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The purpose of this paper is to pay tribute to several of the ideas of Jan‐Erik Gröjer by reviewing and critiquing the field of Human Competence Accounting (HCA) since his Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal review article in 1998.Three research questions he posed in that article are now addressed in the current paper: What could be done, as envisaged in the commentary of Gröjer and Johanson; What has been published in HCA research in the ten year period (1999‐2008); What more could/should be done in HCA as a research agenda.

A literature based analysis and critique of HCA accounting articles published in the selected journals from 1999 to 2008 is employed. A purpose built coding and classification scheme is built around several categories for the purpose of analysing the HCA literature.

The paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of Gröjer and Johanson's review and indicates that questions they raised and possible research directions have been acted upon by a number of authors. The findings of the analysis indicate that, a decade on from the original review, HCA is a legitimate area for accounting research and is multi‐disciplinary and multi‐focused in nature.

The paper only considers selected HCA articles within the ten journals used over the period 1999‐2008.American mainstream positivist research has not been reviewed. Also the categories chosen to represent HCA have several limitations which are addressed in the paper.

HCA research has a strong tradition and the Gröjer and Johanson review is an important beacon that provided insights to accounting researchers. The current analysis extends Jan‐Erik's work by providing several insights into what has happened and also provides several ideas for future research and policy work in accounting for HCA.

This paper aims to understand how managers in an Australian financial institution coordinated different organisational actions for the management of the work health of employees, by adopting “work‐life balance” initiatives.

The paper uses a narrative approach to analyse various internal and external documents and has also collected “self‐accounts” of employees.

It was found that management used “work‐life balance” initiatives to manage both the physical and emotional health of employees. Management's main focus was on community volunteering, which was satisfying for employees, but also of significant benefit to the organisation in terms of marketing and branding. Thus, management was able to use these initiatives to motivate employees to work towards organisational goals.

The paper contributes to the developing literature on human competence accounting by using employee “self‐accounts” to compare with organisational statements in relation to worker health.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the differing perceptions or conceptualizations that have contributed to prevailing views held by accountants on the measurement and reporting of human resources.

The study provides an analysis of extant literature and presents a theoretical framework on the relationship between HR, intellectual capital and goodwill.

The lack of traction in the progress of accounting for people is due to several factors including tension between employees and management, the demands of internal and external stakeholders, and the historic roots of accounting for labour.

The paper provides suggestions as to how the debate regarding the valuing and reporting of human resources may be rekindled.

This study highlights the historical context for the lack of traction in the area of accounting for people, and the relatively recent development of the Intellectual Capital Statement as a partial but positive development in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of social accounting at the micro level and examines the use of social reporting for constructive purposes through internal communication devices. It explores the discourse adopted by a large organisation in social accounting and reporting (workplace flexibility) through employee newsletters. In doing so the paper seeks to answer two research questions. First, what workplace flexibility practices are evident in the employee newsletters? Second, do management use discourse (including self-accounts) in newsletters for self-serving management control purposes or for the emancipatory purposes of benefiting employees?

Content and discourse analysis are used to examine “workplace flexibility” practices portrayed within the newsletters. This study explores the discourse adopted by a large Australian financial institution, in its social accounting disclosure in employee newsletters. It does so by examining the discourse adopted by the organisation in relation to one aspect of social accounting, that is, “workplace flexibility” in the employee newsletters over the period 2003-2007.

The paper finds the financial institution used its internal newsletters to influence employee attitude and behaviour, not as claimed for social “betterment” – justice, welfare, emancipation. The possibility of social accounting's emancipatory potential was suppressed by those responsible for providing the accounts. The paper found that management used discourse (including self-accounts) in the newsletters for self-serving management control purposes and not as claimed for benefiting employees.

The idea that the organisation provides workplace flexibility for the sake of benefitting employees is questionable. The discourse found in the newsletters suggests that flexible work options instead appear to be aimed at garnering employee loyalty, with subsequent employer benefits of improved organisational performance. The organisation used the discourse on workplace flexibility to blur the boundaries of work and life and persuade the employees to work harder and longer, to continuously increase productivity. In doing so, the organisation camouflaged its own economic sustainability and profitability as workplace flexibility.

This paper aims to extend the understanding of human and structural capital as key components of intellectual capital by refining their definitions and outlining their relationships. It argues that psychology and sociology can further develop the understanding of intellectual capital despite having not previously been sufficiently recognised as relevant to the debate. The paper draws on these disciplinary areas to develop a model that specifies subsets of human and structural capital, of intellectual capital and the relationship between them, as a basis for a more comprehensive definition and effective measurement of it across a range of industries and firms. Finally, it argues that it is important for employers to determine how to capture human capital and convert it into structural capital so that it is not lost in times of rapid restructuring and high staff turnover.

The purpose of this paper is to address the subjectivity inherent in existing methods of human capital value measurement (HCVM) by proposing a 360‐degree peer review as a method of validating self‐reporting in HCVM surveys.

The case study is based on a survey of a section of the Royal Australian Navy. The sample was 118 respondents, who were mainly engineering and technical workers, and included both civilian and uniform.

The research may be summarised in three main findings. First, it confirms previous research demonstrating that correlations between self‐ and other‐ratings tend to be low. However, while previous research has found that self‐rating tends to be higher than other‐rating, it was found to be the opposite: other‐rating was higher than self‐rating. Second, personality is discounted as an influencing variable in self‐rating of knowledge. Third, there are patterns in the size of the discrepancy by knowledge dimension (i.e. employee capability, employee sustainability) that allow generalisation about the adjustment necessary to find an accurate self‐other rating of knowledge.

The findings are based on a single case study and are therefore an exercise in theory development rather than theory testing.

The 360‐degree peer review rating of knowledge has considerable application. First, use the outcomes in the way 360‐degree feedback has been traditionally used; i.e. identifying training needs assessment, job analysis, performance appraisal, or managerial and leadership development. Second, use it for performance appraisal – given the method's capacity to identify issues at a very finite level: e.g. are you building effective relationships with customers? Third, identify knowledge gaps, at a strategic level, for recruitment and development targets. Finally, in terms of financial decisions investors might be able to compare knowledge scores by organization.

Traditionally, researchers and practitioners have used other‐ratings as a tool for identifying training and development needs. In this paper, other‐ratings have been introduced as a method for validating self‐rating in the measurement of knowledge. The objective was to address one of the weaknesses in existing methods – subjectivity. The solution to this problem was to use three data points – self‐reporting, 360‐degree peer review, and personality ratings – to validate the measurement of individuals’ human capital. This triangulation method aims to introduce objectivity to survey methods, making it a value measurement rather than value assessment.

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.

This paper aims to highlight the influence of culture in the accounting profession and introduce/advance a framework for cultural competence in the accounting field.

This paper is written for academics and practitioners, focusing on strategies to promote cultural competency in the accounting profession. It includes professional rationales for accounting management and human resources practitioners recognizing the need for and the factors impeding cultural inclusiveness in the accounting profession.

Due to globalization, cross-border business operations are continuously growing. The need to understand and address cultural differences is imperative.

This article offers solutions to equip leaders in support of human capital management with engaging, retaining and diversity and equity competency for current and future employees and the globalization of their customer base. The research offers recommendations for cultural competencies to help strengthen business, and leadership address culture systematically in their highly complex roles.

The Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting has achieved critical mass and recognition as a primary place for publishing both scientific and practical applications of Human Resource Accounting (HRA). This paper reviews the state of the art of the development of HRA as it has appeared in the JHRCA since its inception. The paper assesses contributions and categorizes them according to studies which (1) underscore the importance of reporting human resource assets on the financial statements, (2) present empirical evidence, case and field studies on the various methods of reporting human resource assets and implementing HRA in various organisations, (3) analyse methods for measuring human resources, (4) demonstrate the use of HRA in human resource management decision‐making, (5) identify bottlenecks to the growth of HRA, (6) identify controversies in the field, and (7) discuss recent developments such as the balanced scorecard. The paper draws conclusions on the state of the HRA and suggests recommendations for future research and development.