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Empirically compares the emphasis given to writing topics by business communication textbooks and business communication professors with the writing topics that accounting practitioners believe are most important. Addresses the questions: (1) Is there an agreement between the perceptions of accounting executives concerning the importance of certain written communication topics and the space devoted to those topics in the business communication textbooks most commonly used by undergraduate accounting students? (2) Are business communication professors teaching accounting students the writing skills that accounting executives perceive to be the most important? Findings indicate that the business communication courses taken by accounting majors are not emphasizing the writing topics that accounting practitioners believe to be most vital to accountants. The implication is that these courses may not be teaching accounting students the practical writing skills they will need on the job.

Quantitative data from a study of gender differentiation among accounting students are analyzed to discover if male and female accounting students have different attitudes, orientations, and expectations for career and family. Although some changes towards a more gender‐equal population are found, the study results also indicate several potential conflicts which accounting students will have to face as they attempt to combine work and family roles. Both male and female accounting students have strong commitments to work roles, and both value family. However, both male and female accounting students expect females to play a more prominent role in the family and males a stronger role in the workplace. The orientation and plans of these accounting students do not anticipate symmetrical relationships in which both males and females share household and work responsibilities.

Redesigning work is an innovative and potentially effective method for improving the productive ability of workers and organisations. When thoughtfully and skilfully applied, work redesign can also result in more interesting and challenging work for employees. Traditional and most contemporary work design approaches examine either the technical (scientific management) or the social (human relations) system in isolation. Sociotechnical work design theory demonstrates that both the social and technical systems must be jointly considered. The applicability of sociotechnical work design in various organisational settings is addressed, focusing particularly on the management consulting practices in a large public accounting firm. The results of interview and survey data on test site employees are examined, and it is concluded that sociotechnical work design is an appropriate tool for improving productivity and employee job satisfaction.

In recent years, a sizeable amount of research in finance and accounting has been devoted to the issue of bond rating and bond rating changes. A major thrust of these research efforts was to develop and test some prediction‐based models using mainly financial ratios and their trends. This paper tests the ability of statistical decomposition analysis of financial statements to predict bond rating changes. The results show that the decomposition analysis almost does not beat the a priori probability model and is no better than multiple discriminant analysis using simple financial ratios. One important piece of information for participants in debt markets is the assessment of the relative risk associated with a particular bond issue, commonly known as bond ratings. These ratings, however, are not usually fixed for the life of the issues. From time to time, the rating agencies review their ratings of the outstanding bond issues and make changes to these ratings (either upward or downward) when needed. Over the years, researchers have attempted to develop and test some prediction based models in order to predict bond ratings or bond rating changes. These prediction models have employed some variables that are assumed to reflect the rating agency decision‐making activities. Although the rating process is complicated and based mainly on judgmental considerations, Hawkins, Brown and Campbell (1983, p. 95) reported that the academic research strongly suggests that a reliable estimate of a potential bond rating or rating change can be determined by a few key financial ratios. Information theory decomposition measures have received in recent years considerable attention as a potential tool for predicting corporate events, namely corporate bankruptcy (e.g., Lev 1970; Moyer 1977; Walker, Stowe and Moriarity 1979; Booth 1983). The underlying proposition in these studies is that corporate failure, as an event, is expected to be preceded by significant changes in the company's assets and liabilities structure. Although the event of bond rating changes is different from the bankruptcy event in terms of consequences, one can still propose that a bond rating change, as a corporate event, is also expected to be preceded by some significant changes in the company's assets and liabilities structure. Therefore, the decomposition analysis may have a predictive ability in the case of bond rating changes. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test and compare the classification and predictive accuracy of the decomposition analysis with the performance of a multiple discriminant model that uses financial ratios and their trends in the context of bond rating changes.

Despite popular portrayals of women's current success in public accounting, labour force statistics indicate that few women actually advance to partnership level positions. Accounting research on the scarcity of female partners tends to approach this issue from a person‐centred perspective and to focus on the characteristics of women as an explanation for their occupational status. Demonstrates that a situation‐centred perspective provides a useful contribution in understanding the scarcity of women partners. The findings are based on a survey of 188 male and 184 female accountants.

The Sixteenth Annual Report of the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland argues that the enforcement of individual rights is a crucial pre‐requisite for change. There was a 28% increase in the number of legal complaints and enquiries dealt with during the year under review. The most marked increase was in the area of employment (34%). With the increasing influence of European law many of these complaints have led to the commencement of very complex actions.