Technological progress and the development of electronic services make financial services one of the fastest-growing sectors. The role of the current education system is to ensure that all users of an ever-increasing variety of products and services understand them and are able to use them efficiently. However, in terms of gender, socioeconomic, and demographic factors, the existing system of financial literacy education exhibits considerable disparity. The main goal of this research was to identify which factors had the greatest impact on the level of financial literacy and to analyse the magnitude of that impact. The study involved 363 first-year undergraduate students at the University of Žilina, Slovakia, and consisted of two parts—a questionnaire and a test that evaluated the impact of five groups of factors on the level of financial literacy. The research results suggest that the student’s gender, father’s education, family’s financial background, and student’s part-time work experience were among the most important determinants of financial literacy. Identifying these factors can aid in the adjustment of financial literacy education to reduce identified inequalities.

Financial distress prediction models have been extensively utilised to assess the financial health of companies. However, their predictive accuracy can be significantly affected by extraordinary economic disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional models, particularly those designed for stable economic conditions, necessitate evaluation and potential adaptation to maintain their effectiveness during unprecedented circumstances. This study seeks to evaluate the performance of financial distress prediction models developed by authors from the Visegrad Four (V4) when applied to Slovak automotive companies before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, the best-performing models from those selected were identified in the pre-pandemic period (2017–2019). The performances of these models were subsequently analysed during the pandemic and post-pandemic periods (2020–2022). Finally, their coefficients were re-estimated to enhance accuracy while preserving the original variables, ensuring the interpretability of any changes. The objective is to identify the models with the highest performance during the pre-pandemic period, assess their reliability under crisis conditions, and suggest improvements through coefficient re-estimation. While the majority of models experienced significant declines in performance during the pandemic, some retained adequate predictive accuracy. The re-estimated coefficients improved the overall accuracy of the models and also enhanced the sensitivity of some, offering stakeholders the option to utilise either the original or adjusted models based on their specific context. To complement the analysis, we also constructed new models for the pandemic and post-pandemic periods, allowing for a more comprehensive evaluation of financial distress prediction under changing economic conditions. This study provides a framework for adapting financial prediction models to unprecedented economic conditions, contributing valuable insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to enhance predictive tools within dynamic economic environments.

Financial literacy, specifically its measurement and education in this field, is a very current topic. The main aim of this research was to find out whether secondary school education had a positive impact on the level of student’s financial literacy and to identify other important factors that affected its level. All 363 first-year bachelor's students of the Faculty of Operations and Economic of Transport and Communications (FPEDAS), University of Zilina, Slovakia, took part in the research. The research consisted of two parts – a questionnaire and a test. The questionnaire focused on demographic, educational, and socio-economic factors influencing students' financial literacy. The test included items aimed at finding out whether students could correctly define selected concepts of the financial area, whether they understood these concepts, and were able to analyze them. The most important finding of the research was that the number of lessons dedicated to mathematics and financial literacy in secondary school did not have a statistically significant impact on the level of student’s financial literacy. On the contrary, the level of financial literacy was correlated with the overall performance of the student at the secondary school and the type of secondary school the student attended. The research also aimed to verify the hypothesis that the student's study program affected the level of his or her financial literacy. It turns out that increasing the number of mathematics or financial literacy lessons is not sufficient to improve financial literacy levels, but more important is teacher education, the content and form of the education and the effectiveness of the teaching process. Keywords: financial literacy, secondary education, bachelor study program, tobit regression model