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1 – 10 of over 102000Beverley Jackling, Paul de Lange, Jon Phillips and James Sewell
The purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying motivations of Australian and international students for studying accounting and entering the accounting profession.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying motivations of Australian and international students for studying accounting and entering the accounting profession.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reports results from a cohort of second‐year accounting students drawing on the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to assess intentions and behaviours in making decisions, particularly in relation to employment choice. The study utilises a validated attitude to accounting scale (AAS) which measures how the accounting profession is viewed by students generally, and more specifically, differences in attitudes towards accounting and the accounting profession between Australian and international students.
Findings
The study finds that students have a positive attitude towards accounting as a profession. However, there are significant differences between Australian and international students' levels of interest in accounting and attitudes towards the work of accountants.
Research limitations/implications
It is recognised that the differences in attitudes towards accounting between Australian and international students may be linked with motivations to pursue accounting based on personal, cultural and social influences. A limitation of the study is that international students are treated as a homogeneous group.
Practical implications
The findings of the study have implications for marketing accounting education internationally; in particular, acknowledging the impact of different attitudes towards accounting by international students.
Originality/value
The study not only addresses motivation to study accounting but also attitudes towards the accounting profession. By applying the TRA, the study has identified that government policy may influence motivation of international students towards accounting and the accounting profession.
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Tracey McDowall and Beverley Jackling
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…
Abstract
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.
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Smith (2003) responded to the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act by suggesting that government rules and regulations cannot preserve a profession where people lack integrity. He suggests that…
Abstract
Smith (2003) responded to the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act by suggesting that government rules and regulations cannot preserve a profession where people lack integrity. He suggests that leaders in the profession and academe “call individuals to excellence” and “inculcate in practitioners and students ethical behaviour and personal integrity”. This study investigates whether auditors’ attitudes towards creative accounting are associated with ethical judgement, their evaluation of the quality of financial reporting and their perceptions of factors that influence preparers of financial statements to use aggressive accounting techniques. The results of this study reveal a significant relationship between auditors’ assessments of the relevance and reliability (but not ethical judgement) of reported information and their attitudes to creative accounting. Some insight is gained into auditors’ perceptions of the factors that influence preparers to use creative accounting in South Africa.
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This study of budgeting practices and attitudes to budgeting in a local church uses Booth's (1993) framework to consider the potential conflict between the “sacred” agenda of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study of budgeting practices and attitudes to budgeting in a local church uses Booth's (1993) framework to consider the potential conflict between the “sacred” agenda of the church and the “secular” nature of accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
Over a six‐month period, the author conducted a series of semi‐structured interviews with key church leaders, and studied financial reports and the minutes of church meetings.
Findings
Clergy and lay people alike, far from viewing accounting as an unwelcome intrusion into their church's sacred agenda, integrated belief in their church's mission with the need to raise and manage the money necessary to mobilise that mission.
Research limitations/implications
Religion and religious organizations occupy a greater importance in society than academic accounting research would indicate, and this paper represents a response to that academic blind spot. Opportunities abound for further studies of the contribution accounting makes to other religious organizations, and to non‐profit organizations whose goals are not primarily wealth creation.
Practical implications
All organizations, even those with a sacred agenda, need to confront the reality of money and accounting if they are to achieve success. If they are unable to obtain or account for the resources they need for their mission, their ability to fulfil that mission is likely to be compromised.
Originality/value
By portraying accounting as an enabling and liberating contributor to a church's fulfilment of its spiritual mission, this study demonstrates that attitudes to accounting are inextricably intertwined with religious beliefs, and that accounting can be a valuable tool in a cooperative attempt to implement a spiritual vision.
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Rania Kamla, Sonja Gallhofer and Jim Haslam
This paper adds to a focus of the social accounting literature (on perceptions and attitudes to social accounting) by seeking to offer insights into Syrian accountants' attitudes…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper adds to a focus of the social accounting literature (on perceptions and attitudes to social accounting) by seeking to offer insights into Syrian accountants' attitudes towards, and perceptions of, social accounting in Syria in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, with particular attention to its role, future development and implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of an analysis of interviews of Syrian accountants; contextual analysis (and an appreciation of the prior literature).
Findings
Syrian accountants' perceptions are shaped by developments in Syria's socio‐political and economic context, encompassing imperialism/colonialism, globalisation and cultural specificities, including Islam. Interviewees perceived a significant role for a social accounting – that would parallel the Western form of social accounting – in enhancing well‐being in the dynamic context. At the same time, they were reluctant to see the development and implementation of this accounting in Syria as an urgent issue, so that this social accounting might be left initially at least with an even more marginal part to play than in the West. The study suggests that a combination of forces – global developments, Western imperialism and Syria's colonial history – have had a substantively repressive rather than progressive impact on the development of social accounting in Syria vis‐à‐vis its more positive potential.
Research limitations/implications
All limitations of interview research apply. This study focuses on Syria in a context when economic transition was a major issue. Further studies of economies in transition would be of interest.
Practical implications
An awareness of how the local and the global interact in debates over social accounting can provide insights for policy makers concerned with accounting regulation.
Originality/value
The focus on Syria, a non‐Western country, enriches the social accounting literature, which focuses mainly on Western developments.
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The purpose of this paper is to identify and gain recent insights into the extent to which skills expectation gap exists from the perspective of employers in a Pacific Island…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and gain recent insights into the extent to which skills expectation gap exists from the perspective of employers in a Pacific Island country, including the competencies perceived essential within the work context of accountants and the support provided by employers to accounting graduates to address the skills expectation gap.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the expectation–performance gap framework developed by Bui and Porter (2010), this study collects and analyses data via semi-structured interviews with employers at chartered accounting firms, large- and medium-sized commercial and industrial firms in Fiji.
Findings
Majority of the employers indicated that graduates from the Fijian universities are adequately prepared and have acquired the necessary attributes to perform at the workplace. However, employers expect universities to do a little more in terms of developing confidence and improving ability to apply theoretical knowledge to practice. The findings also outline that the institutional-, social- and student-related constraints directly affect the quality of graduates, which are not in control of academics.
Research limitations/implications
It is noted that graduate capabilities are developed over two different learning environments. This study focused on how universities prepared graduates to perform at the workplace from the perspective of employers. This serves as a basis for future research to investigate effectiveness of trainings provided by employers to graduates to enable them into becoming successful accounting professionals.
Originality/value
This study adds clarifications to the debate on academic–practice gap by providing recent insights into the extent to which graduates demonstrate capabilities to perform in the accounting profession, the prevailing issues with graduate capabilities and the employers’ contribution towards strengthening graduate capabilities.
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Nicholas C. Mangos, Neil R. Lewis and Bet H. Roffey
Analyses studies on the marketing practices of Australian, UK and Hong Kong public accountants and reviews the standards of professional conduct in each of the countries…
Abstract
Analyses studies on the marketing practices of Australian, UK and Hong Kong public accountants and reviews the standards of professional conduct in each of the countries. Classifies the methods used for marketing these services and associates them with the prevailing accounting ethical codes, thus providing a means of identifying similarities and differences in marketing services arising from those ethical codes. States that these methods also provide a basis for inter‐country comparison. Concludes that professional ethical standards have an impact on marketing strategies and this is not reflected clearly in the literature on the marketing of services.
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This study, based on a questionnaire survey, identifies the various factors which influence accounting students at the University of the South Pacific, being the only university…
Abstract
This study, based on a questionnaire survey, identifies the various factors which influence accounting students at the University of the South Pacific, being the only university in this region, to choose their discipline of study, their area of employment/specialisation after graduation, and acceptance of their first employment position. A knowledge of students' aspirations and preferences provides an insight into the quality of the profession in the future and has immediate benefits for the attraction and retention of graduates. A comparison is made with Saubert's (1991) study of students in the USA. In general the results show that accounting students in the South Pacific are motivated by similar factors to those indicated in other studies. Pecuniary interests are not the only important factors in choosing accounting as a discipline of study but are coupled with an expectation of challenging and satisfying work. For the purpose of accepting a job offer, the most important factors are prospects for advancement and professional training, together with job security. Public accounting in an international firm is the most preferred area of employment, while teaching at university and high school are the least preferred areas.
Eli Gemegah, Dimitra Hartas and Vasiliki Totsika
The increase in autism prevalence and presentation in the media suggests a rise in public awareness. This paper aims to explore what factors (contact, knowledge and ethnicity) may…
Abstract
Purpose
The increase in autism prevalence and presentation in the media suggests a rise in public awareness. This paper aims to explore what factors (contact, knowledge and ethnicity) may be associated to positive attitudes towards individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey examined contact with and knowledge of ASD among Black, Asian and White ethnic groups to predict public attitudes to people with ASD.
Findings
In multiple regression models, the results suggested that the level of contact predicts positive attitudes towards autism when demographic factors were accounted. The level of knowledge about autism were significantly associated to attitudes, but not consistently when demographic factors were accounted. However, differences in knowledge and attitudes to people with ASD were identified amongst Black, Asian and White ethnic groups.
Research limitations/implications
These findings have implications for policy and public health and education campaigns, including ensuring contact and knowledge of autism among the public.
Originality/value
These findings have implications for policy and public health and education campaigns, including ensuring contact and knowledge of autism among the public. Additionally, further effort is required to target public knowledge and attitudes to autism, particularly among ethnic groups. Institutional support tailored to encourage structured and unstructured contact across public domains such as education, health, social and care practices could effectively reduce prejudice between the public and people with ASD over time.
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This paper aims to explore the intersection of disability and accounting employment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the intersection of disability and accounting employment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses oral history accounts of 12 disabled accountants. The authors investigate narrators' experiences of being disabled people and professional accountants, identify the barriers they encounter in professional employment, and how they (re)negotiate professional work.
Findings
The narrators' accounts are complex and diverse. The narratives record a discourse of success, offset by the consistent identification of social and environmental barriers relating to limited opportunities, resources, and support.
Originality/value
The paper develops the limited research on the relationship between disability and the accounting profession, expands the limited literature on disabled professionals' experience of work, provides voice for disabled accountants, adds to the limited oral histories available within accounting, and augments the accumulated literature considering the accounting profession and minorities.
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