Expanding the horizons of accounting education : incorporating social and critical perspectives

This paper examines a case of accounting education change in the context of increased interest in ethical, social, and environmental accountability, presenting a reflexive case study of a new university accounting subject incorporating social and critical perspectives. Foundational pedagogical principles and key aspects of curriculum are outlined. The pedagogy draws on the integration of humanistic and formative education (principally based on Gramscian and Freirean approaches) and deep and elaborative learning. Two key aspects of curriculum and pedagogy are analysed. First, a curriculum based on a broad conception of accounting and accountability as power-laden social processes, drawing on a range of research literature. Second, the adoption of an authentic, supportive, and collegial team teaching approach. Students’ feedback relating to identified issues is presented. The paper contributes to the renewal of the social and ethical worth of accounting education, concluding that deep accounting educational change encompasses both the content and practice of classroom activity and changes in the self-consciousness of staff and students.

The effect of the work environment on accounting students' moral reasoning and development

Puxty et al. (1994) claim that professional accountants are induced to act ethically through two aspects of their socialisation, the education process, and the influence of work experience and role models who show what it means to be ethical. The education of accountants is not simply a matter of becoming technically competent, it is also a process of internalising accepted norms of professional conduct. Student accountants learn acceptable behaviour by learning the principles of good conduct in their education, and receiving advice and observing what significant others do in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the work environment on accounting students moral reasoning and development by comparing the DIT P-scores of accounting students pre and post cooperative education. Cooperative eduction is an industry placement program where students are required to work in commerce and industry for one year. Findings indicate that DIT P-scores decrease during cooperative education suggesting that accounting students, whilst in the work environment, do not reason according to their capability as measured by their pre-test scores.

Perceptions of corporate social and environmental accounting and reporting practices from accountants in Bangladesh

Purpose – The aim of this study is to elicit accountants' perceptions regarding corporate social and environmental accounting and reporting practices in a developing country such as Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach – Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) were surveyed to determine their perceptions on issues pertaining to social and environmental accounting and reporting practices in Bangladesh.

Findings – Whilst the findings show that accountants have positive attitudes toward corporate social and environmental accounting, progress is limited, with the absence of ICAB in making any noticeable effort to develop such practices.

Research implications – Unlike prior studies, the implications of this study suggest that without international influence, it is less likely that institutional forces in Bangladesh (ICAB and the government) would be effective in dealing with social and environmental accounting and reporting issues.

Originality/value – While prior studies advocate proactive roles of the accounting profession, this study argues that proactive roles are less likely to prevail in the context of Bangladesh without direct intervention from institutional and regulatory authorities in the international arena.

Does the change of accounting regulation on employee share options give rise to greater scope for earnings management?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the concern about the impact of accounting regulatory change pertaining to employee share options (ESOs) on earnings management. Following Australia’s adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005, companies are required to recognise the fair value of ESOs as expenses. Due to inherent imprecision in the estimate of ESO’s fair value, the regulatory change from disclosure to recognition was widely claimed to potentially give rise to an alternative mechanism to manage earnings. This study provides empirical evidence on whether the regulatory change leads to earnings management problems.

Design/methodology/approach – This study uses the regulatory change in accounting for ESOs to provide a direct test of earnings management between disclosed versus recognised regimes for the same sample of firms. The sample consists of Australian firms from S&P/ASX300 for the period from 2003 to 2006.

Findings – The results show that, although the accounting regulatory change from disclosure to recognition may provide an alternative earnings management vehicle, there is no evidence of this occurring. There could be several reasons for this finding. First, the statistical tests lack power. Second, there are stricter audit tests on recognised amounts than on disclosed amounts. Third, given the concern of excessive pay and the close scrutiny of compensation, managers may have already understated ESO values in the disclosure regime. Finally, managers have limited time and resources and the effort involved in the adoption of IFRS in 2005 could have restricted the time available to manage earnings via the ESO reporting channel.

Originality/value – This study adds to the limited research on whether a change in accounting regulation for employee share options from disclosure to recognition gives rise to greater scope for earnings management. One reason for the lack of empirical evidence in the research is due to the problem of designing a test. Bernard and Schipper suggest that within-firm studies have limitations for comparing the effects of recognition versus disclosure when the change is driven by an estimate becoming more reliable. A cross-sectional study is also problematic due to self-selection bias if firms can choose between disclosure versus recognition. This study circumvents potential design problems raised by Bernard and Schipper by setting a test using regulatory change which allows the test to be compared directly using the same company.

Developing an ethics education framework for accounting

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of ethics education that promotes the structured learning of ethics in the accounting discipline. The Ethics Education Framework (EEF) is based on three key inter-related components that include: Rest’s (1986) Four-Component Model of ethical decision-making and behaviour; the key cognitive and behavioural objectives of ethics education; and the discrete and pervasive approaches to delivering content. The EEF provides university students and professional accountants a structure to learn to identify, analyse and resolve ethical issues, to the point of action. The EEF is a four-stage learning continuum represented as a set of building blocks which introduces ethical concepts and then reinforces and develops new levels of understanding with progressive stages. This paper describes the EEF, and includes a discussion of how it compares with other ethics education models, and an analysis of the support through responses by professional organisations (based on an Exposure Draft issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), as the initial International Education Practice Statement). The IFAC has now revised its International Education Standard (IES 4) in relation to ethics, with a commentary period till July 2011.

Identifying the extent, motivations and barriers to outsourcing of accounting services

In this paper we analyse the oursourcing of accounting services. The extent to which firms are currently outsourcing, or considering outsourcing such services, and the motivations and barriers associated with outsourcing are identified. Empirical data from a random sample of accounting firms are used in this analysis. Data indicate that the majority of accounting firms are either currently outsourcing or considering outsourcing and that they exopect the volume of oursourced services to increase. In contrast to the scholarly literature advocating labor arbitrage as the primary driver for organizations choosing to outsource, in this study it was found that the main factors underpinning the decision to outsource were the expediting of service delivary to clients, and to enable the firm to focus on its core competencies.

Accounting education at a crossroad in 2010 and challenges facing accounting education in Australia

Of the various reports released in 2010, two purport to examine the state of accounting education in Australia. These are Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010 and Challenges Facing Accounting Education in Australia. Both were released as collaborations of the leading academic organisation, the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) or professional accounting bodies in Australia including the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA),1 and Certified Practising Accountants of Australia (CPA Australia). As their titles imply, the main thrust of these reports is to examine the challenges facing accounting education in Australian universities and, as such, they act as the input for this AE Briefing. The main challenges articulated in these reports portray a sector suffering from the combined pressure of a large international student enrolment, high student-to-staff ratios, an inadequate funding model, and an ageing academic staff profile. By way of commentary, we suggest that, if these gloomy circumstances continue to develop unabated, then the future for the sector will play out as a ‘perfect storm’2 with the sector suffering on-going troubled development.

Accounting for the multidimensional nature of the relationship between adult obesity and socio-economic status : the French second National Individual Survey on Food Consumption (INCA 2) dietary survey (2006–07)

The objective was to study the multidimensional nature of the relationship between adult obesity (OB) and socio-economic status (SES),
using comprehensive indices of SES taken separately or synthesised in an overall index. A nationally representative sample of adults aged
18–79 years was taken from the French second National Individual Survey on Food Consumption (INCA 2) dietary survey (2006–07).
Weight and height were measured and OB defined as BMI $ 30 kg/m². SES variables were reported in questionnaires and included
occupation, education and characteristics of household wealth. Composite indices of SES (household wealth and overall SES indices)
were computed by correspondence analysis, and relationships with OB were investigated with logistic regression analysis. In total, 11·8
(95% CI 10·1, 13·4) % of French adults were obese, without significant difference by sex. While no significant relationship was observed
in men, all SES indicators were inversely correlated to OB in women. Both education and the household wealth index were retained in the
stepwise multivariate model, confirming that different socio-economic variables are not necessarily proxies of each other regarding the OB
issue. On the other hand, ‘controlling for SES’ while including several measures of SES in multivariate models may lead to collinearity, and
thus over-adjustment. A more integrative approach may be to derive a synthetic index by including the SES factors available in a given
study. Beyond this methodological perspective, understanding how OB is related to the different dimensions of SES should help to
target the more vulnerable groups and increase the effectiveness of prevention.

How easy can the barley brie : drinking culture and accounting failure at the end of the nineteenth century in Britain

Purpose – This paper seeks to extend the development of the historical accounting research agenda further into the area of popular culture. The work examines the discourses that surrounded the drinking of alcohol in nineteenth century Britain and explores how an accounting failure disrupted the tension between the two established competing discourses, leading to a significant impact on UK drinking culture at the end of the nineteenth century.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs both primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources are used to develop the main themes of the discourses deployed by the temperance societies and the whisky companies. Primary sources derived from the contemporary press are employed, as necessary, in support.

Findings – The paper demonstrates that accounting, although it may not be central to a discourse or other social structure, can still have a profound impact upon cultural practices. The potential for research into culture and accounting should not therefore be dismissed if no immediate or concrete relationship between culture and accounting can be determined. Further support is provided for studies that seek to expand the accounting research agenda into new territories.

Originality/value – The study of popular culture is relatively novel in accounting research. This paper seeks to add to this research by exploring an area of cultural activity that has hitherto been neglected by researchers, i.e. by exploring how an accounting incident impacted upon the historical consumption of Scotch whisky in the UK.

Style of information usage and use of accounting information : a Malaysian study

Purpose – Since the 1990s, there has been a growing interest in style of information usage. However, most studies on style of information usage are conducted in developed countries. There is limited research on style of information usage in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the existing literature by examining relationships between style of information usage and use of financial and non-financial information in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopted a survey method, for which a written questionnaire was prepared and mailed out to companies in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Terengganu and Pulau Pinang.

Findings – Findings of the study show that diagnostic style of information usage is positively associated with use of financial information, while interactive style of information usage is positively associated with use of non-financial information. Further analysis on types of non-financial information used by managers who adopt interactive style of information usage reveals that customer-related non-financial information such as quality, customer satisfaction and flexibility play a more important role in their decision-making processes.

Originality/value – The paper provides insights into relationships between style of information usage on and use of accounting information in developing countries. Findings of the study can be applied to assist management accountants in meeting managers’ information requirements.

Regulatory theory insights into the past, present and future of general purpose water accounting standard setting

Purpose – Accounting and water industry experts are developing general-purpose water accounting (GPWA) to report information about water and rights to water. The system has the potential to affect water policies, pricing and management, and investment and other decisions that are affected by GPWA report users' understanding of water risks faced by an entity. It may also affect financial returns to accounting and auditing firms and firms in water industries. In this paper the authors aim to examine the roles of the accounting profession, water industries and other stakeholders in governing GPWA. Recognising that the fate of GPWA depends partly upon regulatory power and economics, they seek to apply regulatory theories that explain financial accounting standards development to speculate about the national and international future of GPWA.

Design/methodology/approach – Official documents, internal Water Accounting Standards Board documents and unstructured interviews underpin the authors' analysis.

Findings – The authors speculate about the benefits that might accrue to various stakeholder groups from capturing the GPWA standard-setting process. They also suggest that internationally, water industries may dominate early GPWA standards development in the public interest and that regulatory capture by accounting or water industry professionals will not necessarily conflict with public interest benefits.

Practical implications – Accounting for water can affect allocations of environmental, economic, social and other resources; also, accounting and water industry professional standing and revenues. In this paper the authors identify factors influencing GPWA standards and standard-setting institutional arrangements, and thereby these resource allocations. The paper generates an awareness of GPWA's emergence and practical implications.

Originality/value – This is an early study to investigate water accounting standard-setting regulatory influences and their impact.

Nature, extent and antecedents of risk management in accounting, law and biotechnology firms in Australia

This paper provides empirical evidence on the nature and the extent of risks faced by small and medium-sized biotechnology and professional service firms (accounting and law) in Australia, as well as on the style of their adopted risk management methods and approaches. The findings of the study indicate that the top three risks faced by these firms are related to reputation, recruiting and retaining skilled staff, and cost management. The study also finds that more than half of the respondent firms manage risk in an integrated manner. The results of this study provide useful insights into the nature, extent and driving forces of risk management practices in these firms.