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Technological advances (e.g. e‐commerce and the Internet) have changed business practices and the process of recording and storing business transactions. Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) will soon be built into accounting and reporting software which would allow on‐line real‐time preparation, publication, examination, and extraction of financial information. Thus, outside, independent auditors should use continuous, electronic auditing when most financial information exists only in electronic form under real‐time accounting systems. Continuous auditing and its implications for independent auditors, including internal control considerations and audit procedures, are described and analyzed.

Recently, a number of environmental laws and regulations have been enacted to hold organizations more accountable for their environmental responsibilities. The International Standards Organization (ISO), issued ISO 14000 environmental standards to assist entities worldwide in managing their environmental requirements and to ensure that their environmental policies and practices conform to their missions and goals. ISO 14000 environmental standards are divided into six categories: (1) environmental management systems; (2) environmental auditing; (3) environmental performance evaluation; (4) environmental labeling; (5) life‐cycle assessment; and (6) environmental aspects in product standards. These standards assist entities in preparing step‐by‐step implementation plans to adopt an adequate and effective environmental management system, conduct proper environmental audits, and successfully become registered to ISO 14001. This article presents a 15‐step process which accountantsshould suggest to their organizations to achieve ISO 14001 certification.

The objectives of this study are to offer cash based funds flow components as an alternative to financial ratios for classifying the financial performance of companies; to test empirically the ability of funds flow components to distinguish between failed and nonfailed companies with special emphasis on working capital components; to analyse the empirical results and make recommendations for future study.

Accounting education is passing through a critical stage. In 1988 the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) voted overwhelmingly to require 150 semester hours of education, including a baccalaureate degree, for new members from the year 2000. AICPA together with the National Association of State Boards of Accounting (NASBA) is working to require the 150 hours education requirement to sit for the CPA examination. Twenty four states have passed various versions of this law; many more are in the process of passing it.

This paper provides, first, a historical perspective of accounting research relating to Asian/Pacific countries as seen from the vantage of the leading international journal in the United States and, second, a bibliographical data base and index of twenty‐six years of articles on this region of the world. It accomplishes the first objective by presenting a tabular profile of research in international accounting as it pertains to countries in the Asian/Pacific Rim region as shown in articles published in the International Journal of Accounting (formerly, the International Journal of Accounting, Education and Research) and related publications which appeared from 1965 to 1990. The articles are classified according to country, research methodology, subject, and five‐year time periods. The paper accomplishes the second objective by providing an annotated bibliography of 125 articles on Asian/Pacific Rim countries and indices by country and methodology, and subject.

This paper presents a theoretical framework for environmental performance by looking at the crucial employer and employee factors affecting environmental performance. The model focuses on the integration between top management commitment, employee empowerment, rewards, feedback and review, and environmental performance. Suggestions for managers on implementing core concepts from the model, in addition to the challenges they may encounter are discussed throughout the article.

The continuing development of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has been considered by many researchers and practitioners as one of the major IT innovations in this decade. ERP solutions seek to integrate and streamline business processes and their associated information and work flows. What makes this technology more appealing to organizations is increasing capability to integrate with the most advanced electronic and mobile commerce technologies. However, as is the case with any new IT field, research in the ERP area is still lacking and the gap in the ERP literature is huge. Attempts to fill this gap by proposing a novel taxonomy for ERP research. Also presents the current status with some major themes of ERP research relating to ERP adoption, technical aspects of ERP and ERP in IS curricula. The discussion presented on these issues should be of value to researchers and practitioners. Future research work will continue to survey other major areas presented in the taxonomy framework.

Information technology plays a significant role in a global organization. Senior executives of these organizations need constant and timely access to global information for making decisions. This information originates in different places worldwide for a global organization and needs to be organized before it can be used for decision‐making. The organization and management of global corporate data presents unique challenges. This paper discusses the data organization and management related issues for developing a global executive information systems (EIS) for senior executives of global companies. The objective of a global EIS is to provide executives with a consistent, integrated and summarized view of operational data from subsidiaries worldwide. The global EIS also provides access to external data that is captured from different sources. The system facilitates integrating the internal and external data for effective decision‐making.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical, reflective examination of the organisation, delivery and evaluation of a training event conducted by postgraduate students undertaking a module on human resource development.

The paper seeks to offer a triangulation of semi‐structured interviews, archival student written reflective accounts of the training event together with oral narrative from past participants on the module.

This paper examines the form and nature of a training event used as part of an assessment strategy on the human resource development (HRD) module of the MBA programme at the University of Abertay. The findings document the meanings and multiple realities that the participants ascribe to the training event. The interactional variable inherent in the informal and formal dichotomy of learning are also illustrated. Finally, the process of empowerment and reflection for all learners leads to a range of outcomes beyond the fulfilment of the assessment task.

The study is exploratory and the authors do not attempt to assess the generalisability of the findings.

The significance of the assessment of the training event lies in the manner of its execution and the involvement of the postgraduate student learners. It is anticipated that the wider dissemination of the practice is deemed to be in the interests of the HRD community.

The paper highlights an innovative approach to the teaching and learning of human resource development at postgraduate level.

This paper aims to appraise the delivery of an enterprise education course to a cohort of Polish students evaluating its impact in encouraging entrepreneurial activity. The Polish economy continues its expansion with adoption of free market economies post communism. To encourage this growth, entrepreneurial activity must be encouraged within the next generation of entrepreneurs namely the student community. The course entitled Starting a New Enterprise (SANE) was developed to provide entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of the business planning process. The enterprise education literature questions its effectiveness in encouraging entrepreneurial activity. This study profiles the SANE course focusing on students entrepreneurial motivations, prior experiences and future intent.

This study presents a quantitative review of the Polish students' reflections on the experience of enterprise within the SANE course. The basis for this investigation involved two semi‐structured questionnaires undertaken prior to and on completion of the course. In total, 59 students completed the first questionnaire and 50 respondents the second.

The study found that Polish students had limited prior entrepreneurial experiences and expectations and welcomed the opportunity to undertake enterprise education. The findings suggested an equal proportion of male and female students aged 18‐24 favoured a future entrepreneurial career. Moreover, a quarter of all respondents welcomed an immediate entrepreneurial career on graduation and found value in the development of a business proposal. The findings suggested that entrepreneurial education informs entrepreneurial intent and career aspirations.

This study provides evidence into the effectiveness of enterprise education courses as a mechanism to encourage nascent entrepreneurial activity.