Every company must consider the changes in a digital environment. In the era of digital transformation, the company understands the importance of information technologies, and makes adjustments in the form of structural changes. Modern technology usage provides the possibility of the analysis of previously unimaginable types and amounts of data, and introduces significant changes in the field of auditing. By simplifying the audit work, digitalization has also created new opportunities for IT auditing. The aim of this paper is to present the opportunities and challenges of key digital trends in auditing, or the usage of big data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and robotic process automation. There is an emerging need for auditors to take advantage of digital technology usage and respond to the challenges of digitalization in a systematic and high-quality way. The progress of using digital technologies in auditing is contributing to more reliability and better quality reporting, which is leading to increased trust among stakeholders in the results of audit work.

As a prerequisite for long-term strategic and financial planning, sustainable growth is a future-oriented concept that was based on the company’s long-term survival with value creation. The primary aim of this paper is to determine the indicators that have an influence on sustainable company growth rate during the five-year period of 2016 to 2020. Panel regression analysis was used in order to thoroughly analyze the sustainable growth variables. Our analysis was based on a sample of 675 observations of companies operating in the Eastern European market. The obtained results showed that liquidity and leverage have a negative impact on sustainable growth, while profitability has a positive impact on sustainable growth. The impact of these variables was statistically significant. The obtained results may serve as an effective company tool to improve the target sustainable growth rate. They provide support for the company’s management to improve its business and ensure healthy growth without major financial difficulties, as well as to promote a sustainable business that will increase the market value of the company. Moreover, all internal and external stakeholders will be provided with insight into the reality of growth plans and opportunities for future sustainable growth, which creates a basis for measuring a company’s business prosperity and predicting its long-term performance.

Background: To manage growth opportunities effectively and to make a significant impact on superior longterm performance, it is necessary to analyze firm value and diagnose its determinants. Increasing profit, providing prosperity to the company's stakeholders, and improving company value are the goals of every company's business. Purpose: The paper aims to build a model of the company's optimal value by assessing company performance based on financial statement analysis of European companies over the period 2015-2020. Study design/methodology/approach: The impact of financial indicators such as financial leverage, profitability, size, liquidity, growth, and asset tangibility on company value was thoroughly considered. The empirical research was founded on a sample of 158 Eastern and Western European companies, generating 948 observations. Panel regression analysis was conducted. Findings/conclusions: The obtained results revealed that debt-to-assets ratio, return on equity, and assets tangibility have a significant adverse effect on company value, whereas the return on assets and firm size have a significant favorable effect. The obtained conclusions should serve as a beneficial tool for the strategy of reaching the targeted market company's value and ensuring the company's future viability by the market. Hence, stakeholders could assess the perspective of the future company's development and strengthen the importance and influence of financial variables on the company's value. Limitations/future research: The research limitations, which are also opportunities for future research, are aimed at the investigation of company value indicators at the level of individual European economies or industries. One should look at the company's value factors before and after the Covid-19 pandemic and consider a longer time in the company's business. Other financial determinants that affect the value of the company could be considered, and the company value could be measured by some other indicators. Also, the influence of nonfinancial determinants on the company value could be researched.

This research aimed to determine whether and how financial analysis combined with machine learning can support decision-making for sustainable business growth. This study was conducted using a sample of 100 Serbian companies whose bankruptcies were initiated between 2019 and 2021 to identify key factors that distinguish solvent from insolvent companies. Two neural networks (NNs) were trained and tested to predict these discriminating factors one year (Y-1) and two years (Y-2) before bankruptcy initiation. Initially, a total of 37 predictor variables were included, but prior to modeling, variable reduction was performed through VIF analysis and t-tests. The training dataset comprised 70% of the sample, while the remaining 30% was used for testing. Both NNs utilized a softmax activation function for the output layer and a hyperbolic tangent for the hidden layers. Two hidden layers were included, and training was conducted over 2000 epochs using the gradient descent algorithm for optimization. The research results indicate that poor cash management is the first sign of possible insolvency one year in advance. Additionally, the findings reveal that retained earnings management can serve as a reliable bankruptcy predictor two years in advance. The overall predictive accuracy of the NN models is 80.0% (Y-1) and 73.3% (Y-2) for the testing dataset. These findings demonstrate how selected ratios can support bankruptcy prediction, providing valuable insights for company proprietors, management, and external stakeholders.

Serbia is a significant producer of tobacco in Europe and the only country in Europe where tobacco production is growing. Due to privatization, some of the most important multinational companies are now producing tobacco products in Serbia. Bearing in mind the liberalization of the market and the harmful effect tobacco products have on health, this research tried to analyze the tobacco and tobacco products sector in Serbia. The study’s main goal was to analyze the characteristics of the tobacco and tobacco supply chain in Serbia and determine comparative advantages and levels of integration with the world market. The methodology used in this study included the index of concentration of tobacco manufacturers, followed by a panel regression analysis to determine factors that affected profitability in this industry. Also, foreign trade performances were analyzed using the indices of revealed comparative advantages and integration. The research was conducted for the period from 2013 to the last available year. The results indicate the growth of tobacco production despite the decline in the number of farms, the highly concentrated production of tobacco products, and the significant intensification of foreign trade despite modest comparative advantages.