Slađana Raičković — a certified accountant from Podgorica and prominent member of ISRCG, with decades of professional accounting experience. She is President of the Council of Large Taxpayers of Montenegro and of the Association of Tax Advisors of Montenegro.
Since 1996 she worked as Executive Director of Finance Plus, and in 2014 she became Financial Director — and one of the best consultants in the region.
Since 2016 she has been an Associate Professor at the University of Donja Gorica — course Informatics in Accounting / Digitalisation and Automation of Processes. She holds the licences of Authorised Appraiser and Court Expert in the economic and financial field.
The true purpose and responsibility of an accountant
“At the very beginning of my career, I often felt that my choice and life calling was not the right one — that accounting should not have been my choice. Especially as for the first 10 years I was a ‘collector’ of knowledge and licences which, as it quickly turned out, were both needed and not needed — because no one asked me for them.”
On the one hand, clients saw no value in reading reports for business improvement — they were a “necessary evil” and paid accountants to show documentation when an inspection came.
On the other hand, the state did not recognise the importance of the accountant’s responsibility either — allowing anyone to engage in this activity, although it is precisely the accountant’s responsibility to calculate the tax base.
“Naturally, from this a bitter feeling of ‘uselessness’ and lack of true purpose of this work had to arise. It was devastating — because as a professional you had invested too much (read: life) in something that no one needed. And what kind of job is it that anyone can do? That is not much of a challenge.”
The 2005 job ad and the change
In 2005, Finance Plus placed an ad that ran for months — not a single university graduate applied. Young people did not see themselves in this profession. Slađana concluded she had not been a good role model.
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself.” — Confucius
And I changed.
Optimised business and staff training
“I did not give importance to obstacles — I focused on achieving my vision.”
Fifteen years ago, even though she needed no more licences, she attended all kinds of trainings — professional and personal development.
She realised that with her knowledge and experience she could help many people in business improve their work. She found a way of presentation and made reporting easier to follow. At first, she “pushed” clients to look at their reports — which influenced them to change their attitude and use them intensively to optimise and reduce costs.
Sharing knowledge and engaging in the system
- Great satisfaction in training young people faster and giving them practical knowledge
- Improved data entry and report preparation through technology and informatics
- Client audits significantly shorter and more efficient
- Engagement in state bodies to improve the profession
- Good cooperation with like-minded colleagues — fellow accountants
Fiscalisation and work during the pandemic
Fiscalisation and online work during the pandemic contributed to the work at Finance Plus being done remotely from warm homes — because, in addition to internal technical support, the state also enabled online access and the submission of forms.
“The profession is no longer tied to the office and leafing through documentation. Now we can also travel, be with our children and stay at home — and that was a luxury I could not afford when I was starting out.”
International accounting standards with online support can bring Montenegrin accountants onto the European market — because they are applied equally in every European country. The service becomes exportable.
My team
“I am proud of my young team and Finance Plus — which has not only fulfilled my vision but is further expanding to the global market.”
Young people on the team have great knowledge and experience. Together they improve the software, aim for real reports in real time, optimised costs and taxes, good calculations with clear forecasts of earnings and liabilities.
“The attitude is that it is patriotic to pay our state 9% tax on earned profit — and that has been recognised as a quality, by both clients and the state.”
A call to accountants — take responsibility for your own development
“No one can change our status but ourselves. This is also a call to accountants to take responsibility for our profession — because handing over responsibility to someone else is as much of an excuse as surrendering ‘power’.”
We alone know what lies behind the words and the title “accountant”. That is why we alone are responsible for our status. The current result of our effort we can see for ourselves — but we can also improve it, by joining forces.
Everything is up to us. If we change — the attitude of others toward us will also change.
