Reformed Pensions Systems in Central and Eastern Europe: Challenges to future safe pension benefits

The objective of this paper is to examine and analyze empirically whether the Central and Eastern Europe countries` reformed pension systems are providing adequate and safe pensions. Starting in 1990s, most Central and Eastern European countries radically reformed their pension systems. The rising optimism initiates many studies where the advantages of the reforms were in the focus. The global financial crisis negatively affects the reformed pension systems. As a response, the policy makers in few of those countries decided to set up different measures: increasing or reducing the pension contribution for alleviating the fiscal deficit or encouraging the employment, adapting the contribution rate and allowing individuals to switch back to the old system. These last changes in the pension systems have triggered the following question: How much and in which way the implementation and experiences gained with the functioning of the reform pension system will have impact in the future pension adequacy and sustainability of the pension system

Drivers of entrepreneurial intentions among business students in Macedonia

Studies find that entrepreneurial intentions determine the likelihood of starting a business whereas the Theory of Planned Behaviour suggests that intentions capture the motivational aspect of behaviour and are dependent on behavioural, normative and control beliefs. This research endeavours to identify factors that drive entrepreneurial intentions among Macedonian business students. The Partial least square approach to the Structural equation modelling was applied. Findings highlight the impact of entrepreneurship education, support systems and a favourable business climate on entrepreneurial intentions, which correspond to the majority of the European countries as well as global tendencies

Evolution of the venture capital financing for growing small and medium enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe countries: the case of Macedonia

The objective of this paper is to examine and analyze the differences between Venture Capital development in Macedonia and several Central and Eastern Europe countries, to determine the reasons, and hence extract certain conclusions that will serve as a guideline in Macedonia’s venture capital industry development. Venture capital is an important intermediary in financial markets, providing capital to firms who otherwise have difficulties attracting financial support. Moreover, venture capital funds provide managerial expertise to the company they are investing in, and have impact on the overall economy through innovation, job creation, economic growth, increased competition and improved corporate governance. Private equity and Venture capital funds are present for over 20 years in Central and Eastern Europe. The institutional investors evaluate the individual countries’ attractiveness to identify the best investment opportunities for their asset allocation. On the basis of the performed analysis in this paper regarding the PE/VC fundraising and investment activities, conducted interviews, and Country Attractiveness Index (including the economic activities, depth of capital market, taxation, investor protection and corporate governance, human and social environment and entrepreneurial culture and opportunities), Macedonian small and medium size enterprises are obviously not on the PE/VC investors` map, according to the small amount of their investments up to now

Evolution of the venture capital financing for growing small and medium enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe countries: the case of Macedonia

The objective of this paper is to examine and analyze the differences between Venture Capital development in Macedonia and several Central and Eastern Europe countries, to determine the reasons, and hence extract certain conclusions that will serve as a guideline in Macedonia’s venture capital industry development. Venture capital is an important intermediary in financial markets, providing capital to firms who otherwise have difficulties attracting financial support. Moreover, venture capital funds provide managerial expertise to the company they are investing in, and have impact on the overall economy through innovation, job creation, economic growth, increased competition and improved corporate governance. Private equity and Venture capital funds are present for over 20 years in Central and Eastern Europe. The institutional investors evaluate the individual countries’ attractiveness to identify the best investment opportunities for their asset allocation. On the basis of the performed analysis in this paper regarding the PE/VC fundraising and investment activities, conducted interviews, and Country Attractiveness Index (including the economic activities, depth of capital market, taxation, investor protection and corporate governance, human and social environment and entrepreneurial culture and opportunities), Macedonian small and medium size enterprises are obviously not on the PE/VC investors` map, according to the small amount of their investments up to now

Evaluation of Macedonia Banks' Credit Policies Before and After the 2008 Crisis: A Comparative Study

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the banks` credit policies in Macedonia in comparison to the developed countries before and after the 2008 crisis. In particular, it assesses the credit policies and whether and how the policies were amended following the global recession. In this regard, we formulate two research questions which we tend to analyze based on the collected data. The research is based on a quantitative approach using interviews with senior and middle credit managers from twenty banks in Macedonia, SEE and USA to analyze the changes in their credit policies. The results provide the following findings: 1) The credit policies of the Macedonian banks are more conservative than those of foreign banks in both observed periods; and 2) The financial crisis impacted the credit policies of all observed banks, yet the impact is stronger within the SEE and the USA banks. The obtained results might be of interest for ongoing improvement of the banks` credit and risk management, as well as for the policy makers to prevent future financial crises

Environmental and social responsibility reporting. Do Macedonian companies disclose those information and how?

Incorporating environmental impact into financial reports is becoming standard practice in the 21st Century. Investors are aware of the need for environmentally correct operations since failures in this domain lower the price of shares. However, in terms of regulation, in most of the countries, environmental reporting remains voluntary. Institutions dealing with development and promotion of the modern accounting and financial reporting standards encourage companies to concurrently report for their environmental activities. The only question is how. Accounting may include information on the environmental impact only if it is quantitative and monetary. Since many nuances of the issues remain difficult to quantify, corporations opt to separately report on their environmental practices. The aim of this paper is to examine the accounting and stock market regulations and the practice of reporting for environmental impact of the operations of the leading Macedonian companies. We selected ten companies that make the Macedonian Stock Exchange Index and additional five companies with significant environmental impact. We reviewed their annual reports and interviewed their financial officers. The results show that the environmental and social responsibility reporting is left to the companies and their management and its perception of the need for keeping posted the major stakeholders and the most appropriate way to do it. As a consequence, many large Macedonian companies do not refer to these issues in their annual addressing to the stakeholders. The findings of this paper can motivate the regulatory body and the government to require more transparency and disclosure of the sustainability information

State Audit for Strengthening the Accountability in Public Funds Management: Case of Republic of Macedonia

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of the state audit in strengthening the accountability in managing the public funds. Appropriate and effective use of public funds ensures a healthy economic and financial management, as well as transparency, which leads towards a positive development of the society as a whole. We evaluated the operation of the state audit in Macedonia by analyzing the regularity audit performed on five state institutions from 2010 to 2014 and we compared the results with the state audits in two neighboring countries. Our findings suggest weaknesses in the use of public money by the institutions covered by this analysis and in the operation of the State Audit Office. The research will help in increasing the public awareness about the necessity of responsible management in the public sector