599 resultados para Chartered accountants
Resumo:
The focus on corporate governance has grown exponentially over the last decade. As evidenced by the increasing number of codes of best practice developed by leading international bodies such as the OECD, the Commonwealth and CalPERS (refer Demirag et al. (2000) for a fuller list of publications), corporate governance reform has now become a key global issue. Not only do factors such as the increasing globalisation of financial markets, the growth in multinational corporations and regional economic developments motivate the need for good corporate governance, but the recent spate of large corporate collapses such as Enron and WorldCom in the United States and HIH Insurance in Australia clearly signal the urgency for significant improvements in corporate accountability and reporting.
Resumo:
Business ethics emerged as a major public concern following a spate of corporate collapses during the 1980s and early 2000s, Corporate collapses such as HIH and Harris Scarfe in Australia; Enron, Worldcom and Global Crossing in the US; and Parmalat in Europe, have precipitated questions about the business and accounting practices of these firms and the role played by their accountants and auditors, According to Armstrong et al. (2003, p, 1), one can hardly pick up a business publication today without noting some reference to an accounting scandal....The sheer number of accounting abuses serves as prima facie evidence that something more is needed in terms of accounting ethics.
Resumo:
Numerous empirical studies on knowledge management have examined the relative effectiveness of various enablers, such as organizational structure (Bennett and Gabriel, 1999; Gold et aI., 2001), technology (Gold et aI., 2001; O'Dell and Grayson, 1998), culture (DeLong and Fahey, 2000; Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000), managerial system (Nonaka, 1994; Sveiby, 1997) and strategy (Bierly and Chakrabarti, 1996; Holsapple and Joshi, 2001) on knowledge creation and sharing in organizations. Little research has focused on the role of management control systems (MCS) in facilitating knowledge sharing in knowledge-intensive firms (Ditillo, 2004). This study examines how the interactive use of management control systems (MCS) could facilitate the different modes of knowledge sharing among accounting professionals in Malaysia. Based on Nonaka's (1994) knowledge sharing mode, this study found a highly significant relationship between an interactive use of MCS and knowledge sharing to suggest that a more open, less fmancial-oriented and more interactive type of MCS tends to interlink and underpin organizational social process which is the central part of the knowledge sharing process. While professional accountants are generally keen to gain access to knowledge databases to source for possible task solutions, they are generally hesitant to share their tacit knowledge by transforming that knowledge into explicit form. The fmding suggests that there may be cultural-related factors that inhibit sharing of one's tacit knowledge totally and completely.
Resumo:
In this study financial advisers’ relative influence on entrepreneurs’ decisions have been investigated. Financial advisers are advisers, included in entrepreneurs’ discussion networks, with whom entrepreneurs discuss financial issues. The concept of financial adviser includes a range of different people with different functions, irrespective of whether these people provide the entrepreneur with finance or not. It may include people such as venture capitalists, business angels, bankers, accountants, advocates or management advisers. Based on follow-up surveys completed in relation to the Danish participation in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), it was found that financial advisers only play a minor role in the two early phases of the entrepreneurial process before the venture is actually started. Entrepreneurs might have relationships with financial advisers in these stages, but only few of them are included in the discussion network. It was further revealed that the ties between financial advisers and entrepreneurs often are weaker than the ties entrepreneurs have with others in their discussion network. Two practical implications for financial advisers emerged from the study. First, they need to re-consider their role in the early phases of the entrepreneurial process in order to increase their influence and benefit from the co-operation. Second, they need to find a way to create a closer relationship with the entrepreneurs they advise.
Resumo:
Purpose – This paper aims to examine undergraduate students’ attitudes towards the accounting profession, including accounting as a career, as a discipline, as a profession and perceptions of the work activities of accountants.
Design/methodology/approach – The data set used in this paper was collected via questionnaires. The present study compares several aspects of a prior study of Marriott and Marriott using the Accounting Attitude Scale developed by Nelson.
Findings – Overall, the paper supports the view that exposure to accounting at university does not enhance positive attitudes about accounting as a discipline, but reinforces rule-memorisation, and lack of involvement with conceptual skills or judgement.
Research limitations/implications – The paper only examines students’ attitudes at one point in time and does not attempt to identify whether students’ attitudes change over the period of their study. The paper can only speculate as to why there is a difference between local and international students’ attitude towards the accounting profession. Third, the questionnaire is only administered at one institution. There is a scope to extend this study across institutions as well as conduct a longitudinal study. In order to validate the findings, further research via in-depth interviews with students may help determine the factors that influence students’ attitudes.
Originality/value – The results from this paper are expected to contribute to the body of research by providing accounting educators with insights into how the curriculum may influence students’ attitudes towards the profession, together with implications as to how the profession should be promoted to undergraduate students.
Resumo:
Using legitimacy theory this paper contrasts the values portrayed by public accounting firms via their recruitment practices and society's expectations of the responsibilities of a professional accountant. Society confers on organisations legitimacy when the value system of the organisation is congruent with the value system of the larger social system (Deegan, 2006). It is argued that there is increasing incongruence between the value system of public accounting firms (that employ accounting graduates) and society's value system that includes an expectation of accountants to act in the public interest. This study draws on evidence from recent corporate collapses, to question whether the attributes/skills displayed by accountants have reduced their capacity to act in the public interest. Interviews with employers show that preferences for employment are given to graduates who 'fit the culture' of the organisation and have the ability to 'market' the firm to clients. Attributes that define the professional accountant appear to be less highly valued. It is concluded that the attributes valued in the workplace today have the potential to increase the risk of 'severing the social contract' between the accounting profession and society.
Resumo:
A number of changes have occurred in the higher education sector under the auspices of quality and quality improvement. Much of this change has resulted in a compliance-driven environment (more measures, more meetings, more form-filling and less time for the core activities of teaching and research). It is an environment that seeks to assure all and sundry of the quality of academic programs. Anecdotally, many academics are not convinced that the current systems do, indeed, assure quality. The reasons for this may be many and varied. One suggestion is that differences in perceptions about the purpose of higher education inevitably lead to differences in the definition of quality itself and consequently, differences in systems designed to assure that quality. Understanding what academics think about the purpose of higher education may provide some clues about how they consider quality should be defined.
In this research, the focus is on the views of academic accountants in Australia, defined as: academics whose main discipline area is accounting and who are involved in accounting education at an Australian university. The findings of this research show that the respondent group do, in fact, view the purpose of higher education currently promoted in their schools/departments differently from the purpose that they consider ought to be promoted. Such fundamental differences have the potential to influence the motivation and effectiveness of staff undertaking core activities in Australian universities. In addition, articulating the views of this important stakeholder group also has the potential to ensure that their views are considered in the discussions around purpose, quality and performance measures in higher education – all of which impact on the working lives of academic accountants in Australian universities.