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Since accounting for an enterprise's human resources was first discussed more than thirty years ago, it has encountered two main barriers to entry into mainstream accounting. These were: 1. that employees do not qualify as assets and 2. an inability to establish a meaningful system of measurement. In the context of current accounting concepts the first of these barriers is discussed establishing the legitimacy of the paradigm. Acceptable methods of measuring the value of assets are examined concluding that the present value, using added value as a base, is most useful for the majority of enterprises. Accepting that human resources are an asset, consideration should also be given to recognising the associated liabilities. The impact of accounting for human resources is examined by reference to a set of published financial statements. With an ever changing accounting environment, the opportunity to recognise human resource assets and liabilities in the financial statements should be taken.

Human resource accounting is concerned with the identification and measurement of data relating to the organisation's human resources and the communication of such relevant information to interested parties. Our objectives in this article are firstly to familiarise both financial and non‐financial managers with the techniques of accounting for human resources, and secondly to summarise the advantages and disadvantages of this additional financial reporting activity. The wide range of human resource valuations yielded by different accounting procedures is demonstrated in a research application of human resource valuation to the staff of Liverpool F.C. Ltd.

The human resource valuation system cannot be considered to be a complete system of accounting unless it is followed by an equally competent system of auditing. Application or use of human resource accounting, therefore, must also be followed by a separate HR audit to ascertain whether or not the performance of the managers has been true and fair in the overall interests of the organization they serve. The application and usefulness of human resource valuation depends on the future efforts and experiments to be made by practising managers, accountants and academicians. It also needs support from the professional bodies and government. In the absence of human resource valuation, the management may not realize the negative effects of certain programmes aimed at improving profits in the short run. Such programmes may result in decreased value of human assets due to a fall in productivity levels, high labour turnover and low morale. Audit of human resources could help in finding out the efficiency of every segment. Human resource audit could enable the appraisal of the performance of various managers. The basic function and management of human resources is also greatly facilitated. Hence human resource valuation and audit activity could be helpful in improving the efficiency of human resources in the changing business scenario.

The paper sets out to identify the key role that Jan‐Erik Grojer's work on human resource costing and accounting played in linking initial developments in accounting for people with the more recent advances associated with the emergence of the intellectual capital concept.

The paper is in the form of an essay that briefly considers the history of approaches to the challenge of accounting for people.

The recent developments associated with intellectual capital highlight the importance and value of adopting a rather wider conception of accounting for people.

The paper provides a provocative introduction to the topic of accounting for people and as such may be of value to both newcomers to the field and those who are simply intrigued by the idea itself.

The purpose of the paper is to reflect on how sensegiving cues are encapsulated in models of reporting for human resources. This has been by investigating elements, arguments and formats of the models.

This paper focuses on the three discourses of human resource reporting that Jan‐Erik Gröjer is a part of. This paper is an appreciation of the importance of Jan‐Erik's work in the field of human resource communication as well as an illustration of how ideas and models changes over time.

The paper concludes that: there is no coherent idea of how sensegiving should be made in order to affect the sensemaking processes of human resources, the models emanate from different forms of critiques and the sensegiving cues change accordingly, and accounting for human resources has an ethical dimension.

The choice of model for reporting on human resources affects not only the content of the human resource report (the what and how question), but also affected by which arguments are considered as most efficient in the sensegiving process..

The paper contributes to the understanding of how sensemaking is dependent on which sensegiving cues bring forward in the accounts of human accounts.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the process through which ideas are translated across disciplines. It does this by focussing on how the idea that people are corporate assets was translated between the accounting and human resource management (HRM) disciplines.

This paper is based on the interpretation of a historical case study of the travel of ideas between the accounting and HRM disciplines. Translation is used as an analytical lens as opposed to being the object of the study and is theorised drawing on insights from the Scandinavian Institutionalist School, Skopos theory and linguistic translation techniques.

Translation by individual translators involved the translator stepping across disciplinary boundaries. However, translation performed by interdisciplinary teams occurs in the “contact zone” between disciplines. In this zone, both disciplines are, at once, source and target. Ideas are translated by editing and fusing them. In both cases, translation is value laden as the motives of the translators determine the translation techniques used. Legitimacy and gravitas of the translator, as well as contextual opportunities, influence the spread of the idea while disciplinary norms limit its ability to become institutionalised. Also, differential application of the same translation rule leads to heterogeneous outcomes.

This is the first accounting translation study to use the theories of the Scandinavian Institutionalist School or indeed combine these with linguistic translation techniques. It is also the first study in accounting which explores the translation of ideas across disciplines.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between human resource attributes and the operating performances of accounting firms by sampling data from the 2012-2013 Survey Report on Accounting Firms, as compiled by the Financial Supervisory Commission in Taiwan.

Multiple regression analysis is conducted to measure operating performances with various measurements, such as operating profits and business diversification. The independent variables include male to female ratio, percentage of senior executives, percentage of employees with higher education backgrounds, organizational vitality, human resource diversity, percentage of employees with certified public accountant (CPA) qualifications and human resource costs (HRCs). The control variables are the firm history, market shares and ownership structures since the inception of the firms.

The empirical results regarding the operating profits model suggest that the higher the male to female ratio, the percentage of employees with higher education backgrounds, organizational vitality, human resource diversity, percentage of employees with CPA qualifications and HRCs, the greater the operating profits. Meanwhile, the findings regarding the business diversification model indicate that the higher the male to female ratio, percentage of senior executives and human resource diversity, the greater the business diversification.

It is intended that the research findings can assist the management of accounting firms to understand the human resource attributes critical to operating performances, which will help to enhance the competitiveness of employees, mitigate the operating risks and improve the operating performances of the firms.

There is growing evidence that Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) activities are being pursued in an interdisciplinary manner. One such discipline where management accounting could contribute is in Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). The integration of business strategy and Human Resource Management minimises the risk of neglecting human resources as a vital source of organisational competitive advantage. It also provides a broader range of solutions for solving complex organisational problems and ensures that human resources are given consideration when setting company goals. This empirical study examines the current role of management accounting in relation to the SHRM process using data from surveys of Finance Directors and Human Resource Directors from both Canada and the UK. The results reveal that Canadian Finance professionals are more involved in providing information for developing, evaluating and controlling Human Resource (HR) strategy than UK Finance professionals. Both HR and Finance respondents considered that there was a need for a closer partnership between HR and Finance professionals.

This his paper focuses on a specific aspect of Value‐Based Management (VBM), the design of performance measurement systems. This remains an important challenge not only in Management Accounting but also in Human Resources Management. Performance measurement on various levels of organisation should be aligned to value creation, and management compensation should be tied to the achievement of targets set to these measures according to VBM proponents. In the present article definitions of concepts and issues associated with the design of performance measurement systems are discussed. Furthermore, the paper presents a review of four tools available to measure and manage intangible resources: human resource accounting, economic value‐added (EVA), balanced scorecard (BSC) and intellectual capital (IC). The role of non‐financial measures is also analysed from a VBM framework. Finally, some concluding remarks are highlighted in the last section.