CHALLENGES TO FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL IN THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF SERBIA

Sound and efficient public administration is a foundation for the functioning of the state, as it contributes to its ability to ensure high quality public services while strengthening competitiveness and progress. This means that a sound public administration is characterized by reliability, accountability and transparency, as well as the level of technical and organizational capacities that ensures financial sustainability and standardized service. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a research conducted in spring 2017 involving executive officials in the public administration of Serbia. The purpose of the research was to map the existing capacities of the Serbian public administration, in order to lay the groundwork for the strengthening of those capacities in the period ahead and for reaching the SIGMA principles of public administration applied among EU member states, especially in financial management segment. The findings of the research presented in this paper are part of the primary research findings collected within ERASMUS+ project conducted on the sample of 240 examinees. The authors of this paper participated in the project implementation

Digital economy in Europe: Evaluation of countries’ performances

The accelerated expansion of the Internet as a communication tool, the mobile internet, and the social networks and commercial platforms, commonly observed as digitalisation, have greatly affected the functioning of the economy and with it also businesses, public institutions, and individuals. The state of the digitalisation of business and industry varies between the European Union (EU) countries and regions. Each economy struggles to keep up with digitalisation in order to keep their productivity and achievement on a high level. Using the Composite I-distance Indicator (CIDI) methodology, we have created a multivariate indicator that can serve as a measurement of digital economy performances. Furthermore, we evaluate and rank 28 countries in EU (EU-28), based on their digital performances. We made an in-depth comparative analysis of countries in Europe, providing information about each economy with information on where they currently stand in terms of digital economy and what steps they need to undertake to improve and boost up their position in the domain of digitalisation

Does perceived top management involvement and knowledge sharing affect perceived project performance? Evidence from the banking sector

This study explores the impact of perceived top management involvement and knowledge sharing on perceived project performance. Relationships are examined from a sample of CEOs, directors and project managers from one large international bank in Serbia. Our results confirm that the "human factor" is critical to project success because perceived top management commitment exerts the most relevant direct relation, in addition to having an indirect relation through perceived knowledge management. Moreover, a nontrivial proportion of perceived project success (35%) is explained through perceived top management involvement and knowledge sharing

Assessing efficiency in banking

The paper is an attempt to assess the productivity and efficiency on the basis of the information found in financial statements and operating evidence, as well as implementation of the DEA method. The definition of both input and output in banking is absolutely clear, however, an adequate analysis of efficiency in banking requires that the right combinations of input and output be selected Every company has its own principles to implement in its operations. One of the most important is surely the efficiency principle. Relevant academic literature offers various combinations of input and output in testing bank efficiency. The developing countries will find it highly important to monitor bank efficiency and compare it to the countries in the region

Value of CRM initiatives for banks: Is the skepticism justified?

Financial services sector has undergone through dynamic development and there is an obvious need for innovative business models that will contribute to the clients' satisfaction as well as to acquisition of new clients. Customer relationship management could be defined as a strategy for understanding clients' needs with the goal to provide higher level of satisfaction, long-term cooperation and sales increase. In literature is still present scepticism about the value of CRM initiatives and accomplished improvements of business performances. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to understand basics and indicators of CRM success in banking sector. Paper gives literature review in this field and determines necessary resources to achieve advantages from long-term and good relationships with customers