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This study aims to investigate the relationship between university rankings and sustainability reporting among Australia and New Zealand universities. Even though sustainability reporting is an established area of investigation, prior research has paid inadequate attention to the nexus of university ranking and sustainability reporting.

This study covers 46 Australian and New Zealand universities and uses a data set, which includes sustainability reports and disclosures from four reporting channels including university websites, and university archives, between 2005 and 2018. Ordinary least squares regression was used with Pearson and Spearman’s rank correlations to investigate the likelihood of multi-collinearity and the paper also calculated the variance inflation factor values. Finally, this study uses the generalized method of moments approach to test for endogeneity.

The findings suggest that sustainability reporting is significantly and positively associated with university ranking and confirm that the four reporting channels play a vital role when communicating with university stakeholders. Further, this paper documents that sustainability reporting through websites, in addition to the annual report and a separate environment report have a positive impact on the university ranking systems.

This paper contributes to extant knowledge on the link between university rankings and university sustainability reporting which is considered a vital communication vehicle to meet the expectation of the stakeholder in relevance with the university rankings.

Non‐response bias is rarely explored in business research utilising annual reports. Such studies may reach incorrect conclusions in instances where there are systematic differences between companies who respond and those who do not. A global study into airline accounting practices by Tan, Tower, Hancock and Taplin (2002) enabled examination of this important research issue because a database provided an independent source of annual reports. The results indicate minimal response bias in a sample of annual reports obtained from a mail request. Publically listed airline companies that did not respond to a request for their annual report tended to use accounting methods that are considered least favourable by the industry. Therefore, caution needs to be exercised and the assumption that non‐respondents' accounting policy choices are aligned with those of respondents should be tested. Increased availability of annual reports on the internet also raises questions of possible database bias.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the requirements of accounting graduates in relation to generic attributes. Employers have consistently maintained that graduates are deficient in this area. This Australia‐wide, all‐sector study addresses the issue by examining what employers mean when they make demands for universities and academics to deliver work‐ready graduates.

Interviews (recorded, transcribed and analysed with NVivo) with employers, and accounting professional bodies were conducted to ascertain their views of their needs of accounting graduates into the future.

Employers held the generic attributes of communication, team work and self‐management to be the most critical for graduates in the three areas of recruitment, training and ongoing employment. Demands on universities to deliver work‐ready graduates are not homogeneous. Employers in different sectors construe the meaning of generic attributes in line with their specific needs.

The study was an original piece of work that gauged the opinions of professional accounting bodies and employers of accounting graduates across Australia and in all sectors of the accounting profession. The value of the study is to inform academics as to the ranked importance of generic attributes but also alert them to the different meanings that are assigned to these skills by employers in different sectors.

The study analyses de jure disclosure harmony between Australia and Singapore by examining selected disclosure requirements from the statutes, stock exchange listing rules and five accounting standards. Empirical evidence as to Australian and Singaporean companies' de facto disclosure is provided. Two disclosure indices, specifically the no‐violation‐for‐non‐disclosure (NVND) index and the violation‐for‐non‐disclosure (VND), were used to assess the extent of company's disclosure of the selected requirements contained within their respective country's rules.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the association between the intellectual capital (IC) of firms and their financial performance.

The paper uses the Pulic framework, has an Asian focus, and draws on data from 150 publicly listed companies on the Singapore Exchange. It is an empirical study using partial least squares (PLS) for the data analysis. The paper tests four elements of IC and company performance.

The findings show that: IC and company performance are positively related; IC is correlated to future company performance; the rate of growth of a company's IC is positively related to the company's performance; and the contribution of IC to company performance differs by industry.

The data sample is restricted to 150 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange between the years 2000 and 2002.

IC is an area of interest to numerous parties, such as shareholders, institutional investors, scholars, policymakers and managers. The findings help to embolden modern day managers to better harness and manage IC.

The study of IC has undergone a number of stages, from early conscious awareness efforts to classification of IC, and to the search for appropriate measures of IC. This paper builds on the current research on IC and provides empirical evidence on the relevance of IC (as measured by the Pulic model) to the financial performance of companies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore: student perceptions of threshold concepts and capabilities in postgraduate business education, and the potential impacts of intensive modes of teaching on student understanding of threshold concepts and development of threshold capabilities.

The student experience of learning was studied in two business units: strategic management, and accounting. The method involved two phases. In the first, students and unit coordinators identified and justified potential threshold concepts and capabilities. In the second, themes were rationalized.

Significantly more so in intensive mode, the opportunity to ask questions was reported by student participants to support their development of the nominated threshold capabilities. This and other factors reported by students to support their learning in intensive mode are consistent with supporting students to traverse the liminal space within the limited time available in intensive mode.

Respondents from future cohorts will address the small participant numbers. Studies in only two units are reported. Studies in other disciplines are presented elsewhere.

The findings will be important to educators using intensive mode teaching in business, and researchers working within the framework.

This is the first study to explore the potential impacts of intensive modes of teaching on student understanding of threshold concepts and development of threshold capabilities.

The purpose of the paper is to serve as a useful reference for anyone embarking on research into intellectual capital (IC). It provides a succinct summary of the seminal works on this research area.

The paper reviews the seminal literature arranges it into a chronology of the evolving research into IC.

The findings show that IC has undergone a number of development stages from definitions, models through to measures and applications of IC to business and management issues.

The review is limited to refereed journals and books published before March 2007.

IC is an area of interest to numerous parties, including shareholders, institutional investors, scholars, policymakers and managers. This paper serves as a useful reference on the stages of development of IC and the applications to business and management issues.

The study of IC has undergone a number of stages, from early conscious awareness efforts, to classification of IC and to the search for appropriate measures of IC. This paper provides a taxonomy on IC research as suggestions about future research directions.

This paper examines accounting harmonisation and determinants explaining accounting measurement policy choice decisions by Asia‐Pacific listed manufacturing companies. Using Thomas' (1991) theoretical framework, four contingent variables (country of reporting, company size, profitability and debt leverage) are examined as possible determinants of firms' accounting choices concerning non‐current asset valuation measurement base, goodwill and depreciation. 130 listed manufacturing companies' annual reports were examined from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. This study involves two phases. The first phase evaluates accounting harmonisation measurement indices in comparison with the extant literature. An important innovation is the operationalisation of Archer et. al. (1995) between‐country and within‐country C indices. Computed comparability indices indicated variations in the level of harmony across the five countries for all three accounting measurement practices. The second phase employed logistic regression to examine possible determinants of accounting policy choice decisions. Such a combined research approach should lead to a better understanding of de facto accounting harmonisation and practices.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the varied concerns of delegates at an international accounting conference.

The methodology takes the form of a prose article and accompanying fictional poem.

Accounting conferences gather many different voices and points of view, but with a degree of commonality in themes.

The paper encourages the use of creative expression to represent areas of research and enquiry.

A review of some of the proceedings of a major conference is structured in a novel manner, combining the use of the cento (a composite, “found” poem) with prose.

TO those who have been accustomed to think of Newcastle only as the home of coal and “The Keel Row,” its general aspect will be found disappointingly clean and brisk. Although there is a lively air of business about the place, yet its crowds of pretty and well‐dressed women, its fine shops, and imposing institutions, all contribute towards removing the wholly‐erroneous impression which most strangers cherish, that Newcastle is the home of dirt and smoke and general unloveliness. Indeed, we know of only one other town of similar size, which has been visited by the L. A. which can be compared to it for the energetic bustle of its streets, keenness of its air, and good looks of its women, and that is Aberdeen, where, if possible, the energy is more energetic, and the air even more keen. We shall not compare the ladies! Leaving the Tyne to trace its unlovely course to the sea, and dealing only with that part of the town which, for one busy week, formed the camp of all kinds of librarians, it maybe stated that the institutions of Newcastle which possess interest for librarians are many and varied. The Lit. and Phil. is one of the principal centres of literary and social activity, and its library, lecture rooms, social departments, and other features make it one of the most influential institutions in the town. Its appearance is impressive, and its well‐ordered and well‐classified shelves appeal to every librarian who has the slightest progressive instinct. It has historic memories over a century old, and in many ways attracts readers and supporters in a manner which no municipal library can as yet pretend to emulate. Perhaps the secret lies in the amount of selectness which such an institution can afford its members, and the feeling that one can mix with other subscribers without any fear of accidentally consorting with a slum‐dweller or ambitious pitman ! With all its merits, and they: are many, the Lit. and Phil. has not yet learned the supreme secret of making a conversazione attractive and bright. But this slight criticism applies to other Newcastle institutions visited by the L. A. No doubt the failures arose from a misunderstanding on the part of the local committee, in assuming too confidently that Librarians could amuse themselves. They cannot. They are the dullest dogs on earth, unless someone takes them in hand and amuses them. But this is all by the way, and may seem a little ungracious, though it is only meant as a guide for the future.