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The inclusion of Key audit matters section in the new independent auditor’s report aimed to improve the auditor's communication and increase the relevance of the audit of financial statements. Key audit matters differs from one company to another depending on several factors, such as its size, the field of activity, as well as the professional reasoning of the auditor. The objective of the paper is the analysis of key audit matters in financial services companies in order to highlight the most common matters reported. To achieve the proposed objective, the qualitative research method was used by analyzing the content of the information published by companies in the independent auditor’s report and individual financial statements. The sample consisted of 12 financial services companies listed on the main market at Bucharest Stock Exchange for the period 2016 to 2019. The data were collected manually from the reports published by them. The sample is divided into two categories; banks and other financial services companies, which apply accounting regulations specific to each field of activity. With the exception of one company, all were included in the premium trading category. The variables analyzed were: the number of key audit matters identified by the auditors, the size of the auditors, the opinion issued, the audit fees to operating income ratio, the auditors’rotation, the preparation of consolidated financial statements and the profitability of companies. The average number of key audit matters was 1.67, being higher in the case of banks where the most common matter identified were the Depreciation of loans and advance to customers, than in the case of other financial services companies where the Valuation of financial assets had the largest share. It was found that there were matters common to both categories of companies Litigation provisions and Business combinations. No close correlations were identified between the variables, which means that the reporting of key audit matters is not greatly influenced by the variables analyzed. The differences between the key audit matters identified by the auditor are more influenced by the characteristics of the companies such as the field of the activity and profitabilty, and less by the characteristics of the auditor.

Accounting is one of the foundations of the business in modern world and an accountant is a specialist whose level of professionalism must be impeccable. Today in Ukraine there is a “crisis of confidence” in the profession of an accountant, caused primarily by violations of ethical standards by specialists and neglect of professional values. The problem is aggravated by the users of accounting services themselves, who try to influence the accountant, satisfying their interests at the expense of others. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the importance of compliance with the basic ethical principles of behavior by accountants in order to restore user confidence in accounting and reporting data, identify the reasons for violation of the code of ethics by accountants and determine the main directions of work of the professional community, the state and the accountants to eliminate the identified problems. It has been determined that compliance with the basic ethical principles by accountants contributes to: the formation of professional values and the development of a conceptual model of accountant behavior at all levels of education (secondary vocational, higher, additional education, advanced training); the implementation of the national code of ethics for professional accountants by adapting it to Ukrainian practice, internal codes of ethics of professional organizations or accounting services; the creating a mechanism for identifying unethical behavior of accountants and introducing an effective system of sanctions for violation of the code of ethics. However, the ways of solving the problems described in the article will give a positive result if the comprehensive work is carried out to ensure compliance with the norms of the code of ethics – from the professional community, the state and the accountants. Most efforts will be fruitless until users of accounting services – employers and clients, as well as the public – begin to place real demands on the ethical behavior of accountants.

The new economy or the digital economy, resulting from the interaction between the personal computer, telecommunications, internet and electronics, is characterized by series of features completely different from the traditional economy. It is about building a business model, e-comerce, e-banking, etc., through intra-internet, wich radically will change the efficiency, in the sense of reducing the costs, including transactional ones, based on: business to business reationships( B2B), business-employee( B2E), business and government (B2G), government and business(G2B), etc. The change has to go beyond the patterns we have become accustomed to. The competitive advantage represents that differentiating factor, financial or qualitative, perceived by the target audience as superior to competition. This is what justifies brand loyalty, although in recent years this is no longer a guarantee. This is also where sustainability comes in. Gaining competitive advantage means keeping the line in digital markets and increasing the performance of companies through technological and IT innovation. The companies that benefit of competitive advantage are being more cooperative than the noncooperative ones, that gain lower competitiveness. Success is caused by the good relation between structures in the industrial sector and competitiveness. Digital transformation is the concept involved in gaining the competitive advantage, in the first place. The true digital transformation, will not happen in a Big Bang, or as a result of a beautiful slogan, for us to be in trend, but it is a process, a journey so dependent on the connection between each participant in the daily activities, within the organization and the processes at department or company level, as well as the technology partner chosen.

This paper presents the impact of inventory level on the financial ratios, namely Return on assets and Debt to assets ratio. This study is designed to help managers to establish an efficient inventory level to obtain a high ROA and a low D/A, which indicates that the company is doing well in managing its resources, can attract more investors and can meet financial obligations with its resources. Determining the inventory level that generates a high ROA and a low D/A is possible using the Primal or Dual Simplex Algorithm. Primal Simplex Algorithm has some limits in determining the inventory level, so the Dual is preferable. Using Dual, the company can simulate more production plans until the optimal stock level is obtained. Also, the Dual Algorithm can help managers to identify the initial optimal solution in the shortest time possible and to re-optimize this solution until the ROA and D/A have the expected value. This possibility of re-optimization is important nowadays due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the sales: the company can model the production plan whenever the demand is changing and can simulate the production process which generates the best ROA and D/A that can be obtained even if the revenues decrease or the liabilities increase. This paper presents the initial production plan created by the managers, a worst-case scenario (most common in crisis), where the turnover decreases, the ROA is low and D/A is high, and a best-case scenario (the ideal one), where the turnover increases and ROA and D/A have optimal values. Forecasting inventory level, and therefore ROA and D/A has also the advantage that it could avoid a potential conflict of interest between shareholders and managers. Despite these advantages, there are some limits: firstly, using Dual Simplex Algorithm on determining the inventory level that generates a high ROA or a low D/A makes managers simulate several times until the optimal solution is obtained and secondly there are some short them debts that are not considered. The first limit would be removed in further research, by using fuzzy numbers.

In an entity, the efficiency of the use of governance systems is based on a set of principles. The main principles refer to: efficiency and transparency. The need to make citizens aware of public policy issues leads not only to the transparency of decisions taken at the administrative level, but also to the adoption of decisions in favor of the development of that community and thus, to increase public confidence in public entities. The existence of each individual is daily influenced by public services, their development directly affecting the standard living due to the degree of meeting certain needs recognized by the community as being of general interest and not available to private initiative, to ensure fundamental rights and freedoms. This paper defines the public services as a whole, generalities of public institutions as well as the efficiency and transparency concerns regarding the concept of governance, trying in the same way to answer the question 'Efficiency and transparency, model of good governance of public institutions?' The present article is structured in three parts; the first part presents concise conclusions regarding public services as a whole, followed by the second part presenting the efficiency and transparency of governance, while the latter exposes the conclusions of this article.

In the last decade of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of volunteering began to take shape in Romania. Therefore, it is necessary to study its evolution, the necessary resources, the implications and benefits it brings to society at the collective level but also at the individual level. The purpose of the paper is to determine the degree of involvement of young people in volunteer activities. About volunteering it can be said that it can contribute to the development of young people on several levels: social, psychological, human and why not even economic. In the first part of the present study are presented some theoretical aspects regarding the volunteer activity, and in the second part are presented the research methodology and the results of the data analysis obtained through the questionnaire.

This article presents the author's point of view for to improve of the tools of the financial and economic mechanism of balanced use of forestry land with a description of foreign experience and the definition of priorities for Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to provide a theoretical and methodological justification of the characteristics and organizational and economic factors of improving the tools of financial and economic mechanism and their impact on ensuring balanced use of forestry land. Methods used: dialectical method of cognition – for the analysis of laws and regulations and scientific works of scientists on the issue of balanced use of forest land; analysis of the most pressing problems of functioning of economic and financial tools of the financial and economic mechanism of balanced forestry land use in comparison with the European experience; synthesis and logical generalization of conceptual bases of necessity and preconditions for improving tools; monographic – to identify factors for improving tools; graphical, correlation-regression analysis; abstract-logical theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions; method of analogies – the transfer of influences that have been found in other territories with similar objects and properties, to the territory under consideration. It was substantiated that adaptation of foreign experience, introduction of international standards to ensure balanced use of forestry land are impossible without the use of such scientifically grounded and environmentally balanced components of the financial and economic mechanism as environmental, economic, financial and organizational tools. Based on foreign experience, a basis has been prepared for improving the taxation of forestry land use in Ukraine. It was proposed to adopt foreign experience regarding the functioning of the economic and organizational instruments of the financial and economic mechanism for the balanced use of forest lands by creating and registering a commodity right to carbon in forests, trading it and monitoring it.

The excise taxes contain a hidden reserve for raising funds for the state budget. Therefore, in the case of ensuring their high fiscal efficiency, they can serve as a significant resource for filling the revenue side of the country's budget. The purpose of the article is to analyze the dynamics and structure of excise tax receipts to the State Budget of Ukraine, to determine the main indicators that can be used to assess the fiscal efficiency of the excise tax. The information base for the study was the official data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, reports of the State Treasury Service on the implementation of the State budget, data from the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine. The analysis of the structure and dynamics of the excise tax transferred to the state budget for the period 2014-2019 was carried out. Indicators that characterize the fiscal significance of the excise tax as part of the state budget revenues were determined. The tendencies revealed by the author of a decrease in the fiscal significance of the excise tax are, first of all, a consequence of the insufficient efficiency of administration of this tax, which follows from the imperfection of the current legislation and the ignorance of some potential sources of excise taxation. Based on the data of the State Fiscal Service and the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine on the production of thermal coal in the period 2017-2019, an assessment of the potentially lost revenues of the state budget was made. These revenues would become possible with the introduction of an excise tax on thermal coal. In the context of optimizing the system of indirect taxation, it was determined that an increase in the current rates of excise tax on excisable goods will not give a tangible effect in the medium term, but will lead to an increase in the level of “shadow” (illegal) production, sale and movement of excisable goods across the customs border of Ukraine. Therefore, the legislature should pay attention to those groups of goods that are in a state monopoly, and their taxation can give significant additional funds to the state budget.

Decision making is a common activity for all of us. Often we find ourselves in a position to be among different options and alternatives choose. While related to our everyday actions decision situations contain few alternatives, belonging to our work, to business decisions are more complex and we need a considerable amount of information and knowledge to make a decision. The quality of our decision depends heavily on the accuracy of the knowledge and information available to us, which can range from exact knowledge to belief. The rapidly changing information technology environment assigns a significant and ever-increasing role to the information systems used by managers. In today 's economic environment, all kinds of help is useful for managers, which a they can be used in decision-making, whether long-term strategic or short-term operational these are decisions. The simplest way to support decision - making is to use the knowledge and skills in question concise presentation, presentation, summary and weighting of information. A higher level of decision support is the use of tools that make the relationships between the different components of the decision problem and the uncertain effects of the environment visible. For the operation of companies, the continuous development of decision support functions, the application of business intelligence (BI) tools, is a priority, since those facilitate the undertaking of management tasks as support instruments. All these methods are info-communication solutions, which are applicable to link and analyse data, obtained from various data sources of the company systems. These are reporting-oriented, focussing on decision support. In our study, we introduce an application of the latest Tableau software, supporting business intelligence, which is applicable at SME's and corporations as well. Within Hungary, we have created a system that provides assistance to entrepreneurs in the border region of Hajdú-Bihar County, with the help of which they can examine the performance of their business in a benchmark-like way, on the other hand by changing certain input parameters of the model - e.g. by achieving the planned future performances - it is possible to show what kind of development and change they can achieve in the given business environment.

The well-being of the population depends on the ability of innovative enterprises to adapt to the needs of people in perpetual change. Workers capable of innovation are becoming more and more sought after on the labor markets, being the pillars of the innovative ensemble in national enterprises. In this article we have made a comparative analysis of existing innovative enterprises in Serbia and Romania, during the years 2010-2016. The research is based on the observation and analysis of data provided by the statistical offices of both countries. The importance of this analysis is given by the establishment of the existing discrepancies and similarities between the innovative enterprises from Serbia and Romania, as well as the identification of the existing deficiencies within the development of these activities.The companies on the Romanian territory were in a continuous decreasing trend, highlighting the low investments made in the field of innovation, as well as a poor opening to foreign markets. At the opposite pole, Serbia, which despite not integrating into the European Union, shows an increasing trend of innovative enterprises. However, there are still areas for improvement, with the aim of synchronizing innovative enterprises in the two countries with enterprises in countries around the world, recognized for their innovative activities. The innovative centers in the two countries are located in the Beogradski region of Serbia and the Bucharest-Ilfov region of Romania.

The problem of global warming due to environmental pollution has made it necessary for companies to be widely accountable to society about their performance. Therefore, today companies must not only report on the financial performance, but also report on all non-financial aspects of their activities, such as social and environmental. Sustainability reporting enables companies to report on environmental and social performance. It is not just report generation from collected data; instead it is a method to internalize and improve an company’s commitment to sustainable development in a way that can be demonstrated to both internal and external stakeholders. The study examines the factors influencing the company's financial performance through sustainability reporting in mining sector companies in Indonesia. The object of the study is a sample of 6 mining companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2014-2018. In this study, the authors use the Path Analysis – a form of multiple regression statistical analysis that is used to evaluate causal models by examining the relationships between a dependent variable and two or more independent variables. The study results show that sustainability reporting has a positive and significant impact on the financial performance of mining companies.In particular, the results of the analysis show that the company size and its liquidity have a positive and significant effect on the sustainability reporting. Leverage has a negative and significant effect on sustainability reporting. At the same time, the factors disclosed in the sustainability reporting have a significant impact on the financial performance of the companies. The results of this study can be useful for management personnel in the process of preparing a sustainability report by companies that want to attract the attention of investors.

The purpose of this research paper is to address the need to finance Romanian education considering the changes that have occurred or are about to take place in this field, both in terms of providers and beneficiaries of educational services, as well as in terms of the content and material basis inherent in the teaching of new content and teaching methods. Highlighting the changes and linking them to the costs they entail, reveals the need to rethink educational policies regarding a new funding model focused on spending targets and expected results. Investment in human capital is identified as economic value for individuals, institutions and society. The effects of these investments produce global economic mechanisms. The human capital theory extends the concept of capital, starting from the education-qualification, skills-earnings relationship. Expenditure on formal education, adult education, education services in various areas that help individuals to get into the labor market is considered an investment in human capital.

The study on working from home productivity has received much interest from researchers in the recent years. Numerous studies have found working from home to be productive. However, now with the coronavirus pandemic turning many more people into remote workers overnight, is working from home still productive? This is what the current study aims to find, taking into account that the employees have no choice during this pandemic period; they are forced to work from home. Before the pandemic, the employees were consent with working from home and usually they were coming in the working environment at least one day a week, but usually two or three days. Full-time working at home may be different. Moreover, the employees are now forced to work from home without any training or preparation. Most of them have never worked from home before. Even if the employees worked from home occasionally and they are trained for it, yet they are not prepared for such a long period away from their working environment. Working from home still has its advantages: there are no face-to-face meetings, no distractions from co-workers, no annoying managers to boss them around, no wasted time in traffic, no worries about the children’s safety, as they are at home. Besides the advantages, working from home comes also with some disadvantages. The specialists worry about the negative effects, such as an explosion of mental health issues that could also generate physical health problems. The current study focuses on finding the advantages and disadvantages of working from home, but also on ways to make working from home more effectively. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to the employees from three private companies in Bihor county. The final results indicate a negative effect of working from home on productivity. We have found the main benefits and challenges and also the ways to improve productivity when working from home.

The development of spheres of the economy is significantly dependent on changes in the external environment. Increasing the production capacity of enterprises, expanding market opportunities, image positions are formed under the influence of a set of management decisions that is a response to certain changes in the environment. The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence and features of priority approaches to risk assessment in the activities of entities of the agricultural sector. It was proved that identifying effective alternatives is an advantage that allows you to get the planned results, minimize costs and limit the overuse of all types of resources. The effectiveness of analytical assessment can be ensured only under clearly defined conditions of partnership and levels of responsibility, a common goal, which is focused on the development of market eneteties. The supplement formed by the authors is related to possible solutions that can be aimed at bringing market enteties to bankruptcy or fictitious bankruptcy, that is, certain fraudulent actions. The making decisions should take into account all possible scenarios of events and risks. Risk assessment should be aimed at obtaining reliable information on the choice of alternative solutions, which will be focused on the timeliness and adequacy of the formation, adoption and adjustment of decisions taking into account the changing situation, its scale and complexity of practical solutions, threat prejudices. It is advisable to form an effective (adequate) risk management strategy that will ensure the achievement of goals. One of the important rules for organizing the management process should be to optimize the relationship between the level of risk and the possible results of themanagement decisionsimplementation, selected alternatives. The difference in risks in the areas of adjustment of management decisions depends on their scale, which determines the tools for implementing the selected alternatives. An important component of the effectiveness of the assessment is the correct analytical task, the choice of an effective research method and adequate to the situation (input conditions) management decision (management decisions). Analytical assessment and risk prediction in a global world cannot be limited territorially, the global world proves the need to adapt and adjust management decisions by market enteties in view of existing and potential hazards, including environmental ones.

Understanding the functionality of fiscal policies, as well as its fundamental role in economic balancing, these are important aspects in terms of protecting and developing the business environment with obvious effects on social life. This study delves into the heterogeneity of fiscal policies to create a delimiting framework for them. The two types of fiscal policies, the discretionary or deliberative fiscal policy and the fiscal policy that act as an automatic stabilizer, were debated and detailed. The characteristics of the two types of policies are offered the way of using government revenues and expenditures as fiscal instruments. Thus, deliberative fiscal policies use instruments in directions strictly defined by the government in the sense of economic expansion or coercion. In contrast, fiscal policies that act as an automatic stabilizer do not require government intervention, acting by increasing the number of payments in times of recession and reducing them in times of economic expansion. Automatic stabilizers operate on the basis of state regulations, although their nature, size and effect have not yet been well defined in the empirical literature. The overall picture obtained in this study by researching the types of fiscal policies has allowed us to understand their functionality and the effects they can produce in the economy.

The article aims at approaching in the first part some theoretical considerations, based on the premise that the manager’s use of appropriate strategies meant to increase work motivation will lead to an increased employee performance. Thus, the theoretical considerations take into account the aspects that define the positive and negative motivational climate within an organization, the theories of motivation grouped according to the thematic criterion, but also the pecuniary and non-pecuniary motivation strategies, among which we mention: basic salary, merit salary, various bonuses, special bonuses for important employees (with special contributions), job rotation, job expansion, increased job attractiveness, flexible work schedule, delegation, increase of employees' self-confidence in order to determine them to become more motivated to engage in complex activities. The second part of the article, with the highest degree of originality, is the part of concrete research, conducted within a private organization in Oradea, a qualitative research that is based on employees' perceptions regarding the motivational strategies within the organization. The research objectives consist in identifying the financial and non-financial motivation strategies that employees benefit from and in highlighting the implications of the type of management on employee satisfaction. The used research method is the interview-based sociological survey, and the research instrument is the interview guide. The interview guide contains 18 questions and is structured on two dimensions: Financial and non-financial motivation and Implications of the type of management on employee satisfaction. The research highlighted that the organization applies a policy of motivating its own personnel by granting various financial rewards, such as: merit salaries, financial incentives, 13th salary, bonuses etc. The criteria that employees must meet in order to benefit from all these financial rewards are known to employees and consist of the following: attendance without unjustified absences, fulfillment and respect for the work norms, punctuality, commitment, involvement, availability, planning and organizational skills, flexibility and ability to solve problems, appropriate behavior, interest in the workplace, exceptional results and achievement of the goals imposed by management. Along with financial rewards, the company also offers employees non-financial rewards, such as: the possibility of promotion, flexible work schedule, insurance, company telephone, hot meal, work laptop, the possibility of a day of working remotely, company car (for some employees), transport settlement and free ophthalmologic examinations, annually. The conclusions of the study emphasize that the management of the organization should contemplate realistically on the situation and intervene in the human resource management strategy, by focusing more on the application of policies meant to stimulate the need for the employees’ professional and human development, by maximizing commitment, involvement and creative potential, based on the acknowledgment and stimulation of performance, a climate based on trust and cooperation within work teams.

After the Allied victory in World War II, Europe was divided into two spheres of influence, according to geographical criteria. The Eastern Bloc, the area of influence of the Soviet Union, adopted the communist regime, promoted by Moscow. The communist regime has been replaced in all Eastern Bloc countries since 1989. Fourteen of these countries, no longer under Moscow's influence, have joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since 1999, the world's strongest military organization. These fourteen states represent three former members of the USSR, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, four former members of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Northern Macedonia, and seven other states, namely Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. How has the allocation of defence resources in the fourteen NATO countries evolved since the fall of communism and the exit from Moscow's influence? We try to answer this question by studying the literature in the field of research and by processing the information provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. This study aims to analyse at the level of each country the differences in approach to defence spending from the adoption of the capitalist system, until obtaining the status of NATO member country. Also, this study analyses the evolution of defence spending after joining NATO, to see how the defence budget has been influenced by NATO membership. Special attention will be paid to Romania, the second among the fourteen countries in terms of army size and defence allocations, a country in which the anti-communist revolution has been more violent than in other states. Romania's accession to NATO in 2004 was one of the most important moments of the post-communist era, of equal strategic importance with the accession to the European Union. The Romanian military is respected within the Alliance due to its professionalism and dedication to the values promoted by NATO, currently participating in international missions in theatres of operations.

The noble tradition that viewed the profession of teachers and teaching itself as an important service has lately been declining. Educators used to be considered a valuable human resource in guiding students towards a responsible future. The outbreak of coronavirus disease has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and the virus has now spread to many countries and territories. What we do know for sure is that it is transmitted through direct contact. Therefore, education premises have changed radically and so has the role of teachers. Measures taken by education institutions throughout the whole world tried to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 and consequently students and staff were lockdown. What is a teacher nowadays? This is the question that will try to find answers in this paper. Teachers assume the role of educators. Thanks to technology, they step backwards and delimit themselves from the role of authority they used to hold and become guides, facilitators, mentors and sometimes even supporters. Is it the time to adopt a different approach to teaching in general and teaching of English as a Foreign Language in particular? What is the role technology can play in education in the current socio-economic context? Does it throw shadows on the part played by teachers?

Influencers are present in our everyday lives, we see them at events, in advertisments, TV and papers, and in their „natural habitat”: social media. It is not surprising considering that the fact that E-WOM has a stronger impact on consumer decision-making than traditional advertising techniques has been known for a long time. Moreover, advertisements are now consciously ignored by consumers, making influencer marketing an excellent alternative where the opinion leader formulates and publishes the message him- or herself. These individuals seem more approachable compared to traditional celebrities, as they provide insight into their daily lives making it easier to identify with them. Brands, in turn, can collaborate with the right influencers to create positive associations in the minds of consumers. Nowadays, consumers get the needed information about the products from social media and, as a result, make purchases, also they trust even an unknown individual’s recommendation more than brand ads. Consistent posting and the presence of socially accepted values in the posts are essential elements in influencer marketing, which must be complemented by active engagement with the followers. It may be worthwhile to start with a look at the number of the followers before starting a collaboration, but the results of the researchers came to a different conclusion. Some of them found that a large following bases does not always represent a real influencing force and it is more rewarding to focus on shared content and the brand–influencer fit. Others found that the number of followers correlated positively with consumer engagement. Interestingly however, even though followers recognize that they are encountering advertised content, they still use the information gained in their decision-making, and even a specifically urging and activating tone can encourage them to purchase. Thus authenticity plays a cruical role for both parties, and for this reason it is crucial how the product and the influencer itself is indicated in the advertised content.

The start of a crisis, whether it is a financial, health, or any other crisis, is a negative macroeconomic phenomenon, with consequences for both the entire world and the European Union. The coronavirus epidemic manifested itself in European countries in the spring of 2020, leading to the emergence of economic imbalances amid slowing and shrinking economic activity. The measures taken by European states are unprecedented compared to those adopted in the previous crisis, ranging from financial support to individuals and legal entities, deferral of taxes and other debts, legislative changes, and the acceptance of work from home in more and more branches activity, which until this period was not possible. This paper aims to study and analyze the evolution of public debt and budget deficit in the European Union, but also the measures taken by the Member States in the context of COVID-19 compared to those during the financial crisis in 2009. In addition to this analysis, in this paper, I intend to identify the growth rate of public debt in the Member States in 2009/2008 compared to 2020/2019. To compile this paper, I will use statistical data taken from the Eurostat website on public debt and budget deficit, but also data taken from the European Commission`s AMECO database, section “Economic and Financial Affairs” which includes forecasts on public debt for the year 2020. Regarding the research method used, it consists of both descriptive analysis, dynamic macroeconomic analysis using graphs, and comparative analysis according to the objectives pursued throughout the research. Comparing with the way the information is presented in the bibliography used and found at the end of the paper, in this paper are found only the essential aspects, the particularities of the chosen research topic, which finally provides the overview.

The paper presents some philosophical practices and categories that can be successfully applied in organizations, trends that come from the openness manifested by aesthetics, a field of philosophy that although initially was dedicated to the art and concept of beauty, now it shows an opening for everyday life, where the interpersonal communication is present. The application of concepts and categories specific to aesthetics was developed in the form of applied philosophical norms and concepts, and will positively influence the communication process that takes place in organizations at all its levels. The aesthetic concepts may be involved in other activities of the organization, such as marketing, building branding or in promotion and advertising actions, or active participation to building messages and press communicating, preparing the company's mission statement, organizing events, presence and promotion of the organization in online, activities that will take into account and compliance to some rules derived from aesthetics. The elements taken from aesthetics are the form of some categories, defined since antiquity by Aristotle, synthetically reformulated by Kant, and contemporary, they are adapted to other forms of the social application, in a new applied concept called the organizational aesthetics, which can be successfully introduced into the practice of any organization, with beneficial effects on the organization as a whole, but also on the community in their areas. The introduction of the new concept of aesthetics applied in organizations can have a wider area of implementation than that of organizational communication, such as social actions of the organization, with effects in developing the social responsibility applied in the community and to increase the organization's reputation, both within the community and in the business environment where it is located. The paper also indicates some adaptations of organizational communication for periods of crisis, with the recommendation to include in the communication process rules and concepts specific to applied aesthetics, in order to maintain the current trend of including them in business consultancy, offered in the form of specialized services of philosophical practice, through the new specialists called the organizational philosophical consultants. Other philosophical practices and the ethics applied in organizations are briefly presented in the paper, projected to support leaders and managers in making optimal decisions, which can benefit from professional organizational consulting and ethics services, which are promoted through a new specialization in Romania, that of the philosophical counselling and the consultancy applied in organizations and communities.

IFRS 9, standard focusing on the accounting for financial instruments, once implemented, led to significant improvements in the world of accounting. The transition from the old standard (IAS 39) in order to apply IFRS 9 has been a major challenge for the bank system, due the fact that the new standard involves other criteria for classifying and measuring the financial instruments. A novelty brought by this standard and presented in the article refers to the introduction of Expected Credit Loss, another approach for recognizing credit losses. This new approch must be applied by institutions according with the three stages provided by IFRS 9. IFRS 9 has a strong impact on risk management and the banking business model. In addition to IFRS 9, Basel III, also, have a major importance in the activity carried out in the banking sector. Basel framework is applied on a consolidated basis to all internationally active banks, being the best way to preserve the integrity of capital in subsidiary banks by eliminating double-gearing. Basel III was created to strengthen the requirements included in the Basel II standard on minimum capital ratios of banks by increasing bank liquidity and reducing bank leverage. The main objective pursued by the Basel III agreement is to strengthen the security of the banking sector. At the level of the European Union an important role in the application of the new framework is played by the European Banking Authority. The paper aims to present, through a deductive approach, the new Expected Credit Loss modell and to describe the interaction between accounting standards and supervisory expectations, namely the interaction between IFRS 9 and the three pillars of the Basel III regulation: the minimum regulatory capital requirements (Pillar 1), supervisory review and evaluations process (Pillar 2) and market discipline (Pillar 3). The last part of this article is focused on impairment models and financial stability, treated in the light of the new accounting standard.

The appearance of Coronavirus pandemic in the European Union has led to the state of emergency declaration in almost all countries, with a few Nordic exceptions. This state of emergency has led to the temporary closure of certain economic activities from different branches of the national economies. The consequences of this measure have led to either job losses or sending employees into technical unemployment. Short-term economic forecasts are not at all encouraging for the European economy. Being the main export market for Romanian products and services, the economic means and measures that will be taken for the European economy to recover must be taken and pursued with a close eye on macroeconomic indicators. The present paper wants to point out the negative effects of the European economic shutdown on the Bihor county companies that register foreign trade activities, mainly exports on the European markets. Based on the data provided by AJOFM, the Bihor county employment agency for the following months January, February, March, April, several factors will be analyzed that determined the Bihor county companies with foreign trade activities to temporarily suspend their activity and work contracts for their own employees. One factor analyzed follows the typology of companies that have either reduced their foreign trade activity or have completely suspended their activity, in terms of their size: micro-enterprises, small enterprises, medium-sized enterprises, large enterprises. Another factor taken into consideration follows the number of external contracts that the companies had, that can reveal the number of customers for whom they produced. This factor leads to the following one which analyzes whether there is a temporal difference in the temporary or total activity suspension between enterprises with a single foreign customer compared to those that produce for several customers. The next factor analyzed concerns the period in which companies start asking for help and registering all their employees for technical unemployment or only partially reducing their activity. Certain elements of a financial nature will also be taken into account, which could have prevented the period of temporary or total suspension of activity. Finally, conclusions will be drawn and proposals will be made to prevent such a phenomenon.

The topic of this research focuses on the study of the taxation process, which is one of the oldest activities in human history and has played a key role in civilized societies for thousands of years, developing its roots with the emergence of the state and trade relations between people. The research methodology is mainly based on the method of theoretical research and the method of reading the literature, being mainly a qualitative research, designed to provide a generous substrate in addressing the process of taxation in economic life. Thus, this theoretical research aims to briefly cover the most important historical stages of taxation in order to provide a comprehensive definition of the concept of tax. The tax system, through compulsory levies, plays a complex role in any state, being one of the pillars of influencing the economy. The government plays an important role in the economic growth and development of emerging countries, as it provides indispensable public services, so we believe that the approach of taxation as a clear proof of fiscal civilization can provide significant theoretical resources for the literature. Given that tax levies are the basic components of tax revenues and are means and levers of budget revenue formation, this research aims to address them conceptually, so that the main purpose of this paper to be achieve. This article concluded that over time, the concepts of taxation have evolved and been transmitted to other cultures, where, later, fiscal ideas took root. This model continues to this day, as nations are influenced by the evolution of taxes in other countries, which are perceived in order to cover the financing needs of the state, in order to achieve the primary objective, namely economic stability. The value of the obtained results can be quantified by broadening the spectrum of theoretical research, providing an additional knowledge, significantly in the fiscal literature.

The starting point of this study described in this paper is the desire to create a model that will be useful in various fields related to mathematical modeling and that will contain a new perspective of what we call and know about feedback. This feedback has appeared in cyber studies. The modeling of this computer system involves the transfer of information from the data of a problem written in a practical language to the language specific to the feedback contained in cellular automata and algebraic fractals. Both cellular automata and algebraic fractals are fundamental in the development of technical solutions used in the fields related to quantum mechanics. The bases of these researches are from the articles conceived by Prof. Dr. Colceag, in which he mentions information fields, structural fractals, but also about modeling and the models that emerge from this modeling. All this complex modeling structure will describe more complex objects with characteristics such as: feedback cycles, projective relationships in the projective space and specific transformations that describe how this model was obtained, these being common features for everything that means description and modeling the phenomena of physics, chemistry, biology, economy etc. At the beginning, such a model focuses on feedback cycles, and will also develop commutative diagrams based on automorphisms. After this first phase, the model is organized on progressive levels where its structure is divided into new and stable structures that self-determine, this leading to a fractalized modeling in which a feedback structure is inserted in the form of a loop.

This article presents a short foray into the scientific specialized literature on public utility services in Romania, and in particular, the utility services in the field of water supply and sewerage network. It is essential to satisfy the requirements and the needs of the client in the field of public utility services, the performance in this field being the only feasible option to ensure the quality of the services safety and accessibility, the equal treatment of the users, the continuity of the activity and last, but not least, the adaptability and the flexibility regarding the requirements. Through the performed research, by using the Keynesian model applied to the financial data reported by the local water supply operator, aimed to obtain an insight into the evolution of revenue and expenditure, as well as the effect of increased investment. These elements express the relationship between resources and results, and their balance is based on a Keynesian model in a closed economy. By applying the Keynesian model, we have concluded that the evolution of revenue and expenditure is influenced by a number of factors which can lead to a decrease in expenditure, but although that, the revenues increase from year to year. The Keynesian model applied in the economy of public utility services, involves in its structure variables such as investments, and by applying the investment multiplier consumption remains the economic phenomenon that dominates the water supply economy. However, an increase in consumption has the ultimate effect of obtaining a profit for the operator, which will in the future be its own source of financing for investments in the water supply and sewerage system. Thus the orientation towards consumption becomes beneficial both in terms of satisfaction of end-users and from the point of view of the operator, in terms of revenue growth and the analysis of the. Even if capital goods do not directly meet the needs of end-users, they lead to the development of public utilities and its specific infrastructure, and to the fulfilment of the eligibility conditions imposed by the European Union's financing programmers. Expansion investments in water and sewerage services have the direct effect of increasing the number of users, as well as increasing the number of employees of the operator.

More natural than analytical thinking, design thinking provides solutions to common dilemmas. Fundamentally, it is a human centered and collaborative approach. It all starts with empathy, through the help of a deep research. Furthermore, banking success resides from understanding customers, not exclusively from profits. It is necessary to figure out human thinking, the needs and desires of customers, in order to have a portfolio of appropriate products and services. This is where success comes from. Having this desideratum, the paper analyzes the characteristics of the design thinking method and the digital elements that appear in the banking sector. Certainly, the biggest challenges in the banking system are generated by the digital transformation, by emphasizing the relationship with customers and current social trends. Consequently, Bank of America is an example of a successful application of the design thinking method. Likewise, the beneficial impact that the design thinking method can have on the bank’s employees should not be ignored. Through this research paper, there was analyzed the environment of the banking system which is influenced by design thinking.

The general aim of the research was to explore the main indicators of the dairy sector in Hungary, and then define and systematize their efficiency and the factors relevant concerning dairy farms. Moreover, the objective is to introduce the most commonly used methods for measuring technical efficiency, which can explore hidden reserves within the dairy sector. To achieve the research objective, first the main indicators of the industry will be introduced, which will be explained in the first part of the literature section. The Hungarian dairy sector production trends and indicators where mainly came from FAOSTAT, EUROSTAT, KSH (Hungarian Central Statistical Office) and AKI (Research Institute of Agricultural Economics) databases. For my assessment, I will use the most reliable and comprehensive domestic agricultural economics database, the AKI- FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) database. In accordance with my objective, based on the database, a representative sample was selected in my analyses to represent the national dairy sector. More than 6800 data points were analysed in the different DEA models, which includes data from about more than 950 dairy farms in Hungary. Based on the secondary database (FADN), I created a technical efficiency inputs in four main economic areas (current assets, fix assets, human resources and livestock) which were characterized by using dairy farms efficiency differences of different size, year and regional categories. The model input variables comes from Hungarian FADN database. I confirmed that the used efficiency methods for measuring complex efficiency level were higher in my sample in the case of the large-sized farms than for small and medium-sized farms. The average technical efficiency of the Hungarian dairy sector during the examined 10 years was 64.6%, which means that the farmers can scale down their inputs with 35.4%, without changing the level of output (efficiency reserve). Large and small farms regarding the livestock number are more efficient (93.3%) than the medium sized farms (83.0%) and the small sizes farms (65.8%) maybe, because the medium and small farms are mixed profile farms.

For most actors of the financial system, the liquidity in general and the bank liquidity in particular represents a stressful subject to discuss and even more stressful to manage. During the significant crises, especially the “modern era” ones, the liquidity issue became “the knot in the handkerchief”, the key element in handling the problem banks. Moreover, while liquidity management became an important area of banking activities during normal times (going concern), and the tools/models used for this purpose evolved consequently, under the new framework of banking resolution developed after the financial crisis of 2007-2009 in order to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns (the “Helsinki declaration”), the problem of ensuring liquidity for continuing the critical activities/functions, if any, of banks under resolution, and thus obviating the negative impact on financial stability, appeared not to have been addressed enough by the new framework. Thus, currently, the subject of liquidity in resolution and resolution funding prompted a significant amount of interest, the researchers being expected to provide thoughtful insight as a valuable support for policy makers and legislators.

School dropout is a global problem because economic and social development can be achieved only if it is sustained by people with a solid education. Lately, many young people aged between 18-24 years end up choosing a university specialization without knowing clearly what their professional expectations are for the future. At the European and national level, measures are constantly being taken to prevent university dropout. Although the average number of students dropping out between 18-24 years from 2005 to 2019 show a tendency to decrease, we can still see the lack of trust from young people in educational programs. In 27 of the studied countries, the number of men leaving the university programmes is higher than that of women. The increasing presence of women in university programs is possible due to the opportunities to combine successfully, family, professional and university life. Efforts to encourage lifelong learning are significant, in addition to national institutions and the European Council, organizations such as the European Association for Adult Education; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); International Education; the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have joined forces with a well-defined agenda. The average number of adults participating in the learning process aged between 25-64 years in 28 European countries from 2005 to 2019 grow with 2.79%. The highest values are recorded in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom because education for them is a landmark. Countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia and Croatia need to review their educational policies because the low values show a lack of trust in the system. The confidence of Austrian adults in the quality of university education is demonstrated by the high number of participants. With a rich educational history nowadays, Italy is struggling to engage adults in the educational process. Although 2019 has been beneficial for lifelong learning, we must not forget that it is an ongoing process. European countries want that in the XXI century adult education became an integral part of people’s lives.

On the whole world level, the number of social media users is increasing. Even though it is assumed that social media in hospitality and tourism industry is used under its own potential. According to the statistics the most frequent used social media channel in Romania is Facebook, considerably in front of other social media channels. The aim of the research is to analyze the presence of balneary resorts promotional activity on Facebook and YouTube, from the specific indicators’ perspective analysis. The results show an under valuation of these channels in spite of their use.

The theme of this article was chosen because it is very important to be able to determine the way in which certain factors might influence the performance of a firm. The impact that the business environment in Romania and the EU have upon the SMEs in our country represents an area of high interest. The profound changes in our economy and society since 1989 have triggered an ample process of moving from a centralized economy to a free market economy and now an emerging market economy, that has been liberated from the past under these new principles. The new role of the state in the economy and society has led to the reconsiderations of some categories and concepts, such as efficiency, cost effectiveness, price, risk and even business failure, that cannot be measured at a macroeconomic level and then at a firm level, but the other way around. Under these circumstances the firm becomes the core cell of the economy, that is influenced by all of the market specific factors such as uncertainty and risk. The fundamental problem of the existence, operation and development of the firms under the complex conditions of the market economy is the unfolding of an efficient and profitable activity. The reasoning of this research is based on the need to respond to the issues, that most SMEs in Romania confront themselves nowadays. Managers are forced to find solutions to relaunch the business. The profound changes in our economy and society have triggered an ample process of moving from a centralized economy to a free market economy, that has been liberated from the past under these new principles. The creation of this new economy involved privatizations of state owned companies, restructurings, liquidations, insolvencies but at the same time the emergence of new firms. Economic agents gained full autonomy, passing the entire responsibility of decision-making at a microeconomic level. The development of more and more SMEs and start-ups in Romania, offers the possibility of a professional and social fulfilment, for a significant part of the population, especially for its most active and innovative segment, which drives the economy of our country nowadays.

In the entrepreneurial environment of the 21st century, changes are taking place constantly. Business performance benchmarks are changing and competition is more pronounced. The current economic conditions and fierce competition that prevail today, are forcing companies to look for new ways to reduce costs and increase profitability. If a company expects to survive and grow, it needs constant creativity to differentiate, add value, and create a competitive edge. Therefore, to thrive and excel, business organizations need continuous innovation, rapid response, and creative human talent. This paper presents an essential aspect of entrepreneurship in the 21st century, the importance of innovation and creativity, and the role they play in the global entrepreneurial context. Introduces the entrepreneurial environment and discusses the evolution of entrepreneurship as a science from the earliest period until the present. Using a methodology based on a critical research method, the results briefly describes the importance of innovation and creativity in today's global entrepreneurship, the importance of knowing the difference between creativity and innovation, and the advantages it has over entrepreneurship all over the globe. The aim of the article is to emphasize the connection between creativity and innovation, as well as the strategy to encourage creativity and innovations among entrepreneurs in today's competitive business environment, as long as creativity generates new ideas and innovation materializes them. The globalization topic summarizes the evaluation of entrepreneurial opportunities and explains the objectives involved in global entrepreneurship.

Corporate executives need information that can help make a business more stable and at the same time a career path for a business. All this is ensured by the controlling information system of the company, which by its actuality can give the managers the greatest help in the decision-making processes. Entrepreneurs, especially in micro-small businesses, generally rate their business success with a cash flow approach, which is indeed one of the most fundamental valuation options, especially for the past and present, but for example, they do not hear about their possibility to analize the different levels of solvency, so they are merely confronted with whether their liquidity is OK or not. Of course, a manager of a small business is not expected to have a higher level of financial-income analysis capability, but to be aware of the short-term liquidity factors of his business processes is already in his own interest, and long-term planning and analytical expectations were not mentioned yet. What should a manager know about the assets, financial and income situation of his business? Theoretically they should know all, practically there are basically two areas of knowledge required: operational and strategic, which presuppose each other, so the entrepreneur needs to know the strategic goals and the path to it through well-organized and economically supported operational steps. Controlling helps in this, whose financial dimension provides practical and useful knowledge for business planning and analysis, and ultimately for corporate decision-making. The practical implementation of these was illustrated by the knowledge of the liquidity indicators examined by the 80 companies and their subjective evaluation by managers, the actual practice of planning processes, the planning of the existence of costing systems partly by company size and partly by business forms. Due to the uniqueness and relatively small number of the enterprises involved in the study, generalizable relationships cannot be identified, but the analysis provides a visual picture of the application of controlling tools and methods to organizations in rural, mostly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The paper introduces the concept of excessive pricing within the framework of the competition policy. Charging high prices by an undertaking is a natural freedom in the context of a market economy. Still, a company that detains an important market power has a special economic and social responsibility to ensure that its conduct does not distort competition or negatively affect the consumers’ welfare on that market. A company in such a position is deemed to poses a dominant position on the market. Specifically, in regard with the notion of excessive pricing, a dominant undertaking should not make use of the opportunities arising out of its special market power in such a way as to gain trading profits which it would not have benefit if there had been sufficiently competition. The paper briefly analyzes the method used when establishing dominance, as well as various forms of abuse of a dominant position on the market, finally focusing on the evaluation of excessive prices. Relevant excessive pricing cases are presented, covering 45 years of European experience, since 1975 to the present day. In regard with the evolution of the methodology for analyzing potential excessive prices by the competition authorities, the cost/tariff comparison as part of the United Brands test is a cornerstone in the European jurisprudence. The notion of ‘economic value’ is for the first time used in 1978 and criteria set in the United Brands case provide for a 2 steps approach to the assessment of excessive prices. Other ways of assessing excessive pricing are dealt with, as the European Court of Justice observed that economic theorists have not failed to think up several methods to deal with the issue. Yardstick competition and the elimination of the excessive costs from the evaluation are examples of such alternative methodologies used when analyzing excessive prices. The paper concludes with the presentation of the recent European Commission investigation into excessive pricing in the pharmaceutical sector, and proposes the idea that monopoly companies’ tariffs might be easier to evaluate in the context of excessive pricing.

The existence of the possibility of choosing various options for the accounting methodology of certain objects from legally regulated alternatives allows to create an optimal accounting system adapted to the enterprise information needs. The purpose of the article is to disclose certain provisions of the accounting policies of an agricultural enterprise concerning the objective presentation in the accounting system of information on the costs of production units. The basic principles of choosing elements of the accounting policies of an agricultural enterprise were revealed. The study results show that it is advisable to include in the order on accounting policies also information related to ensuring control of production costs, the formation of the cost of finished products. Thus, when choosing elements of accounting policies, one should focus not only on the information needs of the accountant, but on the requests of all management personnel. This approach ensures the strengthening of accounting and analytical functions in enterprise management, allows to quickly responding to changes in the production process. It was revealed that accounting policies of an agricultural enterprise affects on: the size of the cost of crop and livestock products, profit, income tax, indicators of the financial condition of the enterprise. Therefore, the optimal model of the accounting policies of the enterprise creates the prerequisites for maximum efficiency of economic activity, forms accounting information for internal and external users. Taking into account the features of the formation of production costs disclosed in the article will contribute to the expansion of accounting and analytical support for managing the results of agricultural production.

In the economy, there are different approaches to sustainability. In this article I want to present the differences of approach of sustainability in the environmental economy and the ecological economy although the line between the two tendencies is not always emphasized. Focusing on differences by systematizing positions on the sustainable dimension of the economy and decision-making procedures related to nature. For this I will present the definitions of the environmental and ecological economies drawing attention to the differences and similarities. Using a high degree of simplification, they are the growth-oriented environmental economy, and the stable (equilibrium), dimension-oriented ecological economy (Turner, 1999). It is particularly tempting to combine these approaches with the two concepts of sustainability that stand out in professional debates, the theory of weak and strong sustainability. Perhaps this is also why this distinction is often used in international literature in relation to sustainability (Schaltegger – Burritt, 2005). Researchers usually see the difference between weak and strong sustainability in terms of natural and artificial capital. According to the theory of poor sustainability, natural and artificial capital are fundamentally substitutable. Thus, in order to meet the sustainability criterion, it is sufficient that the combined value of the two types of capital does not decrease, i.e. the destruction of a natural resource creates an artificial capital of at least the same value. According to the theory of strong sustainability, natural capital is not, or to a very small extent, substitutable for artificial capital, and therefore constitutes an absolute constraint on external sustainability, the minimum level of which must be maintained in order to be sustainable. However, this distinction is problematic in several respects. On the one hand, different authors define - up to four - different theories along the strong / weak sustainability dimension (Goodland – Daly, 1996, Turner, 1988). On the other hand, sometimes different concepts are behind the same names (Goodland – Daly, 1996, Turner, 1988, Gutés, 1996, Kerekes, 2006, Fleischer, 2006). Moreover, the theories of strong and weak sustainability do not necessarily differ in determining the path to sustainability. According to some interpretations, the theory of strong sustainability defines the conservation of the value of natural capital as a criterion of sustainability, which in itself reflects a traditional approach of the environmental economy.

Social media, and social networking, have changed the business landscape, both for companies that have adopted them and for those that have not. By definition, social media represent platforms where members share content with a wide audience, with the focus on the content, while social networking sites are more centered on conversations and groups having the same interests. Facebook, which pulls the line dividing the two types of interactions, has 600,000 regular users worldwide and welcomes companies, organizations, and brands to use its platform to connect with their audience. Almost all social networks have incorporated a measure of social media, allowing users to become curators of the interesting content they find, sharing links, images, and short personal stories. Businesses which have learned to create content and engage in conversations are already ‘in the stream' – and more and more, internet users expect they will be able to interact with their favorite brands. Companies that have embraced this have a definite advantage over those which have not. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role and economic impact of social media on businesses. It aims to investigate the benefits available from the use of the internet and social media sites for businesses. Social media have a positive impact on businesses and offer an opportunity for their audience to find them on social media. It helps to reach to their targeted audience, stay engaged with them and respond to their questions instantly. It is a great way to evaluate their competition by monitoring their social media pages. The paper focuses on the multiple positive impacts on business in terms of brand recognition, customer engagement, revenue, and customer service. It emphasizes the importance of social media in the growth of businesses, being also a great tool to evaluate their competitors and how they are using social media for their growth. By using social media, business are taking every opportunity to increase awareness of trade and development opportunities in a way that drives changes in behavior and inspires action. Doing so connects a certain industry with business opportunities abroad and leads to sustainable development in partner countries.

Diversification of economy in Kazakhstan includes several prosperous directions, but main attention is paid on agro industrial sector. High productivity of foreign countries due to successful realization of farmers’ cooperation makes it key element of current state policy of development. However, despite the support provided and activities taken the cooperation implementation is still low. The aim of this research was to analyze the reasons of it and make suggestions for situation improvement. To analyze current position of cooperatives in Kazakhstan, the main international agricultural cooperation models were examined and their history together with historical background of agricultural cooperatives in Kazakhstan. Based on the data it can be concluded that various economic doctrines were the base of each model. Authors explored three different models existed in agricultural cooperatives history: Western (market economy), Soviet (government-planned economy) and Israeli (social commune). Interviews were conducted with experts in agricultural sector and food marketing in order to investigate, which factors restrain cooperation’s integration. After studying updated version of law on agricultural cooperatives and conducting interviews authors constructed SWOT-analysis, which defined the main weakness of state’s cooperatives. The unawareness of farmers about benefits of cooperation was chosen as a problem to be solved. On the base of it authors created problem-tree and further elaborated solution-tree. Authors recommend prolonging and intensifying government support, and involving private business in agricultural cooperatives development. The support should be multilevel; upper-level includes subsidies payments and legislation modifications; local bodies should help strategical planning elaboration and organization of production sales.

This paper presents a comparison between the net present value (NPV) and the optimal solution of the linear program in order to offer an alternative perspective on the decision process. In the decision process, companies have to use more tools in order to make the right decision and to increase their values. So, using these two tools, namely, the net present value and the solution of the optimization problems, the companies will put together the expected benefits of the fixed asset investments and the available or potential resources. Using only one of these tools means that the company is oriented either to the future benefits of the fixed asset or to the investment capacity, with all technical or financial restrictions. The NPV is determined by using the standard formula while the optimal solution for the resource allocation is obtained by using the Simplex Algorithm and The Big M Penalty method. The comparison and combination of these indicators are used in the company's acquisition process and create some debates on the results in the acquisition process. The significant advantage of this paper is the improvement of the decision process in acquisitions by providing information from both the internal business environment and the external environment. Also, this comparison combines technical and financial information, which will make the decision of acquisition more reliable. There are some limits to this research. One limit is that it does not consider the possibility of delaying the investments since the NPV compares the now-investing to never-investing attitudes. Another limit is that the Simplex Algorithm offers a restrictive horizon of the decision since its components are expressed in positive integers. These two disadvantages may be discussed in further research, firstly, by appealing for the cost delay for making the right decision at the right time, and secondly, by using the fuzzy number in order to make the decisions in the fixed assets acquisition process more flexible. This last recommendation could replace the sensitivity analysis, which is a more complicated way to make the decision more flexible.

Tier 1 capital ranking represents an important instrument that measures a bank’s financial strength and efficiency and The Banker Database, a service provided by The Financial Times it is an important source of data and analysis for the banking sector. Under these circumstances, the objective of the article is to examine the financial and non-financial indicators that might have an impact on the Tier 1 capital ranking banks from Central and Eastern Europe. The research starts with a brief theoretical review of the indicators that influence the financial performance of the banks, the profitability, efficiency and the capital structure. The empirical research was conducted on the first 200 banks from Tier 1 capital ranking and the data was collected from The Banker Database, in the period 2015 - 2018. The banks included in analysis were from 23 countries with a total of 800 observations. The empirical research consists in a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the banks, with focus on their structure, characteristics and their financial indicators. Using a panel data econometric model, the study highlighted the correlations between the financial and non-financial indicators and the rank of the banks. The researched results revealed that the highest number of the top banks were from Russia (57 banks), Poland (17 banks), Bulgaria (12 banks) and Romania (12 banks). The econometric analysis highlighted that the dependent variable had a positive correlation with Return on Asset (ROA), Total Liabilities to Total Assets (LTA), Loans to Assets Ratio (LTA) and Risk-Weighted Assets Density (RWA). A negative correlation was found with the number of employees and Return on Equity (ROE). The results obtained are in correlation with the recent studies in the field, a bank with smaller liabilities and higher revenues is more efficient and has a higher position in the Tier 1 capital ranking.

In market conditions, one of the main regulators of economic development is the financial mechanism, a key element of which is the fiscal mechanism for regulating the national economy investment development. Currently, the methods of the fiscal mechanism are not used effectively enough in Ukrainian practice, as evidenced by the low investment attractiveness of the economy and weak investment activity of economic entities. Therefore, the definition of the essence and components of methods of the fiscal mechanism is currently among the important financial and economic issues, the scientific substantiation of which largely depends on the economy investment development. The article is devoted to the study of theoretical approaches to the functioning of the methods of the financial mechanism and on this basis to determine the content and composition of the methods of the fiscal mechanism. It was determined that there are various approaches to understanding the essence of financial methods (as means, forms, methods, rules) and three conceptual approaches to the interpretation of the methods of financial mechanism: management (considers the methods of financial mechanism as processes in which implementation of financial policy); organizational (treats the methods of the financial mechanism as a means of organizing financial relations, which are formed in the process of implementing financial policy); complex (characterizes the methods of the financial mechanism as a process of organizing financial relations to achieve the objectives of financial policy). As a result of research of theoretical bases of functioning of financial methods the essence of methods of the fiscal mechanism of regulation of national economy investment development was substantiated. The main methods of the fiscal mechanism were identified, including planning, organization and control. The basic requirements to functioning of methods of the fiscal mechanism of regulation of the national economy investment development were considered.

In the context of the reform of the tax system and the accounting and reporting system, as well as the integration of Ukraine with the European Community, the issue of simplifying the conditions for doing business, building an effective and understandable system for administering taxes and other duties acquire special significance. One of the important aspects of reforming the tax system of Ukraine is the introduction of unified reporting on personal income tax and unified social tax. The purpose of the article is to identify the positive and negative aspects of the process of reforming the reporting on personal income tax and unified social tax and scientifically substantiate the structure of such unified reporting. The existing forms of reporting on personal income tax and unified social tax, proposed by government agencies, were analyzed. In addition, the unified reporting models from these taxes proposed by scientists were critically assessed by the author. It was found that such indicators as the presence of Ukrainian citizenship, gender and the sign of a new job, do not participate in the process of monitoring the completeness of tax payments. Therefore, it is impractical to fill in these indicators for each employee, and it is enough to submit the total number and structure of these indicators on the reporting title page. The opposite situation exists with the military tax, which is advisable to display for each employee in the reporting for more effective control over its accrual and payment. The author has improved the structure of unified reporting on personal income tax and unified social tax, which will reduce the time spent on filling out such reports, increase the efficiency of control by the fiscal authorities and simplify the process of processing unified reporting data. The main advantages of the proposed form of unified reporting are: significant reduction in the number of indicators; simplicity and compactness; personalized registration of military tax; ease of filling and processing information.

The purpose of the article is to disclose the types of long-term debt liabilities, which need to be evaluated at the balance sheet date at their present value, to substantiate the procedure for calculating the present value and reflecting of accounting differences in accounting system. The requirements of national accounting standards regarding the display of long-term receivables and liabilities in accounting and reporting are discussed in the article. The methods of selecting the interest rates and the procedure of calculating their present value are described. It is proved that considering the national accounting standards there is uncertainty and multivariation concerning discount rates and the procedure of calculating the present value of long-term liabilities and distribution of discount variances. Due to this fact, the decision on the application of discount rates and the procedure of calculating the present value are made by accounting entities on their own based on the professional judgment of an accountant. It is proved that it is advisable to calculate the present value of long-term liabilities on the first balance sheet date after their occurrence using a quarterly period. It is argued that during the transferring long-term liabilities to current ones, discount variances should be written off at the same time. It is concluded that the discount variances should be accounted with applying the accounts of other income and expenses. An example of calculating the present value of long-term liabilities and accounting entries to it are also given. It is determined that the reflection of the present value of long-term liabilities in the accounting and reporting, that arose in connection with the acquisition of assets, does not affect their initial and further assessment. It is proposed to form and approve at the state level the Guidelines for determining the present value of long-term liabilities, that are to be discounted, and the distribution of discount variances between reporting periods.

As companies struggle to increase the number of customers, their strategic sourcing plays a vital role in the maintenance of their improving performance. The paper attempts to determine those macroeconomic factors (i.e. energy consumption, climate change, political stability etc.) for the international industrial companies that can contribute to the required quality and price of the goods produced in each examined countries. The indicators proposed are based on the World Bank’s competitiveness and governance pillars. In this study, the valuation of the listed factors based on automated ICTs technology. The assembly of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) system is concentrated not only to collect the current information it is needed to compare the relevant aspects of the selected indicators but can support decision making or forecast trends for suppliers. Results clearly indicate which countries are recommended for the investments or searching of potential suppliers. The findings of this study also should make an important contribution to the field of supply management to identify future trade routes.

The paper aims to help the reader to see how a doctrine could sustain, serve and promote globalization, bringing with it seemingly unlimited possibilities, but in its background coming with wealth dispersion and capital concentration, and creating schemes for payment for a vital resource. High development in communication technology has supported economic globalization; but to promote it there was needed a doctrinal and institutional framework. Neo-liberalism, promoting a smaller role for state in economic affairs overlapped with institutional efforts carried on under the multilateral negotiations’ GATT/WTO umbrella. Globalization of rules concerning foreign investments and services’ providing focused on the possibilities to invest in business having as focal point a vital resource: water. The debate of state versus market is one of the longest and tensioned in the history of civilization. Reducing the role of state in economy, there has been created the possibilities of seemingly unlimited gains, but it brought not only that, but economic convulsion and environmental decay, too. Water and investment connected to this resource have made no exceptions. Global players from soft drink and food industry areas stepped into the lucrative bottled water’s industry, while giants specialized in building great infrastructure projects headed to gain access on administrating big cities’ network of water pipelines and pumping or cleaning stations. Huge profits started to pour into their pockets, but with them came in many cases higher costs for piped water, lower water quality, and hardship for poor to gain access to what is a vital resource. Large investments determined by the globalization of concrete revolution resulted in damming almost all rivers of the world with huge impoundments, strongly harming natural habitats, coupled with population’s relocation together with a peculiar life-style’s losing. International credits needed to finance such projects created an almost frenetic market for international lending institutions. Countries aiming at quick modernization stated to fight for access to these financial resources in order to create the capacities to build huge dams and irrigation schemes, but in numerous cases the results were far from what had been expected. All these have created a favorable framework for making water an asset which can be traded as any other commodity, strongly reflecting the neo-liberal tenets in relation with this resource.

The paper seeks to summarize opportunities offered by the University of Debrecen (UD) for the further development of students’ innovative ideas to enter the marketplace, and to identify the essential links of the university’s innovation ecosystem resulting in mutual benefits at local, regional, national and international levels. As a part of this programme in 2010 the innovative Finnish higher education system (Tiimiakatemia – Team Academy) was launched at University of Debrecen Faculty of Economics and Business, which was also awarded by OECD and has been run at JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyvaskyla since 1993. In this system, we create team entrepreneurs who must work together in teams. Our Team Academy Debrecen's mission is to provide business training that develops entrepreneurial mindsets and self-awareness through practice-oriented and innovative approaches to the requirements of the modern age, creating opportunities for individual fulfillment, responsibility for themselves and the community. During the training, we focus on developing the following skills and abilities: developing team entrepreneurial skills, being able to teamwork, adapting to new environments, being able to co-create to build communities. Team Academy Debrecen learns new approaches and methodologies by putting them into practice take full responsibility for their actions and decisions learn from their mistakes, be open to new ideas. We believe they can learn faster and more through international cooperation. Author of this study work as team coach in Team Academy Debrecen. In the last 8 years, we have worked with several teams and experienced how group dynamics present at the teams and change through the learning process. We have faced with great storming period at different teams and managed to build high performing entrepreneur teams as well. Our experiences are introduced as case studies, after analysing, consequences will be concluded. As in the EFQM model we can find that to survive in the global competitive markets companies need the best teams for the best results.

The dominance of the service sector is now unquestionable worldwide. In developed regions, its share in gross domestic product (GDP) and employment is around 70%. According to the European Central Bank, its share in the euro area in 2018 was 73.9%, in US was 80,2% and in EU-28 was 70,4% (ECB, EUROSTAT, 2020). The rise of services goes hand in hand with economic development (Szalavetz, 2008). Regarding the Hungarian data, in 2019 services accounted for 55% of GDP (including trade, vehicle repair, accommodation services and hospitality, totaling 11.3% last year) and received 65% of employment. The 5.1% increase in GDP last year was driven by the 3.5% increase in services, of which trade, accommodation and food service activities (11%) saw the largest growth (KSH, 2020). Due to the coronavirus, economic growth will decline in 2020, but the rate of decline is not predictable yet. Due to the limitation of personal contacts, the first affected group is service providers, which is why this study examines this sector, including one of the important segments of services, the music industry. In our study, the economic impact of the coronavirus is presented through the example of a Hungarian club band.

A large number of countries believe that their economy has been boosted thanks to the EU funds. This is difficult to say yes because everyone comes up with different results. Experts in the field have performed numerous and diverse studies on this topic, using different types of methodologies and tools. Several hypothesizes have been tested and the general agreed conclusion is that the main reason for these results is not the amount of money obtained from the EU, but the way they are used. The pro-development way of utilizing the funds has increased the probability to generate valid economic growth. Moreover, long-term planning and strategic implementation regarding EU funds have proven to be more effective than short-time solutions. This paper proposes to analyze the impact of EU funds on the gross domestic product in ten European countries by using linear regression. The Member States must wish and plan for a sustainable, healthy growth, which will not cause the accumulation of risks, imbalances, and painful tensions, however, it will cause inevitable corrections in the future. To do this, countries need to focus on qualitative and not just quantitative growth, which will also determine the convergence of production structures and endowments with infrastructure, not just revenues. This would mean an increase in endowments with production factors. The focus is therefore on increasing the growth potential, an unobservable but extremely important variable of the economy. Many financial experts emphasized that countries of Central and Eastern Europe will spend EU money on the development of roads and railway infrastructure. There is a big recommendation on focusing on Research and Development, which is a tool that could help the economies of the region in the long term. The EU should motivate these countries to absorb the funds as quickly as possible by reprimanding the governments. Experience of best practices is a key element in EU funding and also the trigger for readjusting the framework and mindset of national stakeholders.

The present paper intends to present the impact of different factors, such as - the legal standard breached by the host state, the method used in calculating the damages and the requested amount, on the damages awarded in ICSID - International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes – concluded cases in which the Tribunal ordered the Respondent to pay damages to the Claimant, and that damages had been calculated based on the market value. Usually, the Company Valuation process is driven by economists following the frame settled by the International Standards, which recommends three main categories of valuation bases: asset approach, income approach or market approach. The damages valuation in ICSID Cases are made primary following the same rules, and in the present paper will be presented the ones using the market value approach. We will present three regression analysis based on the 7 cases that are meeting these conditions, cases that were started against countries such as: Russia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Slovak Republic, Georgia or Macedonia. The industries from which these cases aroused are different, we are talking about petroleum industry, tourism, bank and finance. Going further in analysis in order to see which was the breach identified by the Tribunal, we can see that there is not any direct link between the valuation approach and the legal standard breached by the Respondent but we can find a direct link between the standard breached and the amount awarded. In the cases presented in the following pages we will see that in some cases we were taking about expropriation and in other about breaching the fair and equitable treatment that the host state must insure to the foreign investor. Anyway, these cases had a common aspect, and that is the fact that were other valuations approaches were presented by the claimants, those had higher values. The present paper is an analysing study, using the statistical instrument of regression, based on a previous paper published by the authors in which was presented a briefly description of those cases in which the ICSID Tribunal decided the amount of damages to be paid by the Respondent, using the market approach.