A Qualitative Research on Sectoral Problems and Expectations

This research aims to investigate the sectoral market share of the professional committees, their current status, and expectations in the context of employment. It was determined that the market share of the sectors of 58.55% of the participants decreased in 2019. 46.71% of participants had the prediction that there would be no change in their market share in 2020. 45.39% of the participants anticipated a decrease in employment in 2019, and 58.55% anticipated that there would be no change in employment in 2020. 69.74% of the members of the professional committees participating in the research stated that there was a qualified employee shortage in the sector. The agriculture sector comes to the fore in the required employment areas. Participants stated that qualified employees trained according to the sector should be increased. According to the results, it was determined that there was a need for employment in agricultural products sales, textile, medical equipment, restaurants and cafes, insurance, private health services, advertising and media, paper, and packaging sectors.

CSR and Greenwashing in Finland

Due to the general tendency to express environmental protection, environmentalism, and the actions to slow down the greenhouse effect in the world, the enterprises have noticed the importance of environmental values in their public announcements, documents, and homepages. In other words, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a very important and topical theme of the firms. The popularity of environmentalism tempts the firms to follow the direction of public opinion even though the actual environmental activities might be minor or even absent. This kind of quasi-environmentalism is called as greenwashing. This chapter focuses on greenwashing and CSR in the Finnish context via public discussions about greenwashing. This chapter is emphasizing the understandings and the sense-makings in the concepts of greenwashing and CSR and their numerous connotations basing on the results of the textual analysis. The outcomes are completed and compared with the international contexts, and, therefore, they are also internationally robust.

Business Model in a Time of Global Crises

Globalization has created complex production chains, in which many countries contribute to the creation of added value. Globalization influences almost all aspects of life, but the way this evolution is felt differs from one country to another, from one region to another, from one individual to another. Globalization is an objective process that is taking place with astonishing speed, covering all the states of the world. It was determined and favored by the ultra-fast advances of technology, especially information technology, but also by the manifestations of the digital economy or information economy. Digitization has fundamentally changed the way companies operate while providing new entities with opportunities for survival and development. Websites have become powerful advertising and commercial tools, being used in all areas of activity. The technologies used to create and develop websites have diversified and become increasingly complex.

Flexible Budget

The ever-changing business environment and the shorter product life cycle impose the need to develop new forecasting models and replace static budgets with flexible budgets. Thus, the analysis of deviations from budgeted costs becomes a desideratum of any entity. Flexible budgeting is based on the analysis of expenditure behavior and involves setting budgeted expenditure levels for different activity levels to monitor activity. The chapter highlights the importance of flexible budgeting of expenditures. It presents a comparison between static budgets and flexible budgets, the methodology for preparing flexible budgets, exemplifying how to prepare them for more predictable levels of activity, and budgetary control based on flexible budgets. The research is addressed to the academic environment and the practitioners concerned with the enterprise's management through the budget system, having as motivation the desire to satisfy the need for information both in higher economic education and in economic practice.

Using Digital Programs and Technologies to Simulate Business Development

The priorities of business people in the digital age are human capital and innovation. As the changes are fast, in the digital age, the decision maker will not look for the optimal solution, but will stop at the first solution that he considers satisfactory and will put it into practice as soon as possible, given the fact that there is a high probability that the opportunity or the conditions for materializing the decision must change, even before the implementation of the decision. The use of digital programs and technologies to simulate the company's development decisions can circumvent these shortcomings, at least for a short period of time. This chapter shows that, in an increasingly digitized world, there is widespread recognition that a strong organizational goal is essential for any company, as well as an awareness that trust is becoming increasingly difficult to gain. Also, the proper management of the growing expectations of stakeholders contributes to building the confidence needed for an organization to survive and thrive.

Managerial Accounting

The role of managerial accounting consists in detailing, analyzing, and interpreting the information provided by the general accounting, presenting it in a form that is accessible to the company management. Financial information is confidential, addressed to the internal environment of the company and presented as no standardized periodical reports adapted to the internal management needs. Costs play a determinant role in substantiating the decisions regarding the optimum production system and its adjustment in any competitive economic environment, as a special instrument determining the management of the company both as a whole and for each internal subdivision. But cost will only be able to play its true role if determined in a realistic and pertinent way. Consequently, the final objective of management from the point of view of forecasting, rational organization, information, analysis, prompt decision, and constant control is to obtain production at minimum cost.

The Budget

Knowing precisely the costs by sectors, products, activities, and functions helps locate in time and space the sub-units contributing to the improvement or, on the contrary, the depreciation of the results obtained by the company. Breaking down the costs by each function is another way to acquire knowledge about the internal accounting management conditions. A comparative analysis of expenditure by functions related to certain forecasts is the main way of identifying performance, efficient responsibility centers, as well as those whose functioning is deficient. On the other hand, the budget may be seen as a correlation and streamlining instrument for the relation between expenditures and income. Budgeting can also be seen as a systematic economic practice involving a formal process of allocating financial resources to achieve the objectives set for the following period of time. The revenue and cost budget are the objects of managerial accounting and the instruments to control the costs and the income by comparing the forecasts with the achievements.

A Vision Regarding the Role of Financial-Accounting Practices in Tourism

The primary role of general management's professionalism depends, to a large extent, on the correct assessment of the value of using the accounting information provided by the accounting management and, respectively, the efficient use in the decision-making process. What is extremely important is the fact that this process must be seen as in a continuously dynamic, as well as the fact that the options used must be in line with the permanent flow of opportunities that must be notified in time and exploited in the interest of economic entities. In the author's opinion, this aspect is predilection specific to tourism activities, with an important impact on success in this type of business. Thus, the opportunities are manifested and often start from them, from the start-up phase of a business, when the capital contribution will be made according to the perspectives opened by these opportunities, and then the construction of the tourist entity itself (including the system information-accounting) will be influenced by this.

Ensuring the Quality of Information by Creating a Sustainable Framework in the Context of CSR Reporting

This chapter aims to identify basic pillars around which issues related to non-financial reporting are going to be outlined by testing the quality of information presented by the top 50 largest listed companies according to non-financial reporting criteria, considering the environment, human and social resources, human rights, and the fight against corruption. By highlighting the diversity of information disclosed by the corporations (i.e., the economic, social, and environmental impact caused by the daily activities carried out), common benchmarks that determine the quality assurance are ascertained. Research methods include quantitative analysis of the sustainability reports, along with the authors' observation regarding the existing frame of reference. Findings show that there is significant diversity in how non-financial information regarding CSR is disclosed. Modeling a unitary reporting framework could be the keystone to which companies could relate in ensuring a good correlation with users' need for accurate, reliable, and relevant information.

Reviving Green With Accounting in the Era of Sustainability

In the era of ‘Reviving Green', sustainability is no longer a luxury; it has become a global necessity. The late 1990s saw the evolving concept of triple bottom line. The growing importance of the environmental agenda that ‘sustainability' had been mainly focused upon to that point led to the inclusion of the environment as one of the defining factors of ‘sustainability'. The new paradigm in the third millennium puts business in the driving seat. Consequently, their role and responsibility towards the environment is manifold. The tradeoff between economic growth and the environmental costs has become one of the major challenges for businesses. This chapter examines the traditional accounting practiced by organizations. The premise of internalizing environmental costs in the investment decision making is highlighted. The costs and benefits that arise through the environment protection and depletion of the existing capital have been held forth.