This study explores how professional social networks affect competitiveness using a bibliometric approach. The study uses data from the Web of Science database from 1998 to 2024 and a selection of 165 scholarly publications. The selection was made according to PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature review in 2020, while data analysis was done using Bibliometrix R package. The objective was to identify major research areas, spot new topics of interest, and chart the conceptual platform for this area by looking for co-citation, co-occurences from keywords, and thematic clusters. Early findings show how professional social networks help improve competitiveness by facilitating knowledge sharing, driving innovation diffusion, and generating strategic linkages. The clusters found were grouped into four broad categories: motor themes, basic themes, emerging themes, and niche themes, each described according to how they contribute to forming competitive advantage. This original comprehensive systematic review, to our knowledge, explores how professional social networks intersects with competitiveness, providing a sound groundwork for future studies.

This study examines the impact of sustainability reporting regulations on the accounting profession, with a focus on how accounting professionals are expected to adapt to new reporting requirements in the context of digitalization and sustainability integration. Using a qualitative research design, the study is based on a focus group involving accounting professionals and sustainability experts, aimed at identifying key challenges, opportunities and competency needs related to the effective implementation of sustainability reporting within organizations. The findings indicate that sustainability reporting requirements necessitate the development of a broad set of competencies among accounting professionals, extending beyond technical reporting skills to include sustainability knowledge, digital literacy, and enhanced communication and negotiation abilities. Automation and digitalization of accounting and reporting processes are identified as key enablers for improving efficiency, reducing repetitive tasks and minimizing human error. Moreover, advanced IT solutions, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing, are perceived as valuable tools for supporting ESG data collection, integration and analysis. The study is conducted in the Romanian context, providing insights into the specific challenges faced by an emerging EU economy in adapting to sustainability reporting requirements. The study concludes that continuous learning and adaptability are considered important for accounting professionals to effectively respond to evolving sustainability reporting regulations, contributing to the existing literature by highlighting emerging competency requirements in this field. These findings should be interpreted as exploratory and context-specific, reflecting the perspectives of participants from a single focus group conducted in the Romanian accounting context.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the economic efficiency of OMV Petrom SA, by analyzing how it maintains its performance in a context marked by structural transformations and increasingly stringent sustainability requirements. The research proposes an integrated approach, in which the financial analysis is correlated with strategic decisions and social impact, in order to outline an overview of the sustainability of the applied economic model. The methodology adopted is qualitative, based on the case study as the central tool. This choice allowed for an in-depth examination of the company through the contextualized interpretation of a set of relevant variables — return on equity, investment structure, cash flows, operating margin, debt level, and projects with social impact — extracted from the official OMV Petrom documents for 2023 and early 2024, supplemented with historical financial data series from the last decade. The analysis was conducted from a multidimensional perspective, combining the financial, strategic, and social dimensions. The research results highlighted the fact that OMV Petrom manages to maintain a solid self-financing capacity, allocating significant resources to both economic projects and social responsibility initiatives. The low level of debt, combined with a constant operating margin and a prudent investment policy, confirms a resilient economic model. In addition, the active involvement in education, health, and environmental projects indicates a strategic approach aligned with the ESG principles. The originality of the work lies in the integration of a systemic perspective on economic efficiency, going beyond a traditional accounting-type analysis. By correlating economic variables with social impact and strategic objectives, the research offers an interpretative model applicable to large companies in the energy sector, that are in full transition. This contribution adds theoretical and practical value to the specialized literature dedicated to the economics of the enterprise.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between accounting education (AE) and artificial intelligence (AI), using a bibliometric analysis technique. To achieve this, the data has been extracted from Web of Science, covering a period of 9 years, between 2017-2026. Applying the PRISMA methodology and bibliometric analysis, this paper highlights the research directions in the area of AE and AI, the most relevant contributions of the authors in the field, as well as the journals and topics that are under development in the field. Analysing the results, a sharp increase in the works published after 2023 was found, against the backdrop of the increasingly accentuated development of AI and the existence of debt analysis in the field of higher education and vocational training. Following Bedford’s law, the presence of center-periphery structures is observed, thus reflecting the consolidation of the field but also its interdisciplinary existence. Moreover, the LOTKA distribution highlights that most authors have only one contribution, emphasizing the fact that the scientific community is in the process of development and maturation. It is observed, however, that the adoption of AI in accounting is taking place graphically and largely depends on organizational factors, but on the other hand, it is observed that there are several methodological challenges to implementing AI as well as some ethical and regulatory ones. We thus observe that AI is present not only as a technical tool but as a tool that actively contributes to the development of accounting education and of accounting practice. The paper highlights a framework of analysis for understanding the evolution of digital accounting education and highlights possible directions for future research, regarding the adaptation of the university curriculum and the development of a clear regulatory framework.