Search results

There is a a great deal of literature on performance measurement and accountability in government. Governments around the world have invested large amounts to develop performance measurement systems, the results of which are mediocre at best. There is also a growing recognition that financial performance measures alone measure only limited aspects of an organisation’s performance. To improve performance measurement systems and accountability to different stakeholders, non‐financial indicators have been developed for the for‐profit sector. Prior research in the local government sector in the state of Victoria, Australia, showed low levels of accountability and very little performance measurement taking place. However, significant changes have been imposed on the sector, enhancing local and central accountability, making it more business‐like, and focussing on the need to measure performance. This research studied the extent to which performance measurement systems are currently being used in practice in Victorian local government, the factors which lead to the use of performance measurement and the extent of non‐financial indicators. The results revealed a substantial increase in the level of use of performance measurement in the sector, related to increased emphasis on accountability and organisational changes imposed on the sector by the state government. The performance of both people and programs is now being measured. Although there is an emphasis on financial and budgetary measures for financial accountability, the use of non‐financial measures in determining outcome accountability is increasing. Customer service and quality are two of the areas in which non‐financial performance measures are being developed.

New public management (NPM) techniques have been widely adopted in Australian public sector organisations. NPM stresses the concept of accountability, and the importance of reporting mechanisms. Government and semi‐government authorities provide annual reports, but the usefulness of these annual reports in assessing operational in addition to financial performance is open to question. This paper aims to ask what performance measures are important in the context of the provision of fire services.

Using content analysis, this study analyses and evaluates publicly available annual reports of fire services to determine operational and financial performance in the Australian state of Victoria, which has three different fire service organisations.

The study finds that annual reports are based on financial results, some basic performance measures and narrative describing some operational results. Stakeholders are well served by financial reports, but find difficulty in assessing operational performance trends and comparative operational performance of the three different organisations. Few operational indicators are published, despite prior problems in fire services that have lead to parliamentary enquiries. The lack of publicly available performance measures results in reduced levels of accountability to external stakeholders.

The study indicates that the lack of useful performance measures impacts negatively on the demonstration of accountability to external stakeholders. Fire services management can use this information to improve their reporting and demonstration of accountability to external shareholders such as government and the community.

The study extends the work of Carvalho et al. on the reporting practices and performance measures of Portuguese and British fire services and suggests a range of performance indicators that may be appropriate for fire services to enhance their accountability.

This paper reports on an exploratory study examining factors which may affect the career choice of accounting students. Although prior studies have examined factors affecting the choice of an accounting major, few studies have examined factors affecting the choice of career of accounting graduates. This study found that more students aspired to become Certified Practising Accountants (CPAs) of the Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accountants (ASCPA) rather than Associate Chartered Accountants (ACAs) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) This study also found that there were differences in career aspirations between males and females, and between students at different universities. Female students perceived gender discrimination would have a greater adverse effect on their future careers compared with male students, particularly in chartered accounting and industry; and overseas students were more conscious of discrimination than Australian students. There is also some evidence that Big 6 selection practices are perceived as biased.

Traditional purchasing practices typically play a supportive role to production, but recently the purchasing function has been recognised as being capable of making significant contributions to a firm's corporate objectives through the development of strategic supplier alliances or relationships between manufacturers and their supplier networks. This study focuses on the nature and progress of strategic supplier relationships in the automotive industry. It examines the progress made towards partnership relationships by the Australian subsidiary of a major Japanese motor vehicle manufacturer. These relationships are examined using Helper's 1991 framework which classifies relationships as ‘voice’ or ‘exit’ according to the method used to resolve problems between the parties. Voice relationships arise from joint problem resolution, exit relationships arise from the threat of withdrawal by the customer. Previous research in Japan, Europe and the United States suggests that voice relationships lead to better performance than non‐voice relationships. This research was carried out at an organisational rather than an industry level, surveying the suppliers to one major motor vehicle manufacturer. It examined the extent of information exchange and commitment from the suppliers' perspective. The suppliers were classified along a continuum from voice to transitional to exit relationships on the basis of information exchange and commitment. The results indicated that from a supplier perspective fewer voice or true strategic alliances existed than the manufacturer would like, with limited progress made towards them to date. There was evidence of supplier mistrust towards the manufacturer and perceptions of unfair treatment by the manufacturer. Future development of supplier relationships will depend on the manufacturer's ability to recognise and address the current of mistrust which remains as a legacy of past practices.

This paper aims to provide insights into stakeholder expectations regarding the types of disclosures a firm should make, and if dissatisfied with the disclosure policy, whether it will use different intervention strategies in an attempt to induce the desired disclosure outcome.

An inductive qualitative framework is used in the study. In‐depth interviews, triangulated against relevant web site and media releases, are used to identify the salient stakeholders and the major environmental issues in Malaysia. Then an experimental approach is used based on role‐playing whereby experienced participants are introduced to hypothetical vignettes that relate to environmental issues identified.

The results indicate that the preferred form of disclosure is for the firms to “defend” the reasons behind the environmental event and/or explain what has been done to rectify the situation. With relatively few exceptions, the preferred strategies chosen by various participants align well with the influence strategies identified by Frooman. The findings confirm that although Frooman's model is useful in predicting stakeholder influence strategies, its effectiveness is tempered by the level of significance placed on the event by the stakeholders.

Although based on a small sample, the results suggest that stakeholder theory has much to offer in terms of understanding management/stakeholder behaviour and corporate environmental disclosures.

The paper extends the application of stakeholder influence strategies in the “environmental reporting” domain. Likewise, it attempts to address the scarcity of literature taking the view of a wide array of stakeholders and how they choose to influence the firm. Finally, it confirms that stakeholder theory can be extended to aid the understanding of events in non‐western developing economies such as Malaysia.

The definition of individual generic skills is problematic, despite the pressure for the development of such skills during accounting degrees coming from government and employers. This study aims to present definitions to allow academics to establish a point of reference when designing accounting curricula to encompass such skills.

The skill classification of explicit curriculum content is straightforward, and is undertaken by using content analysis to record objectives and/or tasks that are clearly stated in the curriculum documents. The classification of implicit skills was developed by setting, as clearly as possible, internal criteria that are used to determine whether a task embodied a particular behavioural skill.

The results show that not all 22 personal and interpersonal skills which should be developed during an accounting degree, according to the Australian professional accounting bodies, are in fact developed. The higher order and difficult skills of: think creatively and innovatively; handle conflict; handle challenges; handle change and empathy are not present in either the explicit or implicit curricula.

Concepts and understandings of many of the behavioural skills are abstract and a range of interpretations exists. Although the definition of each skill presented in this study is not as extensive or exhaustive as a lexicographer's compilation, this study is unique in that it offers clearer and more acceptable definitions for accounting educators to use than has previously been available.

Work-integrated learning (WIL) helps improve the work readiness of accounting graduates. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role played by large and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) employers in providing experiential learning opportunities to accounting students in an Australian higher education context.

Case-study data for this research were collected from the case university’s processes, semi-structured in-depth interviews with employer representatives and online survey with WIL students.

The analysis reveals that both SMEs and large firms provide good training opportunities that enhance the student’s experiential learning particularly when proper WIL structures for pre-placement processes, training, supervision and performance reviews are in place. The results also confirm that WIL is seen as a positive experience by employers and students alike.

There is a three-way partnership between the university, employers and students in a WIL contract. Calls for collaborative research involving all three parties have been made to enhance WIL programs. This study is a response to this call.

Gender inequity at senior ranks in Australian public sector universities has long been recognised as a major problem. Universities are attempting to address the problem, through policies for recruitment and retention of senior women. This paper describes what happened in one faculty in a large university that has such gender equity policies when three women were appointed to head departments. At the end of a year, all three were gone. The women experienced a masculine‐oriented management culture, with little experience of feminine management values. The women and the men had different perceptions of management roles and different perceptions of alternative job opportunities. Gender issues became more visible to these senior women, but remained invisible to the men. Suggestions to improve the retention of senior women include nominating a change agent to provide support and encouragement for senior women, more transparent organisational processes and structures, and changes in hiring practices.