Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify the contextual factors affecting infrastructure reporting by New Zealand local authorities.

The paper includes a survey and interview of Annual Report Recipients (ARRs) and Infrastructure Information Preparers (IIPs), together with an assessment of the extent of infrastructure information disclosure in the annual reports of New Zealand local authorities.

This study finds that contrary to the expectations of Lüder’s contingency model (1992), there is an information dissemination gap between the perceptions of ARRs and IIPs regarding infrastructure information reporting in the annual reports of New Zealand local authorities. This finding is consistent with decades of concern about the application of private sector Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to the public sector and the Controller and Auditor General’s (CAG, 2009) concern about the inadequacy of private sector General Purpose Financial Reports in meeting public sector accountability. On the other hand, the study reports that the perceptions of the two groups, ARRs and IIPs, are similar with regard to the importance of infrastructure information items, which is consistent with the expectations of Lüder’s model.

The paper contributes towards theoretical development by adopting Lüder’s (1992) contingency model in the context of infrastructure reporting by New Zealand local authorities and proposing a model of contextual factors by extending Lüder’s model. The practical contribution of the study is in the area of accounting practice and public policy.

The purpose of this research is to explore the role of accounting in the reform process of a continuously evolving governmental agency in the Australian state of New South Wales.

Drawing on two complementary organizational change models, the paper investigates how the shifting objectives of the Department of Public Works and Services (DPWS) rendered its financial management and accountability systems inadequate and how “new” accounting technologies introduced to anchor the reform process clashed with bureaucratic procedures to create a very challenging context for the organization's management. The paper uses multiple research methods including interviews, archival material and observation to understand the reform process at the DPWS and its implications for public sector accounting and public sector management.

The paper finds that the unique history and continuously evolving nature of the DPWS makes it an important context for re‐examining the dynamics of change processes and the contribution of accounting technologies within that context. Since the late 1980s, the DPWS has transformed itself from a budget‐dependent bureaucratic governmental agency to a business‐oriented commercialized agency operating in a competitive environment.

Future research could be directed at understanding how cultural fragmentations are mended in this extremely challenging reform process. Further case studies employing the two organizational change models could provide additional insights in this area.

The paper argues that the cultural fragmentation that is introduced by the reform of the Public Works Department and the diverse and often conflicting obligations of the sector have added to the complexities of managing the organization. Perhaps a transformational leadership‐style might be appropriate for managing such a challenging context.

This paper would be of value to researchers and practitioners with an interest in public sector reform and management.

This paper aims to provide a stakeholder analysis of the environmental management strategies and a two‐dimensional (economic and environmental) performance of an Australian energy company that seeks environmental excellence. Unlike the dominant largely positivistic studies which seek an association between environmental and financial performance, the paper aims to use the richness of a case study methodology to gain a deeper understanding of how environmental concerns are handled and what outcomes in terms of environmental and economic performance are achieved.

An in‐depth case study approach involving interviews, archival material and site visits is used in this paper. It starts with a brief engagement with the largely positivistic literature, highlighting the major deficiencies of this scholarship and then presents a more interpretive empirical analysis using an Australian energy company.

The paper finds that there are socio‐political processes that are enlisted to control, monitor, and instil discipline in the organization's pursuit of its social initiatives, which help to improve both its financial and environmental performance.

The paper provides evidence that environmental and economic performance are not always mutually exclusive, and corporate entities can excel in both simultaneously. The paper also provides evidence that the environmental strategies may be overt attempts at pushing the socio‐political agenda of the dominant stakeholder group. What seems like a win‐win situation may only represent a political‐ethical attempt to promote environmentalism in the Australian energy sector.

This paper uses a two‐stage investigation process to extend one's understanding of the relationship between corporate environmental and financial performance. First, evidence of improving environmental and financial performance of an energy company is provided, and then the paper explores why and how this relationship exists in the second stage of the analysis. The mainstream and critical accounting literature is bridged by focusing on issues that are largely the domain of one sub‐literature with a differentiated case study that is largely encouraged in the other.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the cultural underpinnings of accounting practices through a comparative analysis of India and New Zealand, using the chairperson's report, which is increasingly becoming one of the most important segments of the corporate annual report.

The annual reports of Indian and New Zealand companies from 2001 to 2005 were selected to investigate the extent and nature of information disclosure in their chairperson's report. “Content analysis” is the main methodological orientation of the paper.

The paper argues that, contrary to propositions based on Hofstede's cultural framework, Indian companies provide more disclosure in their chairperson's report than their New Zealand counterparts. This leads to the conclusion that voluntary disclosure, more generally, is a complex phenomenon and cultural variables alone may not be sufficient predictors of the voluntary disclosure practices of a country.

Using India and New Zealand, two countries with significant cultural differences, according to Hofstede's typology, the paper extends the literature by focusing on the chairperson's report, a more recent accounting phenomenon which is gaining popularity across the globe.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between “political competition” and “environmental reporting” by New Zealand local governments.

The research method includes a longitudinal analysis of environmental reporting by New Zealand local governments in their annual reports for the financial years 2005-2006 to 2009-2010. “Content analysis” was used to attach scores to the extent of environmental reporting. The “number of candidates divided by the number of available positions at the previous election” was used as the proxy for “political competition”.

The study reports a positive relationship between “political competition” and “environmental reporting” in 2007-2008. The number of local governments reporting voluntary environmental information increased in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 compared to 2005-2006, followed by a reduction in such numbers following the 2007-2008 financial year. This trend in disclosure can be attributed to the local government elections in October 2007. This finding is consistent with the expectation of “agency theory” and provides insight into the pattern of perceived agency costs. The study also finds a dearth in reporting “monetary” and “bad” news.

The study contributes towards the previous literature on environmental reporting by concentrating on the public sector and New Zealand, together with investigating the relationship of such reporting with “political competition” through a longitudinal analysis. The theoretical contribution of this study is the adoption of “agency theory” in the context of public sector voluntary reporting and investigating the significance attached by agents to environmental reporting to minimise agency cost. The practical contribution of the study is in the area of future development of reporting standards in regards to environmental reporting.

Purpose – This study investigates the status of related party disclosure in an emerging economy, that is, India. The reason behind concentrating on India is due to its opening of the economy in 1991 to attract foreign investment. Hence, it is significant that investors are provided with credible information. The accounting value of ‘secrecy’ underlying India and the voluntary nature of detailed reporting about related parties in this country further motivated the present study.

Methodology/Approach – The research method includes a content analysis of the ‘related party disclosure’ section of annual reports of a sample of Indian companies for the financial years 2002–2006.

Findings – Indian companies disclosed more than the required minimum level of related party disclosure as required in the Indian accounting standard. No association between related party disclosure with market capitalization, industry affiliation and foreign listing was found for the year 2006. However, when the scores of all the five years 2002–2006 were considered manufacturing and automotive companies disclosed more about related parties than diversified, service and technology.

Research Limitations – The limitations of our findings rests upon the fact that we have not examined the effect of factors such as the composition of management of each company and the presence of Indians/Non-Indians in management.

Originality/Value of the Paper – Most studies exploring disclosure practices are directed towards developed countries. The disclosure practices in developing countries is an under researched area. This paper contributes towards the existing literature by taking the case of an emerging economy, that is, India.

Recent writings have demonstrated how accounting provides a facilitating or conflict‐resolving role in organisations and society. However, some studies have argued that conflict‐creating and conflict‐enhancing roles of accounting are equally prominent and in some cases may overshadow accounting’s facilitating roles. This paper provides evidence supporting the latter thesis within an enterprise bargaining context. Using the University of New England, as a case study, the paper highlights how opposing parties engage similar accounting technologies to support their positions in the bargaining process. The paper draws on the 1992 union heterogeneity and employer equivocality model of Amernic and Craig to argue that the perceived facilitating roles of accounting not only disappear, but accounting also becomes largely obstructive in reaching a settlement.

This paper seeks to evaluate the recent decision of the Bangladeshi Government and accounting profession to adopt international accounting standards (IASs).

The paper uses a variety of archival data and interviews with key actors, including preparers and users of annual reports, members of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and members of the professional accounting bodies: ICAB and ICMAB.

The paper finds that institutional legitimisation is a major factor that drives the decision to adopt IASs because of the pressure exerted by key international donor/lending institutions on the Bangladeshi Government and professional accounting bodies. Such pressure results from not only the need to provide credibility to foreign investors but also the need for strong accountability arrangements with lending/donor agencies. However, the perceived undemocratic nature of the adoption process appears to be creating and enhancing conflict among various constituencies, resulting in very low compliance with these standards.

The paper contributes to the understanding of the diffusion of International Accounting Standards and the role of global agencies, such as the World Bank, within this process.

The purpose of this paper explores whether cost audits as governance mechanism affected the trust of the users of financial statements and whether they provide the benefits intended by regulators.

The research method involved unstructured open‐ended face‐to‐face interviews with cost auditors in practice, mid‐ to high‐level accounts and finance executives of companies and investors. Twenty‐three interviews were conducted over a five‐week period from December 2004 to January 2005 in Kolkata city of India. The selection of respondents was purposive, to explore the attitudes of these three groups towards mandatory cost audit.

Mandatory cost audit in India has not enhanced the level of trust of investors and preparers of financial statements also have the opinion. It has not brought those benefits expected by regulators.

It is suggested following the findings of this paper that future research should carefully consider the usefulness and cost and benefit aspects of the mandatory cost audit in India.

This is a pioneering study providing an in‐depth analysis of mandatory cost auditing in India.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the state of environmental reporting by Indian companies on their web sites and also in their annual reports.

The web sites of the companies in the sample were visited to examine the accessibility and extent of environmental information disclosure on their web sites. The annual reports for 2003‐2004, as available on the companies' web sites were selected to investigate the extent of environmental information disclosure in these annual reports.

The paper finds that, although there are no regulations enforcing the disclosure of environmental information, most of the Indian companies have disclosed environmental information. These companies provided more environmental information on their web sites compared to the information provided in their annual reports.

This study contributes to the existing body of environmental reporting literature by focusing on the status of environmental reporting by companies of an emerging economy and also contributes to the existing body of environmental reporting literature by focusing on the accessibility of environmental information on web sites of respective companies.