2017; Carnegie et al., 2021) to inform managers seeking to make businesses sustainable (Wenzig et al., 2022; Lambert and Sponem, 2011). Therefore, accountants are regarded, at least potentially, as a crucial element of a company’s contribution to sustainable development (e.g., Tilt, 2009; Albu et al., 2011; Bebbington and Unerman, 2018; 2020; IFAC, 2016; ACCA, 2021). This is not a new notion. In fact, it has been developing over the years as social environmental ac-counting (SEA) and has been evidenced by the involvement of accounting re-searchers, practitioners, and accounting-related organizations in sustainability issues (Chung and Cho, 2018).SEA is defined as the communication of an organization’s social and environmental economic impacts to specific stakeholder groups and the general public. It requires expanding the responsibilities of companies beyond the traditional provision of financial statements to owners of capital, particularly shareholders. This necessity is based on the assumption that companies have responsibilities other than making money for shareholders (Gray et al., 1996, 2017; Carnegie, 2022a, 2022b). As Bebbington et al. (2017) note, the original framing of the SEA literature is concerned with the social and environmental impacts of organiza-tions and accounting (e.g., Gray et al., 1987; Gray et al., 1996). It was recently expanded to explore the interrelationship between sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals, governance, organizing, management, and accounting.SEA has been developing as an area of research in accounting, while the broad understanding of accounting per se has remained unchanged. One of the popular definitions of accounting by the American Accounting Association defines it as “the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgments and decisions by users of information” (AAA, 1996). Drawing on the extensive accounting literature in the sociological, interpretive and critical tradition since the early 1980s (including Gray et al., 1996), Carnegie et al. (2021) propose to redefine accounting in order to the discipline to reach its full potential for shaping a better world. They proposed the following new multidimensional definition of accounting: “Accounting is a tech-nical, social and moral practice concerned with the sustainable utilization of resources and proper accountability to stakeholders to enable the flourishing of organizations, people and nature” (Carnegie et al., 2021, p. 69). Their proposal poses new challenges for accountants and the organized accounting profession. Principally, accounting information systems and accountants must evolve to respond to sustainability-related concerns by adapting traditional characteristics and developing new, broader concepts and capabilities (Twyford and Abbas, 2023).There are concerns about whether and to what extent the accounting profession may be willing to consider and meet these challenges. As Deegan (2013) argues, the fact that t-accounts, and therefore debits and credits, have been in use since the 1400s, and did not cease to be used after negative numbers were introduced into mathematics, shows that accountants are reluctant to change and inspires little confidence that they are capable of making quick adjustments as environments and technologies transform. This view is support-ed by others (e.g., Wenzig et al., 2022; Krasodomska et al., 2020) who note that accountants express eagerness to learn, though rarely about sustainability. However, this knowledge may prove useful to them in the context of recent changes in the sustainability reporting and assurance landscape, introduced – in the Eu-ropean Union – by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and – at the global level – by the International Sustainability Standards Board mandated by the Inter-national Financial Reporting Standards Foundation.Guidance for AuthorsAgainst this background, the purpose of this Special Issue is to stimulate the debate on the challenges that contemporary accounting is facing in the con-text of sustainable development. We welcome submissions (ca. 32,000-44,000 characters long) on various aspects related to accounting and sustainability, literature reviews, and conceptual, quantitative, and qualitative studies. Possible topics include but are not limited to:•The contemporary understanding of accounting and the role of the ac-counting profession in relation to the sustainability agenda.•The current state of academic research on accounting and sustainability, sustainability reporting, Sustainable Development Goals reporting and as-surance.•The way existing management accounting systems and practices can sup-port managers in capturing commitment to sustainable development and/or undertaking efforts towards sustainability. •The organizational actors involved in external and internal sustainability reporting and the role of accountants and accounting systems.•The modifications that should be made to accounting education systems to enable them to equip future accountants and managers with the knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of sustainable development and how such modifications should be introduced.•The potential role of digitalization in helping accountants to get more in-volved in sustainability-related topics. The way AI transforms the roles of accountants and assurance providers regarding sustainability reporting and Sustainable Development Goals reporting.•The differences between sustainability-related challenges accountants face in large versus small companies, and whether these challenges are country or industry-specific. •The differences between mandatory versus voluntary sustainability re-porting initiatives in terms of consequences on the reporting quality and organizational responses.•The competencies that accountants or assurance providers need to suc-cessfully collaborate with non-accounting experts in sustainability-related areas. The factors that can facilitate such collaborations. •The way professional accounting organizations support the engagement of the profession in sustainability-related issues in various countries and in-ternationally. The factors that may influence their engagement in this field.•The extent to which accounting (and reporting) systems can address the Sustainable Development Goals and the relationships and interdependencies between them.•The impact of the recent regulatory changes within the European Union related to the forthcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and European Sustainability Reporting Standards on the engagement of the accounting profession in sustainability, sustainability reporting, re-porting on Sustainable Development Goals, and assurance of information provided.•The impact of global changes, including the recent consolidation among the main standard setters and the establishment of the International Sustain-ability Standards Board by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foun-dation on how the accounting profession approaches sustainability.The deadline for submitting papers is 30th June 2024.The accepted papers will be published in December 2024 (Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości/The Theoretical Journal of Accounting, vol. 48, no. 4).To view the author guidelines for this journal, please visit the following page: http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/FORAUTHORS. Submissions for the Special Issue will be made through ICI Publishers Panel:http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/DEPOSITSMANUSCRIPT When submitting an article, please state that your paper is for Special Issue 2024 with Guest Editors in the additional comment in the Publishers Panel Index Copernicus system. The coordinators of this Special Issue are Anna Szychta and Marek Masztalerz (ztr@skwp.pl).

AbstractThis review paper attempted to assess the tax compliance behavior of taxpayers in Ethiopia. The objectives were specifically to identify determinants and challenges of tax compliance behavior of taxpayers in Ethiopia. Taxes are the most important sources of the government that make it possible to finance infrastructure, investment, and the provision of services for citizens. Tax compliance involves being aware and complying with tax laws and regulations set by the government and tax authorities. Tax non-compliance is an unwillingness in obeying tax laws and regulations. Tax non-compliance has been a challenge to the government and tax authorities in collecting as much tax as required for the nation. Failure to comply with tax prevents adequate revenue collection of the state. The major challenges of tax compliance in Ethiopia are the complexity of the tax system, inefficiency of tax authorities, lack of tax knowledge and awareness, negative perception of taxpayers, a negative act of tax assessors, absence of tax training, lack of transparency of tax system, arbitrary estimation of taxes, personal financial constraints, political instability and lack of timely tax audit.

Our multidisciplinary review paper aims to explore the research paradigms of unethical behavior from different academic perspectives. By doing this, our paper contributes to a better understanding of unethical behavior by drawing knowledge from alternative understandings of such behavior. More specifically, our multidisciplinary inquiry aims to summarize the main findings documented by scholars from different disciplines that conducted independent research on the topic using unique perspectives and ideas associated with the field. As such, in order to gain a better understanding of how unethical behavior is examined through a range of different disciplines and areas of research we assessed the highly cited papers found at the intersection of various categories and research areas such as management, business economics, and psychology, ethics, engineering, and environmental sciences and ecology, public environmental occupational health. Having the goal to offer the most representative research on the topic, we based our review on the highly cited papers examining unethical behavior from the Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science (WoS), the world`s leading scientific citation search and analytical information platform. The results show that the highly cited papers analyzed cluster around two major research themes as antecedents and factors increasing/enabling unethical behavior (e.g. propensity of moral disengagement, psychological entitlement, self-serving justifications, job insecurity, air pollution, polluted social contexts, creativity, favorable attitudes of upper-class toward greed, etc.) and factors deterring or limiting it (e.g. religion, ethical leadership). Given our multidisciplinary review, our study helps provide alternative understandings and important insights on the research of unethical behavior to serve for novel investigations in both practice and theory.

The development of information technologies and the Internet and the commission of criminal acts in this new environment leads to the emergence of transnational, high-tech crime. Competent bodies for the fight against crime are hindered in achieving results by the traditional division into national jurisdictions, while there are no such restrictions for perpetrators. Cyber activities cause great damage and consequences to natural or legal persons, illegally appropriate financial resources and protected data. The specificities of high-tech crime require the specialization of state authorities because in the fight against crime, individual rights, privacy and freedoms of individuals must not be jeopardized. The aim of this paper is to show how the legislation of the European Union (EU) and the activities of its institutions improve the prevention, investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and build capacities in the judiciary. Harmonization of domestic law with EU law in the field of combating cybercrime is provided for in Chapter 24 of the "Justice, Freedom, Security" negotiations. In answering the question of what are the legal aspects of combating cybercrime in the EU, historical-comparative, content analysis and deductive methods were used.

The development of financial sectors is considered as one of vital determinants of the growth of Ethiopian economy, and for secure equitable distribution of the benefits to the society. However, financial distress has an effect on the sectors. This review was conducted to assess financial distress situation of financial sectors in Ethiopia. The objective is specifically to identify the determinants of financial distress, opportunities of financial sectors, and challenges and constraints of financial distress in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a developing country with majority of unbanked population. Liquidity, profitability, leverage, firm size, capital adequacy, management efficiency, earning ability, inflation and interest rate are major determinant of financial distress in Ethiopia. Moreover, Ethiopian financial sectors have an opportunity of trade openness, rapid economic growth, unexploited resource, population growth and encouragement of privatization.

Clear legal content of white papers provides certainty, stability and trust in the relations between all the participants in initial coins offering (ICO) procedures and contributes to the successful introduction of blockchain technologies in business. A white paper defines the relationship and interaction between a regulated social reality and program code, which is by itself not susceptible to legal regulation. This article investigates the legal conditions of the white papers that describe the projects of ICO. The author provides a legal analysis of numerous white papers published during ICO implementation around the world. Based on extensive data on implemented ICO projects, the correlation between the legal content of a white paper and the amount of funds collected as a result of the ICO is considered. Having analysed the determinants of the white paper legal content, the author suggests the legal provisions that any ICO white paper should have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the question that has gained relevance in the last decade: whether the cryptocurrency bitcoin is money. The economic literature provides different opinions on this issue. The analysis shows that disagreements arise because of the different understanding of the category of ‘money’ rather than because of the nature of bitcoin. The author analyzes popular interpretations of money in terms of their applicability to the definition of the role and place of cryptocurrencies in the financial system. The purpose of this study is to define money as a financial instrument that linksthe creation of gross social product with its distribution. The author believes that money emerged and exists as a tool that ensures a connection between the contribution of each economic entity to the total product of society and the right to receive an equivalent amount of goods from this gross product. At the same time, the author defines money as an ‘ideal right’ to receive a share of the gross social product. In this regard, the analysis of bitcoin shows that this cryptocurrency allows obtaining goods from the gross social product in many countries, while bitcoin owners do not contribute to the gross social product. Based on this, bitcoin cannot be considered money; it is a money substitute, or surrogate money. At the same time, bitcoin was created as money and performs the functions of money, but to a limited extent. Bitcoin can only perform the functions of money as a supplement to an existing official currency. It is not capable of functioning as the only currency in a society. The interpretation proposed in this paper can be used for the purposes of developing the Russian law on cryptocurrencies is currently being worked on by the Government and the Central Bank of Russia.

This work would like to bring into the attention of readers various aspects associated with the process of doctoral research. For many of the students this can represent quite a challenging experience with an increased level of complexity. The author will show his experience while enrolled in this form of education. Main ideas are based on the factors identified while planning and writing the papers associated with the research journey. Most of the works belong to the themes of the doctoral school, like economics, financial system or international affairs. The sample of analysed papers contains several works covering the field of interdisciplinary research. This concept will be approached inside the literature review to familiarise the readers with its meaning. Content of this area includes elements from economics, financial system, international affairs and environment. Novelty of the paper is represented by the personal experience of the writer. He will show the challenges encountered while performing regular and interdisciplinary research, connecting particular notions from business process management and business process improvement. Lean Six Sigma methodology will be used to sustain specific elements of the analytical representation. Moreover, the author will provide an overview on the lessons learnt, hoping this will contribute to the decrease of the research process complexity level and support publication status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the relative efficiency of graduate programs in terms of the quality of their scientific publications in journals. To this end, we applied Data Envelopment Analysis to the fields of Public and Business Administration, Accounting, and Tourism, using data from the 2017 Quadrennial Evaluation developed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior ["Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel", CAPES]. The results suggest that efficient graduate programs are concentrated in the center-south axis of Brazil, in the areas of Administration and Accounting. Despite the overall publishing strategy in journals of various ranks (strata), efficient graduate programs allocate their efficiency primarily to Qualis A1 journals, A1 being the excellence rating in the CAPES scale. We conclude that legitimized research practices pressure graduate programs to improve the quality of their publications while threatening the survival of programs that fail to conform to the assessment rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between the structure of R&D fixed capital spending, measured as the ratio of the private sector to public sector R&D capital expenditure, and national total factor productivity. It employs South African data for the period 1965 to 2019. This study employs the non-linear distributed lag modelling framework to cater for non-linearities in the relationship. The findings, first, suggest that the ratio of private sector to public sector R&D capital spending has a positive effect on total factor productivity. Second, the structure of R&D capital spending has large asymmetric effects on national total factor productivity, with negative changes dominating positive changes. Negative changes in the structure of R&D capital spending negatively influence total factor productivity, but positive changes have positive effects. Both in the short run and the long run, cumulative multipliers indicate that negative changes in the structure of R&D capital spending dominate positive changes by a very large margin. The findings imply that the private sector must become more dominant than the public sector in R&D capital spending in the national system of innovation.

One of the global megatrends is the expansion of digital financial solutions, and seemingly this expansion will continue as there is still room for adopting technology-driven solutions in finance. Regarding global data, the majority of people already have access to financial services: nearly 69 percent of responding adults confirmed that they have accounts at financial institutions. With the far-reaching development of technology, digital payments came into the public as one of the digital financial solutions. In particular, this development sped up during the COVID-19 epidemic, during which people were using remote services in order to keep their physical distance and avoid contamination. Though legal and cybersecurity concerns emerge, the physical infrastructure is developed enough to provide accessible financial services for many more people than today. Countries in various regions adopt modern financial solutions differently, but digital financial solutions are inevitable. In this research paper, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the recent trends of digital payment is examined and presented. The paper aims to detect how new payment solutions change the landscape. The methodology of this study is a case study and data analysis. The successful example of China as a digital payment adopting country is analysed as a case study since the country experienced a large expansion in digital finance. Digital financial solutions and digital payment data are collected from the World Bank. The paper contributes to the literature on digital financial development in China during and after COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost and capital structure are needed to evaluate the feasibility of the investments made by a company. This study aims to estimate and analyze the effect of the component of cost of capital (COC) and capital structure (CS) on firm value. Pulp & Paper companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) became the research sample for the 2013–2020 period. The research method applied is a moderation regression analysis approach. The empirical findings of the study prove that firm value is not influenced by the cost of debt (COD), while the cost of equity (COE) has a negative effect, and COC is positive. COC is a combination of the use of debt and equity, modeling by adding a CS variable as a moderating variable; this leads to the conclusion that COD and COE have a negative effect on firm value, whereas COC and CS have a positive effect. The finding of the role of CS as a moderating variable reveals that CS is a quasi-moderator variable and plays a role in increasing.