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The point of exit in this research is that there should be an internal audit department in a national government department in South Africa to render a top‐class internal auditing service that is cost‐effective and affordable, preferred by clients, continuously complies with the standards of professional practice of internal auditing and best practice and have a positive impact on the national government department’s bottom line. The empirical research has highlighted several factors, including the ignorance of key role players and lack of professional proficiency on the part of internal auditors, as factors that impede the establishment and operation of an internal auditing function in the public sector in South Africa. It is recommended, that audit committees in the public sector should launch a joint marketing action, directed at key role players, to promote the potential value of a top‐class internal auditing service in the public sector, as well as the factors that impede it.

There is increasing academic pressure on Departments of Accounting in South Africa whose academic programmes are accredited with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). The reason for this that the academic training of potential chartered accountants has long been their main academic focus, and they often fail to do justice to their real academic mission of scholarly activity in accounting (the pursuit of science as an endeavour), which is central to the essence of a university. The quality of such departments’ research is not yet an important criterion for their prestige. However, only Departments of Accounting that develop Accounting as a social science in scholarly activity in accounting deserve international recognition. This empirical study attempts to convince Departments of Accounting, particularly those whose academic programmes are accredited by SAICA, to embark on scholarly activity in accounting as soon as possible.

The fact that Departments of Accounting at South African universities, whose academic programmes are accredited by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), have for many years focused primarily only on the academic training of prospective chartered accountants, has established a culture that is removed from research, and this is in contrast to the nature of a university. The aim of this paper is to evaluate some recent developments in the South African academic environment that may promote a research culture and to point out the coercive role these developments may play in changing the existing culture of a Department of Accounting. The study concludes that in view of a list of specific recent developments in the national academic environment, Departments of Accounting will be forced to change course toward becoming more research oriented. A number of recommendations are made to expedite the process.

After the effective date of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 15, the accounting treatment of credit card rewards programmes (CCRPs) is no longer explicitly prescribed. Uncertainty regarding what constitutes faithful representation, and the inconsistent accounting practices observed, has created a need for guidance on the appropriate accounting treatment of CCRP transactions. Accounting theory has the potential to provide the foundation for this guidance. As a result, the objective of this study was to develop a theoretical model for the accounting treatment of CCRP transactions using accounting theory.

This non-empirical qualitative conceptual study utilised document analysis, focussing specifically on accounting theory, to construct an accounting treatment model.

Applying the relevant accounting theory (International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB's) Conceptual Framework), a theoretical model for the accounting treatment of CCRP transactions was developed, which emphasises the importance of understanding the economic phenomenon (the CCRP transaction) and determining how management views the transaction (in isolation as marketing or as an integral part of the credit card transaction).

Addressing the problem of accounting for CCRP transactions with reference to accounting theory (which is the main element of scholarly activity in accounting) distinguishes this study from previous research on the topic. The CCRP accounting treatment theoretical model could assist CCRP management in faithfully accounting for a CCRP transaction and reduce uncertainty and inconsistency in practice. Moreover, this study identified the procedures to be employed when using accounting theory to determine the appropriate accounting treatment of business transactions. These procedures could be employed by accountants when faced with other transactions not covered by specific accounting standards.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the profiles of Australian, New Zealand and South African accounting faculty members. Additionally, the study investigates whether there are any differences in research productivity of the accounting faculty between countries as measured by peer-reviewed academic journal output.

This archival study uses details obtained from webpages of Departments of Accounting in the three countries to construct a profile of accounting academics.

Significant differences in the profiles of accounting academics were found that can be attributed to the institutional factors that exist in each country. Staffs at the junior lecturer and lecturer levels are more likely to be female, while senior lecturers and professors in all three countries were more likely to be male. While Australia and New Zealand had a similar percentage of staff holding PhD or equivalent academic qualifications, only a small proportion of the South African faculty held PhD or equivalent qualifications. A greater proportion of the South African faculty was professionally qualified compared to their Australian and New Zealand counterparts. New Zealand accounting faculty was more productive than their Australian colleagues, with South African academics being the least productive. Academics holding a doctoral qualification or equivalent were more productive than those that did not.

The research limitations relate to the use of websites as the primary data source. Incompleteness of information, inconsistencies in the type of information presented and a lack of comparability of information across institutions and countries may have led to some errors and omissions. However, given the relatively large sample size of 2,049 academics, this was not deemed to materially affect the final analysis.

The paper provides an important contribution to the literature on accounting academics. It is the first of its kind to present a comprehensive “snapshot” of the profiles of accounting academics at the universities in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

This paper aims to investigate the production of accounting doctorates in South Africa during the period from 2008 to 2014. The investigation was prompted by calls to qualify more academics at the doctoral level, bearing in mind that postgraduate supervision forms part of an academic’s core teaching responsibilities.

This archival study uses data obtained from the institutional repositories of four research-intensive universities in South Africa to construct a profile of the accounting doctoral theses produced.

Overall, the findings indicate a move towards the international requirement for doctoral-qualified accounting academics, implying an increased research orientation in South African university accounting departments. Some of the detail findings follow: most doctorates were produced at the University of Cape Town and the University of Pretoria. The accounting fields of taxation and financial management produced the most doctorates. Almost 50 per cent of the doctorates went to members of staff. Further, 28 per cent of the doctorates went to students with the CA(SA) professional qualification. The use of the PhD by publication format is growing. The low quantity of PhDs produced can possibly be explained by the low numbers of PhD qualified professorial staff who can act as supervisors. Lastly, the accounting doctorates analysed in this paper were longer and supervised by more people than the typical commerce faculty doctorate.

Not all South African universities were included in the study and therefore some accounting doctorates might have been excluded. In addition, accounting education doctorates, possibly supervised in faculties of education, would also be excluded in view of the approach followed in this paper, which was to identify accounting doctorates via departments and commerce faculties.

This article is the first of its kind to examine the accounting doctorates produced in South Africa since Van der Schyf’s (2008) call for the establishment of a research culture in the accounting departments of South African universities. As such, this paper makes an important contribution towards how such a research culture may be enhanced through cultivating doctoral education in this context.

Accounting academics in the South African system understand their primary responsibility to be the teaching of prospective Chartered Accountants (CAs) rather than the advancement of knowledge through research. The purpose of this study is to determine what factors motivate accounting academics who are CAs to obtain doctorates in an environment dominated by the profession, where promotion is possible to Full Professor without a Doctorate but not without the professional qualification of CA. And did these doctoral CAs face challenges on their journey, such as resistance from colleagues?

A total of 22 academic CAs with doctorates and 18 academic CAs studying towards doctorates were surveyed to gain a deeper understanding of who they are, what their motivations were for undertaking the doctorate journey and what they experienced.

The main finding of this study is that the culture of accounting departments in South Africa is beginning to shift from being teaching orientated towards being more research orientated. The CAs are pursuing doctorates for the purpose of career progression and for intrinsic personal reasons. The main challenges that they faced on their journey were finding the time for family and a social life and a lack of support from colleagues and their institution. However, support seems to be improving.

The change to a research-orientated culture in South African departments of accounting, as envisioned by Van der Schyf (2008), is only now starting to take place. These CAs with doctorates provide evidence of that change.

The value of this study is to provide accounting academics and the profession with a better understanding of, and a greater sensitivity to, accounting academics operating under the influence of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). The study also adds to the limited amount of literature on the motives and experiences of doctoral students, especially accounting doctoral students.

This paper explores the changing needs of employers and the business community in relation to the balance between technical and soft skills, such as communication skills, business presentation skills and other interpersonal skills. The researcher discusses the importance of soft relational skills for all business graduates, including accountants. The study further explains how soft skills can complement the technical skills taught to ensure that graduates are equipped to deal with the demands of a complex global business environment. The needs of different stakeholders, possible barriers to change and the way in which academic faculty can contribute are reviewed.

The purpose of this study is to describe the multiplicity of the role of the Accounting academic as a knowledge agent: in terms of the discovery of new knowledge and its recontextualisation into pedagogy, as well as effective teaching and learning in the field of Accounting.

Through a literature review and the collection of qualitative data (using purposive sampling), this study describes the Accounting academic’s role as a knowledge agent, as viewed by Accounting academics and professional accountants, with the aim of providing insight into the tensions that exist in the education of professionals.

The data collected in this study indicate that Accounting academics find themselves torn between their different roles: those of researcher and teacher. Accounting academics do not feel valued in their role as teachers, as at the university, more emphasis is placed and promotion is based on research, yet the Accounting profession places more value on their teaching and scholarship role.

There is an urgent need in professional Accounting education (trapped within a multiple principal paradigm) for some fundamental re-thinking of the focal point of research, and the knowledge agency of academe, particularly within a developing economy, such as South Africa.

The value of this paper is in its identification and description of the tensions experienced in the education of professional accountants. The university and profession are urged to value, acknowledge and reward the multiple roles of Accounting academics.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance and current position of the Meditari Accountancy Research Journal by building a profile of the articles published over the 21 years since its inception.

A descriptive meta-analysis of 293 articles published in 30 issues was conducted and comparable South African and international studies to structure the research were drawn upon. Contributors, research fields, research methods, citations and jurisdictions were examined and emerging trends assessed.

Meditari Accountancy Research Journal has a strong relationship with the South African accounting community. All dimensions of this article indicate that Meditari Accountancy Research has evolved over the 21 years since its inception and has made progress towards an international research journal.

Given that this study relates to one accounting research journal only, there is no specific benchmark against to which to assess its progress. However, the literature offers a basis for comparison.

The challenge is to maintain the traditional South African links while meeting the needs of a changing international accounting research environment.

The current study provides a comprehensive basis for an evaluation of the journal and its future potential by reviewing the full history of Meditari Accountancy Research Journal, which presents insights into the articles published within it, including the range and predominance of contributing authors, research methods, research fields, nature of research, citation rates and jurisdictions.