Abstract: English for Specific Purposes (ESP) at tertiary level in vocational programmes primarily has a utilitarian purpose, where English language becomes a tool for further developing specific education, helping in academic studies and demonstrating communicative ability and skills in the specialist area of study. Relevant teaching materials of English for Specific Purposes are designed with these points in mind. Our main concern here is to find out whether those courses designed by taking and developing often authentic samples of particular specific subject and language meet our students’ needs. The curriculum of ESP taught at University Department of Professional Studies, University of Split, focuses on a broad range of typical business contexts (such as work, money, banking, advertising, business) rather than content specific situations. The courses are tailored to fit general business purposes instead of more restricted ones appertaining to different business courses and concentrating on their particular features. Hence, a proficiency analysis of specific vocabulary acquisition was undergone together with an analysis of students’ attitudes towards the English language in order to identify and establish the level of communication efficiency and specialist vocabulary possessed and required. Participants in this study were students of Accounting and Finance and Business Trade from University Department of Professional Studies, University of Split, Croatia. All the students had background knowledge of general English and had attended courses of English for Specific Purposes. Results obtained confirm a restricted ability in the spectrum of specific language and skills required, especially in those cases where students were already struggling with general low level of language proficiency. Besides determining areas of weaknesses in students’ proficiency, the results also indicate the need to reevaluate our ESP courses since they are not fully fulfilling our educational needs. Integrating team-teaching or close cooperation between the subject teacher and an English language teacher might be a key in cases where emphasizing subject-specific content is important. Teaching the courses by applying methodological principles of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) might be one of the ways in bridging the gap between language and content-specific instruction. Another possibility would be higher occurrence of attendances of international or joint programs and semesters abroad through Erasmus or other similar programs of student mobility.