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Purpose – From a historical perspective, the purpose of this paper is to show how the current New Zealand Accountants' Code of Ethics (COE) differs from the first 1927 COE. The lengthy, current COE comprises strands of thought drawn from three different philosophical positions. By contrast, New Zealand's first COE was relatively short and reflected legitimacy by character employing the concepts of virtue ethics. The concepts of virtue ethics have now largely disappeared from the latest much longer code. The current code is more legalistic and technical, implying a concern for public relations. At the same time, the current COE has become a legitimising tool for the profession to emphasise image and quality. Design/methodology/approach – To illustrate the shift in practice of ethical position, the paper is informed by a recent New Zealand case of a collapsed finance company as well as some further illustrations of a failure to discharge a duty of care to the public from the United Kingdom. Findings – The shift in the COE coupled with a shift in underlying social values contributes to what the Economist Journal describes as a steady decline in professional ethics. There has been a shift from legitimising the character of an accountant to legitimising the character of accounting. This arguable conclusion is supported by a case study in New Zealand and cites the shift in combinations of cognitive, moral and pragmatic legitimacy as drivers employed by accounting firms. Research limitations/implications – The paper uses secondary and documentary data and is informed by conceptual analysis which necessarily in the realm of ethics may be contentious. Originality/value – The paper seeks to link the changing social values with changes in legitimisation and the COE to show shifts in accounting practices like the recent practice of issuing disclaimers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of (local) e-government impact and development philosophy in China, New Zealand, Oman, and the UK. Design/methodology/approach - A survey instrument was used to collect data from policymakers in 114 civil service organisations in four countries during 2007. Findings - Policymakers in every country report only low-medium levels of agreement that their e-government initiatives had yielded significant benefits for organisations and citizens alike over a broad range of performance measures concerning service quality, citizen satisfaction, productivity, and management effectiveness. In interactions with stakeholders that are both directive and maintain control over citizens, policymakers also favour the provision of online services that offer ever increasing amounts of information, rather than collaborative service channels that engage citizens in local decision making. Research limitations/implications - Less than a 100-percent response rate gives an incomplete snapshot of the e-government scene in the four countries studied. Also, a lack of understanding of some key e-government issues plus cultural response bias may have led to erroneous/biased responses. Practical implications - In an era in which public sector organisations worldwide are under pressure to demonstrate success in service delivery and organisational performance, policymakers do not perceive online services as an opportunity to reduce the costs of physical infrastructure or to improve democracy via shared decision-making. Thus, further erosions of trust and participation in democracy may continue unless citizens are given similar choices in the democratic system to those they have in their everyday lives. Originality/value - The paper is undertaken at the local level of government and in a diverse range of countries where the political, social, economic, and cultural environments can differ markedly. It evaluates the significance of key e-government issues in Western, Arabic, and Eastern contexts, enabling international comparisons to be made across these cultural settings. Impacts of the e-government initiatives on organisations and citizens are presented and compared; and policymaker attitudes to new technology having the potential to enhance the democratic process are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper aims to respond conceptually, rather then empirically, to policy ignorance. It seeks to examine certain aspects of whistleblower protection offered in the common law countries of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. Design/methodology/approach - The paper provides a four-country comparison of whistleblower protection laws against 13 characteristics gleaned from the international literature on whistleblower legislation. This analysis is informed by considerations of the common law and corruption and critical state theory. Findings - The conclusion reached is that the whistleblower laws established in the common law countries of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK variously contain serious structural deficiencies, particularly with respect to the scope of protection and the construction of corruption. The concern is that whistleblowers seeking protection under these inadequate programs will be hurt and there will be negligible impact on the profile of corruption. Research limitations/implications - The major weakness in the analysis was the subjective and arbitrary way the disclosure management characteristics were selected to assess the disclosure laws of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. Future research should seek more objective indictors of performance as well as a consideration of exterior indicators such as the impact of disclosure policies on corruption. Practical implications - If the findings here are validated in subsequent research, then governments should urgently review their current whistleblower policies in order to improve disclosure protection. Originality/value - A conceptual framework informed by considerations of corruption, the common law and critical state theory was used to put whistleblower protection in a wider context where state interest competed with the needs of whistleblowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate student perceptions of the design features included in an "off the shelf" Learning Management System (LMS) in teaching undergraduate accounting students. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire responses from 846 accounting students studying in the UK, Australia and New Zealand provide international data to develop a model to explain student perception of the LMS. Findings – The final model shows student satisfaction with the use of a LMS is positively associated with three variables: usefulness of lecture notes, bulletin boards and discussion forums, and other LMS tools. Further, the comparison of cultural differences of the three countries shows all students treat the provision of notes as a desirable attribute on a LMS. Findings also suggest that although students find the provision of materials over the LMS does not enhance student engagement in class, overall a comparison of the three countries shows all students treat the provision of notes as a desirable attribute of a LMS. Research limitations/implications – Future research should collect ethnicity data to enable an analysis of cultural influence on student perceptions of the LMS. Practical implications – As increased motivation to learn is found to contribute to improved achievement of learning outcomes, the study's findings have implications for faculty contemplating the adoption of a LMS in their courses. The findings specifically confirm that usefulness of lecture notes, use of bulletin/discussion boards, and other LMS tools are positively endorsed by students and hence increase their motivation to learn. Originality/value – The current paper adds to the literature as the motivation to use and engage with LMSs by accounting students is not well understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Alternative document models (ADMs) were created with the purpose of reducing the extent to which anomalies occur in counts of web links at the page level, and have been used extensively within webometrics as an alternative to using the web page as the basic unit of analysis. This paper seels tp carry out a longitudinal study of ADMs in an attempt to ascertain which model gives the most consistent results when applied to the UK, Australia and New Zealand academic web spaces over the last six years. Design/methodology/approach - Information science software (SocSciBot Tools, socscibot.wlv.ac.uk) was used to process hyperlink structure text files for UK, Australian and New Zealand universities and produced standard Page, Directory, Domain and Site ADMs using both inlinks and outlinks. Spearman bivariate correlation analysis was then undertaken to determine the level of correlation between these eight ADMs and a measure of site size for each university. Findings - The findings show that the Domain ADM gives the most consistent results. However, the Directory ADM also gives more reliable results than are evident when using the standard Page model. Aggregating at the site (or university) level appears to provide less reliable results than using the page as the standard unit of measure, and this finding holds true over all three academic webs and for each time period examined over the last six years. Research limitations/implications - The use of Spearman's correlation coefficient is considered to be unreliable when used with very small sample sizes and, with only eight universities, the New Zealand academic web space may not be sufficiently large to give truly accurate statistical results. Originality/value - While previous specific studies have shown that more accurate results can be obtained through the use of the Domain or Directory ADM, the paper has shown that these results are consistent over time and across different countries' academic web spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines cross-country differences in marketing imagery. Marketing imagery in music videos broadcast in the UK and New Zealand are studied. Results suggest that UK music videos have more brand references, fashion imagery, darkside products and role model behaviour outcomes than New Zealand music shows. Pop music marketing references are mainly visual while hard rock has more darkside products, brand references and punishment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]