Evolution of professional competencies of accountants of small enterprises in the digital economy of Ukraine

Abstract

At present, the accountant’s workplace is the most “digitized” at enterprises. It is equipped, on average, with five units of computer, office and communication equipment, and also, on average, seven software products for automation of accounting work are applied. However, university graduates state that their knowledge and skills correspond only to 45% of the requirements of the modern automated workplace of the accountant. Higher education institutions have lagged far behind in the applied “digital” competence of accountants. The purpose of the article is to identify key directions for improving the professional “digital” training of accountants. Research methods. The author carried out a questionnaire survey of 120 small and micro enterprises with coverage of the majority of operating sectors of the economy; carried out a questionnaire survey of IT companies managers dealing with automation of managerial work at the enterprises; training plans for accountants auditors for availability and quality of digital technologies training were studied, foreign experience in training of accountants following the publications of research organizations: Hitachi Data Systems, Global Education Future, Fujitsu, McKinsey Global Institute, PwC was studied. Results. The researches of the evolution of the professional competencies of accountants carried out by the author show a lag in the content of their “digital” training from the real proficiency requirements for work at an automated workplace of the accountant of an enterprise. Conclusions and offers. Education of accountants and their further continuous professional training should focus on the development of digital technologies of the implementation of the entire economic block of enterprise managerial works on the basis of existing software and cloud services. The author developed proposals for improving the professional training of accountants of small enterprises.