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The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical account of four unsuccessful merger attempts between Australia’s two major professional accounting bodies over a 30-year period (1969 to 1998), each of which ultimately failed. An analysis of the commonalities and differences across the four attempts is provided and social identity theory is used to explain the differences between members level of support for these merger bids.

This study adopts a qualitative approach using a historical research methodology to source surviving business records from public archives and other data gathered from oral history interviews.

The study found that, across all four merger attempts between Australia’s two professional accounting bodies, there was strong support from society members (the perceived lower-status group) and opposition exhibited by institute members (the perceived higher-status group). This study also found that the perceived higher-status organisation always initiated merger discussions, while its members rejected the proposals in the members’ vote.

This paper focusses on the Australian accounting profession, considering a historical account of merger attempts. Further research is required that includes interviews and surveys of those involved in making decisions regarding merger attempts.

This paper is the first to examine in detail these four unsuccessful merger attempts between the largest accounting organisations in Australia.

The learning outcomes of this study are to understand the theory of constraints and related concepts, to evaluate constraints impeding organizational growth and to develop a solution addressing the constraints in the best possible way.

Bottlenecks or constraints impede an organization from reaching its full potential, thus having implications for the internal and external functionalities of the organization. Internally, many resources remain idle or deteriorate, as constraints always hamper the overall capacity. Externally, the organization might lose the customer for not fulfilling their demands. The organization may be unable to procure the raw material at economical prices from the suppliers, as large-quantity orders may not be placed. This case was designed to make students understand the theory of constraints (TOC) and related concepts. The TOC framework was a management philosophy developed by Dr Eliyahu Goldratt and popularly mentioned in his book The Goal. This case study considered a dairy plant as its central focus. The protagonist was challenged by the existing constraints in his dairy plant, and his dilemmas were introduced. The dairy processes were discussed, followed by details of supplies made to the dairy plant regularly. The capacity constraints at different levels were mentioned. The case also discussed the quick fixes adopted by the dairy to overcome the constraints. Finally, this case ended with a dilemma presented before the protagonist and a dire need for a solution thereafter.

This case was appropriate for introducing TOC to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in operations management, logistics and supply chain management and general management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the intellectual capital performance of Indian banks and established a relationship between intellectual capital and return on assets (ROA). The paper also compared the intellectual capital performance of public sector and private sector banks.

This study is based on secondary data from the top 20 Indian banks. Ten banks were selected from each of the public and private sectors on the basis of paid-up equity capital. The analysis was made using the value added intellectual coefficient, the coefficient of variation, exponential growth rates, trend analysis, Yule’s coefficient, the coefficient of correlation, the F-test and the t-test.

The study revealed that private sectors have performed relatively better regarding the creation of total information coefficient (IC). However, the ROA was still below the international benchmark of > 1 percent. The major cause of the lower IC and the reduced ROA is disproportionate to the increase in capital employed and escalating non-performing assets in the Indian banking sector.

The study focussed on managers and identified the causes of lower performance. It proposed numerous strategies to improve the aggregate score of IC, which is closely related to bank profitability.

This is the first study to make a comparative analysis of intellectual capital performance in public and private sector banks in India and in addition to the traditional style of measuring sectoral performance. Further, the study employed new statistical tools, such as Yule’s coefficient of association, to establish the association between performance variables.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of professional accountants from three countries from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in order to evaluate their perceived benefits associated with the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in their respective nations as well as the implications of these standards for the accounting and auditing professions in their country of practice. It also explores the extent to which the adoption of IAS/IFRS accounting standards have been supported by the state, media and local professional accounting bodies.

The study uses survey approach to seek perceptions of professional accountants in these three countries with a view to understanding their perceptions regarding the socio-economic issues related to the adoption of the IFRS and role of social institutions. The study also uses appropriate statistical tests for interpretation of the data.

The analysis of the data shows that accounting professionals in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia strongly supported IFRS adoption; their opinions did not differ significantly by place of training, experience or professional qualifications. Respondents agreed that their countries benefited economically from harmonisation with global accounting standards. The surveyed accountants believed that pressure from international agencies was instrumental in the adoption of IFRS in the region. The findings also show that governments, the media and professional accounting bodies have supported the adoption, communication and application of IFRS.

This is the first study examining the role of social and professional institutions in the adoption of the IFRS and one which also provides an inter-country comparison of accountant’s perspectives on adoption of the IFRS among three ASEAN countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the voluntary reporting of intellectual capital (IC) by the top 20 software and technology sector companies in a developing nation, India, and a developed nation, Australia. The paper aims to highlight the differences in IC disclosure practices of the companies operating in two different economies.

The study investigates the top 20 firms by market capitalisation listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in India and the Australian Stock Exchange in Australia in the year 2007‐2008. Using the content analysis method, the paper reviews the annual reports of these firms to determine IC disclosure trends in India and Australia. Statistical tools and graphs have been used to compare and contrast ICD disclosures in two countries.

The study has identified IC disclosure differences between Indian and Australian firms, and reports disclosures by Indian companies are on a higher scale than Australian Software and Technology Sector companies. However, Levels of voluntary IC disclosure are found to be low in both the nations and most of the disclosures are declarative in nature.

This lack of consistency in reporting practices makes comparisons across countries difficult. The paper emphasises the need for a uniform and consistent framework for the reporting of intellectual capital items.

The results of this exploratory study on the knowledge based industrial sector can be used by researchers to explore different types of IC reporting initiatives pursued across specifically knowledge based industrial sectors.

This study offers insights into comparative trends in IC disclosure practices of software and technology sector companies operating in a developed and a developing country.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of corporate disclosure on human resources (HR) in the annual reports of top performing Indian companies.

The paper explores the extent to which top 82 companies from India present information about HR in their annual reports. This study examines the annual reports of each of the top Indian firms listed on the Bombay stock exchange, using the “content analysis” method. Statistical tests have been performed to analyse the difference between the HR disclosure score across public and private sectors and disclosure variations among various industrial sectors.

In-house training programmes has been noticed to be the favourite item of disclosure followed by safety awards/certifications and statements regarding cordial relations with the employees/unions. A majority of the Indian firms have ignored significant HR issues such as employee welfare fund, maternity/paternity leaves, holiday benefits, employee loans and adopting old age homes, etc. Overall, the study reflects low HR related disclosures. No statistically significant difference has been found between the mean HR disclosure from one industry to another and disclosure practices of the private and the public sector companies.

The disclosure pattern of the Indian companies suggests that they only a few companies are concerned about employees’ welfare than the rest. This may motivate a change of the disclosure policy of the rest of the firms who may follow the reporting pattern of the most disclosing ones.

This is first study on the disclosure of HR by the Indian corporate sector in the CSR domain with a disclosure analysis for a period of nine years . This research provides new directions for the literature in this area and may promote comparative studies on HR-based studies from different perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the intellectual capital (IC) performance of the Australian Financial Sector for the period 2006‐2008. It also aims to examine the relationship between IC performance and the financial performance of the financial sector.

The value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) approach developed by Pulic is used to determine the IC performance of the Australian financial sector. The required data to calculate different constituents of IC was obtained from the annual reports of Australian Financial Sector companies.

The value creation capability of financial sector in Australia is highly influenced by human capital. About two thirds of the sample companies have very low levels of intellectual capital efficiency. The performance of various components of VAIC and overall VAIC differs across all subsectors in the financial sector. Investment companies have high value VAIC due to higher a level of human capital efficiency, as compared to banks, insurance companies, diversified financials and RIETs. Insurance companies are more focussed on physical capital rather than human and structural capital leading to lower VAIC.

The paper analyses IC performance of only one sector of the Australian economy and there is a relatively narrow three‐year period for the data collection. However, a comparative analysis of various sub sectors in the Australian financial sector justifies the contributions made by this study.

The findings may serve as a useful input for financial institutions to apply knowledge management in their institutions and in addressing the factors affecting IC performance in order to maximise their value creation. It will also help the management of companies in other sectors, especially those in knowledge‐based industries, in understanding the contributions of various components of intellectual capital in their growth.

This is the first paper that examines the relationship of intellectual capital performance with financial performance of financial sector companies in Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the intellectual capital (IC) performance of Australian banks for the period 2005‐2007. It also aims to examine the relationship amongst various constituents of IC performance.

The value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC™) approach developed by Pulic is used to determine the IC performance of the Australian banks. The required data to calculate different constituents of IC was obtained from the annual reports of Australian banks.

The paper reveals that VAIC™ has a significant relation with human costs and the value addition made by the Australian banks. All Australian owned banks have relatively higher human capital efficiency than capital employed efficiency and structural capital efficiency. The size of the bank in terms of total assets, total number of employees and total shareholders equity has little or no impact on the IC performance of the Australian owned banks.

The paper analyses IC performance of only 11 Australian owned banks. However, the more than 90 per cent market share enjoyed by these banks still promises a degree of validation of the results of the paper from the Australian perspective or similar banking structure in some countries.

The findings may serve as a useful input for bankers to apply knowledge management in their institutions and in addressing the factors affecting IC performance in order to maximise their value creation. The findings of the study would also provide some information to the stakeholders and potential investors to assess the value creation capabilities of this group of banks.

This is the first paper that examines the relationship of VAIC™ and the size of the firms for Australian owned banks in Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of corporate disclosure on human resources (HR) in the annual reports of top-performing Indian companies.

The paper explores the extent to which top 82 companies from India present information about HR in their annual reports. This paper examines the annual reports of each of the top Indian firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, using the “content analysis” method. Statistical tests have been performed to analyze the difference between the HR disclosure score across public and private sectors and disclosure variations among various industrial sectors.

In-house training programmers has been noticed to be the favorite item of disclosure followed by safety awards/certifications and statements regarding cordial relations with the employees/unions. A majority of the Indian firms have ignored significant HR issues such as employee welfare fund, maternity/paternity leaves, holiday benefits, employee loans, adopting old age homes, etc. Overall, the paper reflects low HR-related disclosures.

This is the first paper on the disclosure of HR by the Indian corporate sector in the CSR domain with a disclosure analysis for a period of nine years. This paper provides new directions for the literature in this area and may promote comparative studies on HR-based studies from different perspectives.

The diffusion of integrated reporting as a practice has stimulated an academic debate about whether integrated reporting has the potential to advance sustainability. The International Integrated Reporting Framework, which guides the preparation of integrated reports, focuses specifically on providers of financial capital and does not refer explicitly to sustainability in a significant way. But there is evidence that integrated reporting has enhanced the provision of sustainability disclosures. This chapter scrutinizes academic research on integrated reporting, focusing on sustainability published from 2010 to 2021. First, we synthesize arguments about aspects of integrated reporting that inhibit the advancement of sustainability as well as those that help advance sustainability. Then we explain a two-pronged approach for improving the sustainability orientation of any future connected reporting framework. The first one relates to building on the current strengths of integrated reporting for advancing sustainability. The second approach concerns tackling the obstacles to promoting sustainability through integrated reporting identified in the literature. This chapter also provides important insights for future research in the field.