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This paper seeks to reply/comment on the paper by Keith Hooper et al., titled “‘Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing’: accounting for heritage assets”.

This note uses the economic theory of public goods to complement the explanation and analysis of Hooper et al's article on accounting for public heritage assets by New Zealand museums.

Using public goods theory from economics, the paper explains why the “sector neutral” approach, which underlies the application of commercial accounting standards to public heritage assets, is unsound; why “fair market prices” cannot be obtained for public heritage assets because of their being public goods; and why they should be accounted for outside the statement of financial position as assets held in trust by the custodial entities.

The opposition of some of the museums to the accounting standards being imposed on them is soundly based in the economic theory of public goods.

Purpose – This paper introduces the special issue on accounting in Asia. It summarises and reflects on themes and findings emerging from the papers in this volume.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The findings reported in the paper are based on desk research and review of the papers contained in the volume.

Findings – The papers evidence that corporate governance and financial reporting quality are interlinked. Accounting in Asia is preoccupied with the corporate governance–financial reporting quality nexus in the face of convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Research limitations/Implications – Policy makers in Asian countries need to develop appropriate regulatory mechanisms to address cultural issues, namely, attitudes towards secrecy and fraud, to ensure effective implementation of IFRS. This entails sound grounding in ethics and integrity within the financial reporting stakeholder community. Additionally, unintended consequences of fair value application need to be examined in the Asian context.

Originality/Value of paper – This paper is a summary of seven studies in Asia. The studies highlight critical issues emerging from Asia's experience with corporate governance reforms and the move to IFRS convergence, and set the agenda for future research in accounting in Asia, specifically, and emerging economies, generally.

Describes the Auckland, New Zealand, sharemarket of the early 1880s which possessed many features in common with the same sharemarket 100 years later. Creative accounting practices and questionable auditing judgements were some of these shared features. The Auckland sharemarket was dominated by an elite group of businessmen who controlled most of the leading companies. When the market collapsed in 1886 many of these companies experienced grave financial difficulties. Focuses on the accounting and auditing contribution to these difficulties.