The interface of accounting and gender in specialist accounting history journals in the english language

This study focuses on the participation of women in the development of the specialist international accounting history literature. Specifically, based on data collected from the three specialist, internationally refereed, accounting history journals in the English language from the time of first publication in each case, the study provides evidence of the involvement of women through publication, through membership of editorial boards and editorial advisory boards and also through holding editor, associate editor and guest editor positions. In doing so, the study builds on the earlier work of Carnegie and Potter (2000) and extends an understanding of publishing patterns in the specialist international accounting history literature.

The first nine years of 'accounting history' : 1996 to 2004

This paper adds to the prior literature examining publishing patterns in the accounting history discipline by undertaking a content analysis of publications in the first nine years of the new series of the journal Accounting History. The paper commences by providing an historical background to the introduction of the new series of the journal and the journal's editorial team. This is followed by an authorship analysis of the journal's research publications. This analysis examines patterns of authorship (single and multi-authored papers), the journal's most published authors, institutional and geographical affiliations of authors (including international collaboration and changes over the nine year period) and author gender.

The impact of enterprise resource planning systems on management accounting : an Australian study

Information technology is significantly changing the operating practices of an increasing number of companies globally. These developments have important implications for the accounting profession and in particular accounting practices in the twenty-first century. This study examines the development of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as a means of illustrating how changes in information technology allows all systems in a company to be linked to manage operations holistically.

The study investigates the change in accounting systems using a sample of Australian companies with emphasis on the adoption of ERP systems including the potential impact of ERP on capital budgeting processes. The results show that ERP systems are changing management accounting practices, although at this stage, the impact on capital budgeting techniques appears to be limited. The findings contribute to the emerging body of literature on the development of ERP systems and its impact on management accounting teaching and research.

Implications of the IFRS goodwill accounting treatment

Purpose – This paper aims to critically examine the change in accounting treatment for goodwill pursuant to international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) by reference to the Australian reporting regime.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses and compares the former Australian and the new IFRS treatments for goodwill. This comparison focuses on the advantages and potential complexities of the new method, with the aim of identifying the issues and challenges that preparers, independent auditors and those involved in corporate governance face in complying with the new requirements.

Findings – The paper highlights that the identification and valuation of cash-generating units and goodwill require numerous assumptions to be made in estimating fair value, value in use and recoverable amount. Considerable ambiguity and subjectivity are inherent in the IFRS requirements.

Research limitations/implications – Findings suggest that future research should examine how financial report preparers and corporate governance mechanisms are dealing with the complex change required by the new goodwill accounting treatment and how the many critical issues involved in auditing the resulting figures are being addressed.

Practical implications – The research has practical implications for financial report preparers in identifying the issues that must be addressed in complying with the international goodwill accounting treatment. In turn, the paper highlights conceptual issues of relevance to auditors in their role of providing assurance on the resulting accounting numbers. It also has implications for others involved in corporate governance, such as audit committee members, in emphasising the areas in which they should be providing oversight of the accounting judgments. These issues are of relevance in any reporting regime based on IFRSs.

Originality/value – While much has been written about the mechanics of the new goodwill accounting requirements, there has been a lack of critical research highlighting the many problems and ambiguities that will arise in the application of those rules.

Recounting a difficult past : a South African accounting firm's "experiences in transformation"

This article examines the role of oral history in the social construction of collective memory and forgetting. The article presents a case study of a South African public accounting firm's attempt to document the history of race relations within the firm through the publication of a collection of oral histories. The research draws from the sociology of memory and recent scholarship on individual and collective memory in South Africa to analyze the firm's account of its experiences in making the transition from Apartheid to a multiracial democracy. The analysis finds that the firm's portrayal of its history reflects a narrative of reconciliation and redemption that minimizes the deep social and economic divisions that characterize South Africa's past, their relevance to accounting history, and the continuing salience of race to employment in public accounting.

Approaches to learning accounting : a cross-cultural study

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the cultural background of students and their learning approaches in a first year undergraduate accounting program.

Design/methodology/approach – While prior research in this area has more generally focused on the investigation of the approaches to learning by accounting students, there appears to have been little investigation into the learning approaches of students from different cultures who are studying accounting together at the same institution. The paper presents the results of a study of 550 students enrolled in an undergraduate accounting program at a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia, which used Biggs' study process questionnaire (SPQ) to assess the approaches to learning utilised by local and Chinese students.

Findings – The results showed that, while there were no significant differences in the use of surface and deep learning strategies by the Chinese and Australian students, there were significant differences in the learning motives of the two groups. Furthermore, the results contradict prior claims that Asian students rely principally on the memorisation and reproduction of factual information as a means of achieving academic success.

Originality/value – The study provides support for the notion that Chinese students may in fact have a culturally induced bias towards seeking understanding through deeper approaches to study.

Fostering deep and elaborative learning and generic(soft) skill development: the strategic use of case studies in accounting education

It is vital that accounting educators take responsibility for the development of students' generic (soft) skills in conjunction with, discipline-specific skills. Research indicates that the typical learning styles of accounting students are not suited to the acquisition of generic skills. In this paper learning theory is used to provide a framework to support the use of case studies as a tool to promote appropriate learning styles and thereby enhance generic skill development. The paper details a number of strategies that may be implemented with case studies to achieve these goals. The implications for accounting educators, which are significant, are discussed.

Reviewing research in education in Australia and the UK: evaluating the evaluations

In many countries concerns have been expressed about the merits of educational research. This paper reports on the outcomes of a review of reviews of such research in Australia and the UK. Taken at face value, the latest round of reviews are largely critical in the UK (where they have generated much debate) and mainly favourable in Australia (where they have not). In accounting for this difference the paper suggests that it might be explained in part as a function of how the reviews were conducted. In the UK reviews have tended to begin with the research and work forward to practice whereas in Australia they have been inclined to begin with practice and work back to the research. It is suggested that policy makers, practitioners and researchers in Australia and the UK have much to learn from each other's experience, as have those in other countries planning similar reviews.

Cost information in the new public sector environment : cost accounting change in a state-owned hospital

This paper reports on a case study of the utilisation and users of cost information in a state-owned teaching and research hospital in Australia. The findings indicate that the current utilisation of the cost information resides primarily at higher executive and managerial levels of the organisation. Organisational change, particularly pressure for improved productivity and competitiveness driven by public-sector reforms in Australia, is significantly filtering down throughout the subject hospital. Various productive and unproductive ways that cost information is used, and impediments to the use of costing information in the hospital setting, are identified.

Power and politics and their interrelationship with management accounting change

The issue of organizational change has assumed central importance in business- and management-related research during the last two decades. The management literature also well documents the significance of power and politics in organizational change, and its implication at various hierarchical levels of an organization. Surprisingly, the management accounting literature boasts little work on power and politics, and its interrelationship with management accounting change process. The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of power and politics in organizational change, with direct implications for knowledge of management accounting change.

The effects of accounting students` ethical reasoning and personal factors on their ethical sensitivity

Purpose – Rest posited that to behave morally, an individual must have performed at least four basic psychological processes: moral sensitivity; moral judgment; moral motivation; and moral character. Though much ethics research in accounting has been focused on component two, ethical judgment, less research has been undertaken on the other three components. The purpose of this study is to focus on component one, ethical sensitivity, of Rest's four-component model.
Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 156 accounting undergraduates was employed to investigate the ethical sensitivity of accounting students and the effects of their ethical reasoning and personal factors on their ethical sensitivity.
Findings – Results of this study show that accounting students vary in their ability to detect the presence of ethical issues in a professional scenario. There is no significant relationship between accounting students' ethical sensitivity and their ethical reasoning (P-score). Accounting students characterized as “internals” are more likely to show an ability to recognize ethical issues than those characterized as “externals.” The results also indicate that an accounting ethics intervention may have positive effect on accounting students' ethical sensitivity development. Hence, an individual who possesses the ability to determine what is ethically right or wrong (high ethical reasoning) may fail to behave ethically due to a deficiency in identifying ethical issues (low ethical sensitivity) in a situation.
Originality/value – Whilst much research has concentrated on ethical reasoning and ethics education to enhance the ethical conduct of accountants, it is important that the profession and researchers also direct their attention and efforts to cultivating the ethical sensitivity of accountants. The findings of this study provide additional evidence to support Rest's theory of a more comprehensive cognitive model of ethical decision-making and suggest a more balanced research effort in evaluating the ethical development of individuals.

Approaches to the development and maintenance of professional values, ethics and attitudes in accounting education programs

IES 4, Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes prescribes the professional values, ethics and attitudes professional accountants should acquire during the education program leading to membership of an IFAC member body.
The purpose of this paper is to support the development of IEPS 4.1, Approaches to Developing and Maintaining Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes. This will assist and support IFAC member bodies to discharge effectively their responsibilities to ensure that candidates for membership of an IFAC member body are equipped with the appropriate professional values, ethics and attitudes to function as professional accountants.
The IAESB believes that this paper, and the findings of the independent research team, will be of interest and benefit to IFAC member bodies, accounting educators, and others seeking to implement ethics education programs for professional accountants.

Understanding the learning approaches of first-year accounting students

This study evolves from the broader educational research that indicates the characteristics of the student and the perceptions of the teaching/learning environment influence the quality of student learning. The model of learning developed in the paper is based on Biggs' (1987a) model of student learning together with the congruence model of vocational interests and work environments proposed by Holland (1985,1992). The model of learning was tested using a sample of 826 first year accounting students using structural equation modelling (SEM).

The findings provide substantive information about the learning approaches of students with vocational interests congruent with the task demands of a first year accounting course. Additionally, there is strong support for the association between student perceptions of the teaching/learning environment and approaches to learning. In particular the re specified model of student learning identifies the relationship between student perceptions of the appropriateness of workload and the adoption of a surface approach to learning.

Ethics education for accounting students - a toolkit approach

In 2006, the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), an independent standard-setting board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) released an information paper entitled Approaches to the Development and Maintenance of Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes in Accounting Education Programs. The information paper stems from a global research project on ethics education in the accounting profession. The paper is designed to stimulate discussion and debate on the subject of ethics education and includes the provision of an Ethics Education Toolkit to encourage and assist accounting educators and member bodies of IFAC to implement ethics education programmes. Through a review of the literature, this paper considers why we should teach ethics, the types of ethics interventions that have been undertaken and the issues in teaching ethics to accountancy students. The paper then describes in detail the Ethics Education Toolkit and provides some evidence on the positive reaction of a group of students who are taught ethics, based on the principles and practice included in the toolkit.