Sustainable development and environmental accounting: the challenge to the economics and accounting profession

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of natural resources accounting in sustainable development. Natural resource accounting is important because the welfare of a nation measured in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) has several weaknesses. Design/methodology/approach – This paper achieves this objective by identifying the present status, the constraints and the challenges for the economics and accounting professions. Findings – The main weakness of GDP as a measure of development is that it does not take into account damages to environmental resources. However, the improvement of the concept to include environmental resource use is made difficult because of the difficulties of measuring environmental damage. The challenge to the economics and accounting profession is to ensure interdisciplinary collaboration, development of a framework to explicitly include the environment, development of credible valuation procedures for the environment, and inclusion of the various ethical positions advanced by various groups on the value of the environment. Practical implications – Some headway has been made on these issues during the last decade but a major challenge still lies ahead in further improving these approaches so that sustainable development becomes an achievable goal. Originality/value – This paper brings together diverse views and fusing them together providing a future path for research in environmental accounting to achieve sustainable development.

Empirical evidence from the corporate collapse literature suggesting re-examination of accounting standards in relation to valuation of assets

This paper examines the recent spectacular corporate collapses of Parmalat in Europe, Enron and WorldCom in the USA and HIH in Australia and argues for a re-examination of corporate governance regulations, particularly in relation to accounting standards regarding the valuation of assets. The recommendation that is put forward in this regard is based upon empirical evidence arising from further examination of the empirical results in (Hossari and Rahman, 2004). Specifically, the recommendation is based upon the realization that, among the 48 financial ratios across the 50-plus refereed studies, five financial ratios, all of which contained assets as one of the variables, were a relatively robust indicator of corporate collapse. The five ratios are: Net Income/Total Assets, Current Assets/Current Liabilities, Total Liabilities/Total Assets, Working Capital/Total Assets, and Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets. This paper suggests that it's not the failure of the corporate collapse prediction models, rather it's the erosion of the reliability of some key input data, namely assets and the valuation thereof, that is largely responsible for the apparent failure of these models in capturing impending collapses, such as those that we witnessed in the recent past. Such empirical findings support the argument that assets are soft targets for misrepresentation, because of the leeway granted in accounting standards with regards to their valuation.

Analysis of the learning context, perceptions of the learning environment and approaches to learning accounting: a longitudinal study

This study investigates student approaches to learning over the 3 years of an undergraduate degree course in accounting. The objective of the study was, first, to identify changes in learning approaches over the course duration. Second, the study examined whether any changes in learning approaches were consistent with changes in the context of learning as well as students' perceptions of the teaching/learning environment. The results show that students made greater use of sophisticated learning approaches over time linked to their more favourable perceptions of the teaching/learning environment as they progressed in their course. However, there were no significant changes in learning approach attributable to the learning context. Implications for accounting educators drawn from the findings are discussed.

Grid accounting service infrastructure for service-oriented grid computing systems

In this paper, we propose an architecture of accounting and payment services for service-oriented grid computing systems. The proposed accounting and payment services provide the mechanisms for service providers to be paid for authorized use of their resources. It supports the recording of usage data, secure storage of that data, analysis of that data for purposes of billing and so forth. It allows a variety of payment methods, it is scalable, secure, convenient, and reduce the overall cost of payment processing while taking into account requirements of Grid computing systems.

Does the use of computer assisted learning packages improve performance in accounting?

This study examines the factors affecting student performance in an undergraduate financial accounting course, utilising Computer Assisted Learning (CAL). Multiple regression analysis on student performance shows that positive perceptions of the usefulness of CAL significantly influenced performance. It was also found that International students had significantly poorer performance than local students. This result may be attributed to transitional problems experienced by these students, given their different pathways to university study Prior studies of accounting and computing at secondary school level, together with gender, were not significant influences on performance. The results have implications for accounting educators utilising CAL in courses as a means of improving students understanding of accounting concepts and as a means of providing efficient and effective educational instruction to maximise learning outcomes in accounting.

Locating non-western enlightenment texts for a global curriculum

The context of this paper is a university-based teacher education course in Melbourne, Australia. The assumption underpinning the course is that it is crucial for trainee teachers to examine the lenses they typically use in terms of common-sense understandings of children and adolescents. We point to the 18th century Western enlightenment period as the source of this thinking. I argue that it is important to be aware of other enlightenments that have shaped the traditions of students in our multicultural mix. In this paper, I explore the writings of the Mahabharata and other early Indian texts to see how they have also influenced ways of thinking about childhood and adolescence. Data for this paper have been drawn from course materials, student responses, translations of early Indian texts and popular stories depicting childhood and adolescence.

Public interest, ethics, and the balanced scorecard: implications for the accounting profession

The accounting profession bos been grappling with the issue of public interest responsibility for a number of years. The aim of this paper is to examine how a balanced scorecard (BSC) model can be used by the accounting profession to more effectively incorporate a public interest responsibility in its strategic framework. By using a BSC model, the paper provides an integrated framework for translating strategic values into a comprehensive set of objectives, performance measures and improvement actions.

Accounting professionalism : a cultural perspective of developing countries

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of culture on accounting professionalism in 12 developing countries by applying Gray's 1988 model and Hofstede 1980 cultural study.
Design/methodology/approach – Connecting seven variables introduced within a testable model lead the finding to classify the twelve countries within a range from statutory control to professionalism. The data set was collected from 1996 to 2000 through different sources. Twelve developing countries have been chosen from the Middle East and South East Asia in this study and cluster analysis is used for analysing and classifying the countries.
Findings – The results show while the Gray's hypothesis of statutory control is positively confirmed for Iran, and moderately for Bangladesh, Jordan, Oman, and Qatar, it is negatively rejected for Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Research limitations/implications – One limitation of this study is the improvised nature of the data set caused by the difficulty in collecting an extensive data set from developing countries.
Practical implications – The findings of the study provides a useful source of information about accounting authority in those developing countries in which improve the knowledge and literature about the accounting practice internationally.
Originality/value – The findings of the study are useful in harmonization process of the international accounting practices. Knowledge about important aspects of accounting setting of the countries is essential to realize the impediments of harmonization.

Influences on undergraduate students` intentions to become qualified accountants : evidence from Australia

In this study, first year commerce students in Australia were surveyed about their perceptions of their accounting studies and their perceptions of the attributes required of professional accountants. The paper specifically addresses the factors important in determining whether first year students intend to become accountants. The study uses a logistic regression model incorporating demographic and academic factors, as well as students' perceptions of the work of accountants, to predict intention to become an accountant. The results show that the perception of importance of generic skills, intrinsic interest in the discipline area, and course satisfaction were significant in determining intention to pursue a career as an accountant. As many students formed their judgments about the work of accountants from their accounting studies, the findings have implications for accounting educators in terms of the enthusiasm and motivation required in teaching accounting, as well as curriculum development that reflects the skill set required for an increasingly sophisticated business environment.

The first 10 years of accounting history as an international refereed journal : 1996-2005

This article undertakes a content analysis of publications in the first 10 years of the new series of the journal Accounting History. In so doing, it adds to the prior literature examining publishing patterns in the accounting history discipline. The article commences by providing an historical background to the introduction of the new series and the journal's editorial team. This is followed by a content analysis of the journal's research publications. This analysis examines patterns of authorship, the journal's most published authors, institutional and geographical affiliations of authors, author gender and article classifications.

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.