Project “DT4A” is implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021–2026 and is financed by European Union funds through the NextGenerationEU instrument.
Research team
Katarina Žager, Ph. D., is a university professor at the Department of Accounting at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb. She teaches courses (Accounting I, Accounting Information Systems, Accounting for SMEs) at the integrated undergraduate and graduate university study program and several courses at the university specialist and doctoral study, as well as at the professional study. She authored or co-authored over 200 papers in the areas of accounting. Throughout her career at the Faculty of Economics and Business, she has held numerous positions: Vice Dean for Education and Students (2004-2006), Head of the Department of Accounting (2008-2010), Head of the Master’s Study program in Accounting and Auditing (2008-2010) and was a member of various Committees. Since 2007, she has served as the Head of the Postgraduate Study in Accounting and Taxes. From 2017 to 2024, she was the President of the National Scientific Promotion Committee for the field of Economics. She is also an active member of various professional accounting organizations.
Ivana Mamić Sačer is a full tenured university professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb. She teaches Governmental Audit, International Accounting, Basics of Accounting, and Analysis of financial statements, etc. She has co-authored the following books: Governmental Auditing, Auditing, Accounting information system, Analysis of Financial Statements, Bookkeeping, etc. Ivana Mamić Sačer was a project manager on several university projects: “Excellence and Efficiency in Higher Education in the field of Economy–E4“funded by European Social Fund (the coordinator of project), “Construction of Croatian accounting terminology“ funded by the Croatian Science foundation, and others. In the period of 2024-2025 she was a member of the project FORCE – ‘’Forensic Accounting and Fraud in Contemporary Digital Environment.’’ Ivana is a co-head of joint doctoral study ‘’Digital innovation management’’ organized by the Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb and the Faculty of organisation and informatics in Varaždin. She is a certified internal auditor and the President of Internal Auditing Chapter at the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts. Ivana is a member of the Expert Council of the State audit office in Croatia. She is also a member of non-profit Association of accountants and financial experts in Zagreb. Since 2024, she has been a member of the Scientific Field Committee responsible for conducting procedures for academic appointments and making final decisions on appointments in the field of economics.
Sanja Sever Mališ is a Full Professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. Her research and professional interests include accounting, auditing, and fraudulent financial reporting. In addition to several scientific research projects funded by the University of Zagreb (short-term project grants between 2015 and 2019), she has participated in a research project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation entitled Development of Croatian Accounting Terminology, as well as in the scientific research project Harmonization of Financial Reporting of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. She also served as a collaborator on the project Excellence and Efficiency in Higher Education in the Field of Economics – E4, funded by the European Social Fund, aimed at developing occupational standards and qualification standards.
To date, she has published more than 150 papers in international scientific journals, proceedings of international conferences, and national professional journals. She has participated in professional development programs and scientific and professional workshops in Croatia and abroad. She teaches courses related to her fields of interest at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels of study. She is a co-author of university textbooks and scientific books, including: Accounting I – Accounting for Non-Accountants, Financial Statement Analysis – Principles – Procedures – Cases, Auditing: A Supervisory Mechanism of Corporate Governance, and State Audit.
She is the recipient of the Mijo Mirković Award for the book Financial Statement Analysis (2008), granted for a scientific work representing a direct scientific contribution, as well as the award of the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals for a successfully defended doctoral dissertation. She is a Certified Internal Auditor.
Ana Novak is an Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Croatia. At the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, she participates in teaching accounting-related courses at the professional undergraduate study programme, the professional graduate study programme, the integrated undergraduate and graduate study programme, as well at the university specialist postgraduate programme. Her research interests focus on accounting, accounting information systems, financial reporting, the application of information technology in accounting, and accounting education. She has co-authored a number of scientific and professional publications in these fields. She was a member of the project “Construction of Croatian accounting terminology”, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. She was a project manager of the short-term research project “Analysis of the Importance of Information Technology in Ensuring the Quality of Financial Reporting”, funded by the University of Zagreb. She is a certified internal auditor in the field of business sector, and also participates in the delivery of the Professional Training Programme for Certified Internal Auditors organised by the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts. She is the head of the Professional Graduate Study Program in Accounting, Financial Reporting, and Auditing and the secretary of the University Specialist Study Program in Accounting and Taxes. She is a member of the Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals of Zagreb and the Section of Internal Auditors within the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts.
Nikolina Dečman is an Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, where she currently serves as Vice Dean for Business, Protocol, and Organization. She previously held the position of Head of Professional Undergraduate and Graduate Studies and served as President of the Committee for Cooperation with Secondary Schools. She has more than eighteen years of experience, and her professional engagement encompasses teaching, research, and project work.
She teaches accounting courses and her research interests include accounting, accounting for crafts and SMEs, financial and non-financial reporting, with particular emphasis on integrated reporting. Her current research focus addresses the relationship between accounting information, sustainable business practices, and ESG reporting, including analysis of the impact of digital transformation on accounting practice and reporting standards. She is the author/co-author of more than eighty scientific and professional publications. She is a Certified Internal Auditor and a recipient of awards from the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts for her postgraduate specialistic and doctoral theses. She has participated in numerous international and national projects funded by the EU, the Croatian Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education, the UNIZG, and the Polish National Agency (NAWA). She served as the main coordinator of the Erasmus+ strategic partnership consortium DIGI4Teach, which received the “Good Practice” label. Through her academic and professional work, she connects academic excellence with the needs of the business community and emphasises the development of student competencies, the enhancement of teaching through digital tools, and cooperation among universities, industry, and professional organisations.
Ivana Barišić is an Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. She has been actively engaged in academic research in the field of accounting since 2008, with a particular focus on internal auditing, internal controls, professional ethics, and accounting education. She obtained the academic title of University Specialist in Business Economics (univ. spec. oec.) in the field of Financial Reporting, Auditing, and Analysis in 2009, after completing a specialist postgraduate thesis on the relationship between internal auditing and corporate risk management processes, for which she received an award from the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals. She earned her PhD in 2013 from the Faculty of Economics, University of Split, with a doctoral dissertation on the effectiveness of internal audit in enhancing corporate performance. She is the author of more than 60 scientific and professional papers, many of which are indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and a co-author of two editions of the university textbook Internal Auditing, as well as several professional manuals in the field of accounting. At the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, she participates in teaching at the professional undergraduate study programme, the professional specialist graduate study programme, as well as the integrated undergraduate and graduate university study programme. She teaches courses in accounting, internal control, and internal auditing, and serves as the course coordinator for an elective course focused on professional practice and the professional skills of accountants. She has participated as a member of a research team in the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia project “Liberalisation of Croatia’s Capital Account in the Process of Accession to the European Union” (2008–2013), in the University of Zagreb short-term support project “Analysis of the Importance of Information Technology in Ensuring the Quality of Financial Reporting” (2018), as well as in several professional projects. She is an active member of the Internal Auditors Section of the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals and a lecturer within the continuing professional development programme for certified internal auditors. She is a certified internal auditor in the business sector and a member of the Editorial Board of the conference proceedings Internal Auditing and Control, organised by the Internal Auditors Section of the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals.
Ivana Pavić, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. She teaches Basics of Accounting within the undergraduate professional study program, Accounting 1, International Accounting, and Public Sector Audit within the integrated undergraduate and graduate university study program.
She has participated in several scientific and professional projects, including the Croatian Science Foundation Project Building Croatian Accounting Terminology, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports project Harmonization of Financial Reporting for Small and Medium-Sized Entities, and the University of Zagreb project Development and Application of the Case Method in Teaching International Accounting. She was also an active member of the European Social Fund–funded project Excellence and Efficiency in Higher Education in the Field of Economics (E4).
Ivana Pavić is a member of the Organizing Committee of the international scientific conference Odyssey, organized annually by the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. She also serves as a member of the Examination Committee for the professional examination for bankruptcy trustees at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia.
She has been a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) since 2010. She has been involved for several years in county committees responsible for the preparation and implementation of high school student competitions in accounting.
She is the co-author of domestic and international books in the field of accounting and international financial reporting, including: Application of IFRS – Case Studies, Harmonization and Standardization of Financial Reporting of Small and Medium Enterprises, Accounting 1 – Exercise Manual, Performance Audit in Public Enterprises, Financial and Accounting Aspects of School Operations, Transformation of Accounting Systems in Different Countries under the Influence of Convergent Processes, Audit – A Control Mechanism for Corporate Governance, State Audit: A Precondition for Accountability and Transparency in the Public Sector, and Analysis of Financial Statements – Essential Concepts and Applications.
Associate Professor Saša Jakšić, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Department of Statistics at the Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb. He teaches several courses within the integrated university study program, including Methods of Applied Mathematical and Statistical Analysis, Statistics, Business Statistics, Fundamentals of Microeconometric Analysis, and Time Series Analysis and Forecasting, as well as the course Methods of Applied Mathematical and Statistical Analysis within the Master Degree in Economics (MDIE) program. At the Doctoral study program in Digital Innovation Management, he teaches the course Statistical Methods for Scientific Research.
In addition to his teaching activities, the candidate has authored or co-authored 30 papers published in international and domestic journals, as well as in proceedings from international scientific conferences. Of these, 14 papers are indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database and 15 papers in the Scopus database. In 2012, he received the "Dr. Mijo Mirković" award for co-authoring the university textbook Business Statistics (Poslovna statistika). In 2021, he received the "Ljubomir Martić" award for co-authoring the university textbook Methods of Applied Mathematical and Statistical Analysis (Metode primijenjene matematičke i statističke analize). Since 2018, he has been a member of the editorial board of the Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics (CREBSS). From 2015 to 2017, he was an associate on the Croatian Science Foundation research project "Understanding, Monitoring and Analyzing Local Government Budget Transparency: The Case of Croatia and Slovenia – Open Local Budget Index" (project code: 3008, project leader: Prof. Katarina Ott, PhD – Institute of Public Finance). From 2015 to 2018, he was an associate on the Croatian Science Foundation installation research project "Application of Microsimulation Models in the Analysis of Taxes and Social Benefits in Croatia" (project code: 4096, project leader: Ivica Urban, PhD – Institute of Public Finance). He is a member of the Croatian Operational Research Society (CRORS/HDOI) and the Croatian Statistical Association (CSA/HSD).
Mateja Brozović is an Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. She is involved in teaching at undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels in the fields of accounting, auditing, forensic auditing, and financial statement analysis, and participates in mentoring bachelor’s and master’s theses. She actively participates in national and international scientific research and development projects, including projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (STRUNA), the European Social Fund (HKO), and several Erasmus+ projects focused on sustainability, digitalisation, and innovation in higher education (SUSTA, DIGI4Teach, FORCE). She has co-authored a number of scientific and professional papers in the fields of accounting and auditing and has contributed to the preparation of university textbooks, manuals, and other publications. She has presented research findings at national and international scientific and professional conferences. She is a member of the Section of Internal Auditors and a Certified Internal Auditor in the field of business, and also participates in the delivery of the Professional Training Programme for Certified Internal Auditors organised by the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts.
Ana Rep Romić is an assistant professor at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb. In addition to teaching, she conducts scientific research and works on national and international projects. Her research interests include financial and non-financial reporting, with a particular emphasis on the quality of reporting, the application of information technology in accounting, and the examination of professional accounting and digital competencies of professional accountants. Ana collaborates with numerous domestic and foreign researchers, primarily through projects in which she participates. She is the author or co-author of several dozen scientific and professional papers and participates in the preparation of international scientific monographs. She regularly reviews papers for scientific journals and conferences, has reviewed two accounting textbooks for high schools with an economic focus, and is an editor of the scientific journals Green Transition and Sustainable Development (GTSD) and Problems of Theory and Methodology of Accounting, Control and Analysis. As part of her professional engagement, she participated in the program and organisational committees of conferences. At the Faculty level, she was a member of the Faculty Council for several terms, as well as a member of several boards, including the Board for Advancing Project Activities (which she chaired for one term), the Board for Quality and Accreditation, the Board for Cooperation with Secondary Schools, and the Library Board. She actively participates in numerous forms of collaboration with the broader community through the organisation of workshops for students, the delivery of teacher professional development training courses, the promotion of the Faculty among secondary school students, and collaboration with accounting experts. Ana is a member of the Internal Auditors Section of the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals.
Dominik Piršić is an assistant at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb. After completing secondary education in economics, he enrolled at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, majoring in Accounting and Auditing. He graduated in September 2023, earning academic degree of Master of Economics. His master’s thesis, entitled “Financial and Non-Financial Reporting in the European Union and the Republic of Croatia”, was awarded by the Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals. During his studies, he gained professional experience in the audit department at Mazars. Upon graduation, he joined the consulting firm Deloitte d.o.o., where he worked as an accountant in the tax department. Since October 2024, he has been employed at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, as a teaching assistant at the Department of Accounting. He is currently involved in delivering seminar classes in the integrated undergraduate and graduate university programs (Accounting 1, Auditing, Financial Statement Analysis, Forensic Auditing), the undergraduate study program (Introduction to Financial Statement Analysis), and the graduate study program (Introduction to Auditing, Financial Reporting and Auditing, Forensic Accounting and Auditing). He is also enrolled in the postgraduate (doctoral) program Economics and Business Economics.