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In 2012, Pacific Accounting Review (PAR) completed its 25th year of existence. This paper aims to review all articles published in PAR as a report on the “stewardship” of the journal.

Research papers published in PAR are analysed by topic, research methodology, author and institutional affiliation. This approach follows prior reviews in PAR. A comparison is also made with PAR over the period 1988-1996 and Accounting and Finance over the period 1973-1999 and the “top accounting journals” over the period 1990-2007.

The analysis indicates that PAR publishes papers across a wide range of topics, but uses research methodologies that are consistent with mainstream accounting research (as undertaken by the “top accounting journals”). The authors of PAR are concentrated in New Zealand and Australia, as is the source data. No strong trends were perceived in the data. In conclusion, PAR can be characterised as a broadly based accounting and finance journal that is primarily competing in an Australasian context.

This review provides some insight as to how the journal has evolved and how the mission statement has been put into effect. The journal has maintained much of its original mission. The anticipated “dialogue between researchers and practitioners” has not developed, probably due to lack of sponsorship by the profession. The paper should also form a basis for informing how to further develop the journal.

The paper updates the last review of PAR which was completed in 1997.

This paper seeks to examine the extent to which pictures are used to communicate intellectual capital (IC) information and the changes in volume of IC disclosure when pictures are included.

A content analysis was conducted to determine the impact that pictures have on IC reporting (ICR) results. In determining the extent to which pictures are used in corporate annual reports the paper compares frequencies of IC reported in pictures as proportions of: total IC reported, total pictures and total pages. A key assumption underlying content analysis is that the volume of disclosure signifies the importance of the item(s) being disclosed. The paper compares the volume of IC items disclosed with and without pictures to determine which items firms signal as being most important. Using these volumes the paper determines which of the sampled firms use pictures as a popular reporting mechanism to disclose their IC resources.

A significant portion (42 per cent) of ICR is made in picture form and the majority of pictures (66 per cent) communicate messages about IC resources. Therefore, the volumes of IC items disclosed change significantly when pictures are included. It is found that many firms use pictures to disclose their IC resources, particularly employees and brands which may indicate that these are their most important IC items.

A significant part of IC is reported in picture form in annual reports. Excluding pictures when analysing content in annual reports will result in ICR not being fully captured, a partial understanding of what IC is disclosed and misunderstanding of what IC items firms consider as being important.

The authors incorporate pictures into their content analysis. Pictures are not normally included in IC disclosure studies.

The purpose of this paper is to use the New Zealand electricity industry as a case study to describe and understand the importance of collaborative relationships in coping with the changes faced by sectors of the industry over the last two decades.

A multi‐method qualitative approach is used to investigate the nature of industry relationships. Data were collected through two‐phase in‐depth interviews with key electricity employees. Secondary documents and archival records were used to support participant contributions.

The research finds that the majority of the collaborative relationships in the New Zealand electricity industry are “forced”. Nevertheless, and despite the preclusions of competition, relationships continue to support the strategic imperatives of firms and form an important component of firm‐level operation.

The study provides an understanding of collaboration within a new contextual setting – the New Zealand electricity industry. To the best of one's knowledge, no other study has attempted to assess the importance of collaboration on these industry players. The qualitative analysis undertaken made it possible to discover insights that would not have emerged from more commonly used quantitative methodologies.

Purpose – This chapter aims to identify stakeholder perceptions on the service performance accountability of Malaysian local authorities.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey provides the primary source of information, and both descriptive and analytical methods are employed to support the analysis of the empirical findings.

Findings – The chapter shows that despite a strong interest amongst stakeholders for greater accountability of Malaysian local authorities, a standard definition and scope of accountability has not emerged. However, the findings do indicate a new bond of accountability emerging between local authorities and its broader public than previously existed.

Research limitations – The findings and discussion are limited to the propositions put forward in the questionnaire. Alternative research methods would complement the findings.

Originality/value – The findings contribute to our understanding of accountability as interpreted by key stakeholders of local authorities located within the context of a developing country. This could potentially assist Malaysian public sector administrators whereby, and arguably, enhancing the public accountability of local authorities may contribute to an improvement in the performance management of Malaysian local authorities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financial statement impacts of adopting NZ IFRS during 2005 through 2008.

The effects of NZ IFRS on the financial statements and ratios of first‐time adopters of NZ IFRS for a stratified random sample of 56 listed companies is analysed. In total, 16 of these were early adopters and 40 of which waited until adoption of NZ IFRS became mandatory. The analysis of the financial statement impact of NZ IFRS is conducted in the context of the accounting choice literature.

The results show that 87 per cent of firms are affected by NZ IFRS. The median and inter‐quartile ranges indicate that for most firms the impact of NZ IFRS is small. However, the maximum and minimum values indicate the impact can be large for some entities. The impact has considerable effects on common financial ratios.

The usual limitations applicable to small samples apply.

The findings may be useful to regulators and policy makers reviewing financial reporting requirements.

This study is the first to offer a comprehensive empirical analysis of the effect of adopting IFRS on financial statements in New Zealand, as well as on selected key ratios of interest to financial analysts. The data used are more recent than most IAS or IFRS studies around the world and are stratified to allow for comparison between voluntary/early adopters and mandatory/late adopters.

Companies use figures within the annual report to send messages. The purpose of this paper is to explore the opinions and understandings of annual report preparers who produce the figures and users who interpret them. The focus is on figures that the authors consider convey messages about the company's intellectual capital (IC).

The paper used a questionnaire to obtain the opinions of “informed investors” and conducted interviews with the preparers of the annual reports. It compared the opinions of the two respondent groups.

Preparers and users bring multiple meanings to the figures. Users overlooked some messages which were complex and symbolic and also perceived more messages than intended by the preparers. The two respondent groups generally perceived brands, corporate image building and aspects related to employees as the IC items best portrayed in the selected figures. Most users and some preparers perceived the main reason for using figures was their strength as a marketing tool.

The paper is exploratory in nature and there is scope to extend the work to a greater number of annual reports and/or figures. The research is limited by the use of students as a proxy for users of annual reports.

The findings may be helpful to annual report preparers in understanding the rhetorical impact of images. Such understanding will help them in choosing figures which are effective and persuasive when seeking user engagement.

The authors are not aware of any prior research that examines the perceptions of preparers and users in respect of messages conveyed through figures, and, in particular, research that incorporates aspects of IC in corporate annual report figures. The paper, therefore, extends the empirical literature on IC.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction and overview of the various papers in this special issue.

This takes the form of a discussion paper that explores a number of issues relating to accounting in the media.

The paper describes a variety of theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches used in the papers for this special issue. In addition, the paper suggests that although the media have provided a rich source of data that has informed accounting research, the use of media and media texts will remain a fertile area of research.

The portrayal of accounting in the media is of interest to accounting researchers, practitioners, trainees and auditors.

This special issue provides a range of examples of accounting in the media and sets an agenda for future research.