Contemporary Higher Accounting Education for Social Responsibility

Abstract

Introduction. Nowadays participants in the business and social life face challenges in the context of the sustainability and the social responsibility. The only way to successfully overcome them is by all of them working together in one direction at all levels and in all fields. All efforts to harmoniously achieve the goals of sustainable development by the various communities of the planet are extremely relevant today and will continue in the future. Higher accounting and economic education are in support of sustainability, management of natural resources and social responsibility. Aim and tasks. The aim of the research is to analyze the possibilities for further development of economic solutions in the context of application integration approaches with care for our unique planet and its riches for the future. The tasks of the research find expression in: 1) to prove the need to pay attention to the issues of sustainable development when making decisions about the economy; 2) to analyze the essence and principles of an up-to-date concept for a sustainable way of doing business and management of natural resources; 3) to indicate the path that business and society shall take in order to develop responsibly; 4) to prove the importance of developing an international and national strategy for corporate social responsibility. Results. The data shows that today it is required that the specialist with a higher economic and accounting degree possess knowledge and competences for the quality realization of reporting, controlling, and other activities in the private and public sectors. Specifically, the investments in new knowledge and competences of such specialists in the context of sustainability, management of natural resources, and social responsibility create prerequisites for a more competitive and resilient business. At the same time, the data shows that the degree of balance between the three aspects (social, economic, and environmental) and the whole direction of higher education towards the problems of sustainable development as of this moment is not satisfactory. Conclusions. The dominant idea is that successful implementation of flexible educational schemes, accelerated digital transformation, and full adaptation to relevant business challenges (the practice) will result in the establishment of a new model of educational policy that will contribute to the successful realization of sustainability, natural resource management, and social responsibility.