Abstract
Continuous professional education (CPE) represents one of the key determinants of the quality of accounting services and a fundamental requirement of international education, quality management, and ethical standards governing the accounting profession. The aim of this paper is to examine, based on a theoretical review and empirical results from the pilot project of quality control of the members of the Association of Accountants, Auditors and Financial Employees of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), the role of CPE in enhancing the quality of professional accounting services.
The paper provides an overview of the regulatory framework in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Law on Accounting and Auditing, the Rulebook on Quality Control of the Association’s Members, the Quality Control Methodology, and the International Education Standards (IES), particularly IES 5 and IES 7 (International Federation of Accountants [IFAC], 2019a, 2019b). The empirical part of the paper is based on data derived from forms K-2A, K-2B and K-3A, which include preliminary and final assessments of the quality of work performed by supervised entities. The results indicate a significant relationship between the planning and implementation of continuous professional development programmes and the overall quality ratings achieved. Entities with a higher level of CPE exhibited greater compliance with internal control requirements, higher consistency in the application of procedures, and better adherence to regulations on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the importance of CPE in the context of stability and professionalisation of the accounting profession and provides recommendations for further improvement of the quality control system and approaches to professional education.