Search

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how corporate Australia engages in reconciliation through recognizing and providing pathways for Indigenous Australians' corporate leadership aspirations. Design/methodology/approach: The research design is informed by the prior literature on pathways by minority groups to corporate leadership through the theoretical lens of transformational leadership. The investigation is conducted using textual analysis of reconciliation action plans (RAPs), a contemporary and voluntary practice adopted by Australian listed companies to disclose their commitment to national reconciliation. RAPs are publicly available from the official websites of listed companies. Findings: The analysis of contemporary RAPs highlights organizational initiatives to support Indigenous Australians related to corporate and community leadership. Since the authors' focus is the former, corporate leadership initiatives are further analyzed. Two initiatives for Indigenous Australians to pursue corporate leadership positions are emerging future leaders' programs and mentoring programs. This is the extent to which the authors observe Australian firms' transformational leadership. While some firms have implemented these initiatives with specific targets, other firms do not have specific initiatives or targets. The paper also conducts longitudinal analysis into the transformational leaders' past RAPs and triangulates to other evidence of reconciliation commitment such as the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Research limitations/implications: This paper contributes new insights to the research area of board cultural diversity, specifically to the limited literature on Indigenous reconciliation. It provides insights into firms and policymakers to address the ongoing issue of the underrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in corporate leadership. The sample of firms comprises Australian listed firms that have adopted higher-order RAPs, which restricts the generalizability of the findings to other sectors. Originality/value: This paper explores the under researched phenomenon of Indigenous people's pathways to corporate leadership. The research design is informed by transformational leadership theory through considering institutional actions for reconciliation. This research provides evidence of the extent to which corporate Australia has taken action on the issue of the under-representation of Australian Indigenous people in corporate leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Temporary labour mobility programmes (TLMPs) are initiated by high-income nations to fill their labour demands by offering temporary work opportunities to migrants from low-income nations. TLMPs also seek to contribute to economic development in workers' home countries. This paper aims to assess the accountability of New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme and Australia's Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) in reaching their economic development objectives in one sending nation, Samoa. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study with RSE and SWP workers and key informants (collectively stakeholders) in Samoa was undertaken to assess the contributions of these schemes to economic development. An interdisciplinary research approach was taken using the Pacific methodology of talanoa. Talanoa was used to "operationalise engagement" and empower local stakeholder accounts. Findings: Talanoa supported the elicitation of accounts that contributed nuanced insights into the accountability of TLMPs. Specifically, stakeholder accounts revealed limitations in the ability of the RSE Scheme and SWP to meet their economic development objectives for Samoan communities and workers. Adjustments are necessary to meet Pacific nations' economic development objectives. Practical implications: This study responds to calls for on-the-ground accounts of stakeholders involved in TLMPs. It provides insights that may contribute to the development of more effective TLMPs, particularly regarding economic development in workers' home countries. Originality/value: Drawing on dialogic accounting literature, which calls for engagement with the marginalised, a talanoa approach has been engaged to assess TLMPs via on-the-ground participant accounts in a specific context. This paper introduces talanoa to the critical and social accounting literature, to move beyond a typical accounting qualitative interview process and encourage greater engagement and collaboration with Pacific scholars and partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper aims to investigate how accounting techniques, when embedded within data-driven public-sector management systems, mask and intensify the neoliberal ideological commitments of powerful state and corporate actors. The authors explore the role of accounting in the operationalisation of "instrumentarian power" (Zuboff, 2019) – a new form of power that mobilises ubiquitous digital instrumentation to ensure that algorithmic architectures can tune, herd and modify behaviour. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ a qualitative archival analysis of publicly available data related to the automation of welfare-policing systems to explore the role of accounting in advancing instrumentarian power. Findings: In exploring the automation of Australia's welfare debt recovery system (Robodebt), this paper examines a new algorithmic accountability that has emerged at the interface of government, technology and accounting. The authors show that accounting supports both the rise of instrumentarian power and the intensification of neoliberal ideals when buried within algorithms. In focusing on Robodebt, the authors show how the algorithmic reconfiguration of accountability within the welfare system intensified the inequalities that welfare recipients experienced. Furthermore, the authors show that, despite its apparent failure, it worked to modify welfare recipients' behaviour to align with the neoliberal ideals of "self-management" and "individual responsibility". Originality/value: This paper addresses Agostino, Saliterer and Steccolini's (2021) call to investigate the relationship between accounting, digital innovations and the lived experience of vulnerable people. To anchor this, the authors show how algorithms work to mask the accounting assumptions that underpin them and assert that this, in turn, recasts accountability relationships. When accounting is embedded in algorithms, the ideological potency of calculations can be obscured, and when applied within technologies that affect vulnerable people, they can intensify already substantial inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The overall aim of this paper was to examine the impact of the Australian research assessment exercise on the research approaches (positivist/non-positivist) favoured by accounting disciplines in Australia. Our key research question examined how the outputs and foci of research in elite accounting disciplines changed over a 16-year period. Our analysis was informed by Bourdieu's notions of academic elitism and symbolic violence. Design/methodology/approach: We analysed all papers published in 20 major accounting journals across a 16-year period by Australian accounting disciplines that were highly rated in the research assessment exercise. We also compared our results from this group against two case study accounting disciplines that were not rated as "world class". Findings: Our key finding is that the introduction of a research assessment exercise in Australia has resulted in research outputs of elite accounting disciplines over this period being increasingly focused on positivist rather than non-positivist research. Our findings evidence a narrowing of accounting disciplines' research agendas and foci across the period. Research limitations/implications: Our findings highlight a considerable narrowing of the research agenda and paradigms in accounting disciplines that is not in the public interest. Our findings also have implications for the literature on academic elitism. The narrowing of the research agenda and greater foci on positivist research exhibited in our findings demonstrates the role of dominant elites in controlling the research agenda through a research assessment exercise. Practical implications: A practical implication is that proper research, regardless of the approach used, must be appropriately recognised and accepted by Accounting Disciplines, not ostracised or discouraged. Research implications are the breadth of accounting research should be celebrated and concentration eschewed. Australian accounting discipline leaders should not fall for the illusion that the only good research is that which is published in a small number of North American positivist journals. Originality/value: Our findings provide insights into Bourdieu's work through demonstrating how dominant players have successfully exploited an external regulatory mechanism, a research assessment exercise, to strengthen their position within a field and exert control over the research agendas of accounting disciplines. Previous work by Bourdieu has not directly examined how actors utilise these outside forces as instruments for shaping their own field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Prior research has investigated legitimation strategies in corporate annual reports in the for-profit sector. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this phenomenon in an NGO environment. It investigates Australian overseas aid agencies’ responses to criticism of the relief effort following the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. It aims to determine whether voluntary annual report disclosures were reflective of impression management and/or of the discharge of functional accountability. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies content analysis to compare the structure and content of the annual reports of 19 Australian overseas aid agencies before and after the Indian Ocean tsunami. Findings – Results suggest voluntary disclosure in annual reports significantly increased post-tsunami and was more consistent with impression management activity rather than functional accountability suggesting a response to the legitimacy challenge. The use of impression management tactics differed with agency size, with larger agencies using ingratiation in order to appear more attractive while smaller ones promoted their particular achievements. Originality/value – This paper makes a contribution by extending prior impression management and legitimacy literature to an NGO environment. It has implications for the development of these theories as it looks at organisations where the stakeholders are different from the for-profit sector and profits are not the main concern. It raises issues about the concept of accountability in the NGO sector, and how the nature of organisation reporting is changing to address the challenges of a sector where access to funds is highly competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper considers how archival accounting records may support truth-telling about past atrocities during Australia's frontier wars. Design/methodology/approach: The study examines two colonial accounting records – military muster payrolls and the ledger statements of a local tax fund – used during the British's punitive expeditions against the Aboriginal peoples of Sydney in 1816. Findings: The accounting records reveal new information about the full scale of the campaign, the degree to which the violence was formally endorsed and acts of Aboriginal resistance. However, much of the human toll of the campaign remains obscured by the highly structured, monetary lens of financial records authored and archived by the British colonial regime. Social implications: Australia's First Nations have called for greater truth-telling about the frontier wars to enable meaningful reconciliation and political recognition of Indigenous sovereignty. This study highlights the potential role of accounting records as a resource for contemporary truth-telling processes. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature about the dark history of accounting by explicating genre features in the content, form and context of archival accounting records, which can both render past atrocities more visible as well as perpetrate invisibilities, ambiguities and silences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper reports on a study that investigated the (potential) impact of client use of blockchain technology on financial statement audits of Australian accounting firms. Design/methodology/approach: Data were primarily collected from semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders including audit partners from first- and second-tier accounting firms in Australia. The interviews focused on the perceived (potential) impact of blockchain on the stages of obtain (retain) engagement, engagement planning, risk assessment, audit evidence and reporting of financial statement audits of clients that use blockchain technology. Perceptions of changes to financial statement audits were interpreted using the logics of professionalism and commercialism. Findings: Australian accounting firms have either obtained or considered engagements with clients with a cryptocurrency business or that use a blockchain platform although they are a small group. There is a view that blockchain technology is distinctive and therefore poses risks not encountered before in audit engagements. These risks would most likely shift how firms plan, design audit methodologies and execute financial statement audits. The study showed that the logics of professionalism and commercialism are not conflicting but instead complementary. They present both opportunities and challenges for firms to apply and develop audit expertise in an emerging area in audit. Research limitations/implications: Being an exploratory study, the findings are tentative. A case study of an audit engagement with a cryptocurrency business will add to a nuanced understanding of the challenges posed to financial statement audits by blockchain technology. Originality/value: This study is novel because of its focus on the impact of an evolving technology on the stages of financial statement audits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper explores the creation in Australia of the Register of Accountants for National Service. Established at the outset of the Second World War, the Register operated for four years from June 1940 providing voluntary, non-remunerated, part-time and after-hours services to a highly stressed and seriously stretched federal government bureaucracy by members of the main Australian professional accounting bodies. Departments of the Navy, Army, Air Force, Supply and Development and Munitions were the largest consumers of the services offered. Design/methodology/approach: The study of the Register relies mainly on an extensive archive of war-time documentation from the Federal Government and various accounting professional institutes which has survived, predominantly in the National Archives of Australia. The resource is particularly rich in material covering the complex negotiation processes that brought the Register into operation together with documentation recording and reporting the work of the Register. The themes of professionalization, institutional legitimacy, volunteerism and patriotism are all invoked to explain the presence of the Register in the machinery of government that was assembled to deliver the ultimately successful war effort. Created by the principal professional accounting institutes, the Register attests to the commitment of their members to the war effort and, thereby, the importance of the profession to Australian society. Findings: The perilous situation of Australia at a time of war provided a compelling incentive for the accounting profession to organise itself in an efficient and highly effective manner to assist with the war effort. The disparate and somewhat fractured accounting profession at the time was able to work together in a structured, cohesive and disciplined manner to provide voluntary services when called upon. To deliver the voluntary services promised, a purpose-built set of institutional arrangements was put in place. An extensive inventory of the potential services that could be provided by members of the main professional accounting bodies was conducted to facilitate the smooth matching of government needs with services available. Research limitations/implications: Discussion focusses only on Australia where the Register was unique. No other examples have been discovered where a profession has self-mobilised to serve a nation in a time of war. A further limitation is that the activities reported are restricted to self-reporting by the Register and a small loose collection of documents prepared by the Department of the Navy. Originality/value: The uniqueness of the Register is the core of the originality and value of this study. How and why it came into being and the method by which it completed the "task" assigned to it stand as testament to a profession strategically placed to contribute in a substantive manner to the war effort at minimal cost to the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance a critical realist perspective on performativity and use it to examine how novel conceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have performative effects. Design/methodology/approach: To illustrate how the authors' critical realist understanding of performativity can play out, the authors offer a field study of an Australian packaging company and engage in retroductive and retrodictive theorising. Findings: In contrast to most prior accounting research, the authors advance a structuralist understanding of performativity that pays more systematic attention to the causal relationships that underpin performative tendencies. The authors explain how such tendencies are conditioned by pre-existing, social structures, conceptualised in terms of multiple, intersecting norm circles. The authors illustrate their argument empirically by showing how specific conceptions of CSR, centred on the notion of "shared value", were cemented by the interplay between the causal powers embedded in such norm circles and how this suppressed alternative conceptions of this phenomenon. Research limitations/implications: The findings draw attention to the structural boundary conditions under which particular conceptions of CSR can be expected to become performative. Greater attention to such boundary conditions, denoting the social structures that reinforce and counteract performative tendencies, is required to further cumulative, yet context-sensitive, theory development on this topic. Originality/value: The paper is the first to adopt a critical realist perspective on performativity in the accounting literature. This perspective strikes a middle path between the highly constructivist ontology, adopted in most accounting research concerned with performativity and realist criticisms of this ontological position for de-emphasising the influence of pre-existing, objective realities on performativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Given the impending introduction of legislation requiring large Australian listed companies to make supply chain disclosures about modern slavery, the paper aims to reveal current voluntary practice. The purpose of this paper is to provide a benchmark for assessing the current engagement of large companies with modern slavery in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: Institutional theory provides the foundation for assessing current voluntary practice in relation to modern slavery disclosures by large Australian listed companies. Content analysis is used to identify quantity and quality of modern slavery disclosures of the top 100 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The contents of annual and standalone reports available on websites, as well as other online disclosures, are examined using terms associated with modern slavery identified from the literature. Findings: Evidence gathered about modern slavery disclosures by ASX 100 companies shows information in annual and standalone reports reveal far less than other disclosures on company websites. Overall, the volume and quality of disclosures are low and, where made, narrative. A wide range of themes on modern slavery are disclosed with bribery and corruption and human rights issues dominant. Although currently in line with institutional theory, as there appear to be mimetic processes encouraging disclosure, results support the idea that legislation is needed to encourage further engagement. Research limitations/implications: The paper provides a baseline of understanding about the volume and quality of modern slavery disclosures as a foundation for future research into the practices of Australian companies prior to the signalled introduction of legislation mandating reporting. It also identifies potential lines of research. The sample only examines large Australian listed companies which restricts generalisation from the results. Originality/value: This is the first academic research paper to examine quantity and quality of modern slavery disclosures of large Australian companies. Results add support for the introduction of legislation by government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: first, what contracts, instruments and accounting activities constitute Australia’s offshore asylum seeker processing policy in practice? Second, how are notions of legitimacy and accountability mediated through the network constituted by this policy? Design/methodology/approach – The paper is located in the critical interpretivist approach to accounting research. It is based on an exhaustive documentary analysis. Policy documents, contract documents, records of parliamentary inquiries (Hansard) and legislation were analysed drawing on a network policy perspective. Findings – The paper finds that the Australian Government has sought to escape its accountability obligations by employing a range of approaches. The first of these approaches is the construction of a network involving foreign states, private corporations and non-government organizations. The second is through a watered down accountability regime and refusal to be accountable for the day-to-day life of asylum seekers in offshore processing centres through a play with the meaning of “effective control”. Yet while the policy network seems designed to create accountability gaps, the requirement within the network to remain financially accountable undermines the governments claims not to be responsible for the conditions in the detention camps. Research limitations/implications – The paper focuses largely on the period starting from when Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister to the death in Papua New Guinea of asylum seeker Reza Barati on 17 February 2014. Earlier periods are beyond the scope of this paper. Practical implications – The paper will result in the identification of deficiencies inhuman rights accountability for extra-territorialized and privatised immigration detention and may contribute towards the formulation of effective policy recommendations to overcome such deficiencies. The paper also provides empirical data on, and academic understanding of, immigration detention outsourcing and offshoring. Social implications – The paper will inform debate regarding treatment of unauthorized maritime arrivals and asylum seekers generally. Originality/value – The paper provides the first detailed and full understanding of the way Australia’s offshore asylum seeker processing policy is practiced. The paper also provides an empirical analysis of the way national policy and its associated accountability mechanisms emerge in response to the competing legitimacy claims of the international community and national electorate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how accounting and supply function specialists shape controls in collaborative supply networks (CSNs) and how both might co-evolve. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a case study of an Australian metal manufacturer ("SteelBiz") and its CSN is conducted. Findings - The paper finds changes in both trust vis-a-vis formal controls and in intra-organisational supply-accounting relations occurred in a mutually constructive manner. At SteelBiz, a shift to formal controls occurred due to the efforts of the accounting function in contesting organisational visibility. Overall, both intra- and inter-organisational relations were found to co-evolve. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of the paper include: an empirical examination of buyer organisations only; a focus on intra-organisational issues between functional specialists to the relative exclusion of both more "macro" trends and inter-personal relationships; and the limited generalisability associated with the methodology chosen. Future research should consider both buyer and supplier organisations and whether the "disciplinary alignments" observed here are reflective of more enduring patterns.Originality/value - The contributions of this paper are two-fold. First, the paper attempts to fill a gap in the literature pertaining to how intra-organisational relations might influence network controls. Furthermore, the few studies that do exist describe the "intra-inter"dynamic as uni-directional only, whereas this paper reveals how both mutually constitute the other. Second, complexities into the trust-formal control relationship are revealed while it is proposed that as CSN relations develop, process-based mechanisms become more important than other relationship-sustaining devices, with the trust-formal control dynamic dependent on ongoing negotiation and information as moblised by intra-organisational participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The authors explore the Australian Government's implementation of budgetary measures to manage the social and economic impacts of COVID-19, paying particular attention to how the country's history of inequality has shaped these actions, and the effect inequality may have on outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: In this qualitative case study of public budgeting, the authors draw on the latest research into inequality to consider the implications of policy responses to COVID-19 in Australia. In particular, we examine the short-term introduction of what we term "people-focused" budgetary measures. These appeared contrary to the dominant neoliberalist approach to Australian welfare policymaking. Findings: This paper foregrounds the relationship between budgeting, public policy and inequality and explores how decades of increasingly regressive tax systems and stagnating living wages have made both people, and the state, vulnerable to crises like COVID. Social implications: There is still much to learn about the role of accounting in the shaping of growing economic inequality. In focusing on public budgeting within the context of COVID, the authors suggest ways accounting researchers can contribute to our understanding of economic inequality, both in terms of drivers and consequences. The authors hope to contribute to a growing body of accounting research that can influence social movements, political debates and policymaking, while also raising awareness of the consequences of wealth and income inequality. Originality/value: The authors explore ways accounting scholars might help articulate a post-COVID future that avoids recreating the inequalities of the past and present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the future development of heritage reporting in Australia. Public sector reporting of heritage has been a long-standing issue, due to shortcomings in (sector-neutral) for-profit-based financial reporting standards. Australia's sector-neutral approach does not meet public sector users' information needs. The authors develop a heritage reporting model to balance community and other stakeholders' interests and address prior critiques. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reviews heritage reporting requirements in Anglo-Western Countries, and analyses commentaries and research publications. It evaluates the existing reporting requirements in the context of new public management (which focusses on information and efficiency) and new public governance (NPG) (focussing on balancing interests and quality). Findings: The paper proposes an NPG-based heritage reporting model which includes indicators of performance on the five UNESCO (1972) dimensions and operational guidelines issued by UNESCO (2015). These are identification, presentation, protection, conservation and transmission. The proposed model is consistent with the notion of US SFFAS 29 (the standard for Federal entities). Not all heritage must be capitalised and hence attachment of monetary value, but detailed disclosures are necessary. Research limitations/implications: The authors expect the proposed heritage reporting model to better serve users of heritage information compared to the present Australian Accounting Standards Board 116: Property, Plant and Equipment. Originality/value: The authors' proposed model of heritage reporting attempts to answer Carnegie and Wolnizer's (1995, 1999) six questions, addresses decades of concerns raised in previous literature and provides a new perspective to heritage reporting based on NPG that should better serve users' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Given the impending introduction of legislation requiring large Australian listed companies to make supply chain disclosures about modern slavery, the paper aims to reveal current voluntary practice. The purpose of this paper is to provide a benchmark for assessing the current engagement of large companies with modern slavery in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: Institutional theory provides the foundation for assessing current voluntary practice in relation to modern slavery disclosures by large Australian listed companies. Content analysis is used to identify quantity and quality of modern slavery disclosures of the top 100 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The contents of annual and standalone reports available on websites, as well as other online disclosures, are examined using terms associated with modern slavery identified from the literature. Findings: Evidence gathered about modern slavery disclosures by ASX 100 companies shows information in annual and standalone reports reveal far less than other disclosures on company websites. Overall, the volume and quality of disclosures are low and, where made, narrative. A wide range of themes on modern slavery are disclosed with bribery and corruption and human rights issues dominant. Although currently in line with institutional theory, as there appear to be mimetic processes encouraging disclosure, results support the idea that legislation is needed to encourage further engagement. Research limitations/implications: The paper provides a baseline of understanding about the volume and quality of modern slavery disclosures as a foundation for future research into the practices of Australian companies prior to the signalled introduction of legislation mandating reporting. It also identifies potential lines of research. The sample only examines large Australian listed companies which restricts generalisation from the results. Originality/value: This is the first academic research paper to examine quantity and quality of modern slavery disclosures of large Australian companies. Results add support for the introduction of legislation by government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the competition between accounting sustainability assurance providers (ASAPs) and non-accounting sustainability assurance providers (NASAPs), and how this competition influences the institutionalization of the evolving field of sustainability assurance. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretivist research methodology, guided by an institutional work perspective, is used to analyze interviews with 15 SAPs and 35 sustainability reporting managers (SRMs) in Australia and New Zealand. Findings: ASAPs prefer to use International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (ISAE3000), because it is well recognized in the profession, adheres to ASAPs' regulatory requirements, and mirrors their financial audit methodologies. This preference influences ASAPs' institutional work as they compete against NASAPs and how they institutionalize sustainability assurance. ASAPs' institutional works include presenting sustainability assurance as similar to a financial audit, arguing in support of a single provider for financial audits and sustainability assurance, and undermining NASAPs and their preferred sustainability assurance standard, AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS), by appealing to senior management. In comparison, NASAPs promote AA1000AS as a specialist standard among SRMs, emphasizing the standard's sustainability enhancing qualities and its flexibility, while discrediting ASAPs and ISAE3000 as out of touch with sustainability objectives. Research limitations/implications: A new conceptual model is constructed that can be used in institutional work research. Practical implications: The accounting profession is encouraged to consider more flexible, innovative methods in new assurance markets. This involves using new assurance standards as well as developing specialist standards for new forms of assurance. Regulation over sustainability assurance could be helpful, but regulators should be careful not to stifle competition in this evolving field. Originality/value: This paper examines how competition between ASAPs and NASAPs influences the institutionalization of sustainability assurance. The paper offers a new model for the analysis of institutional work, which could be used by researchers, new insights into the emerging field of sustainability assurance, as well as a figure and discussion that clarifies the broader implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve Kingdon’s (1984, 2011) concept of policy entrepreneurs (PE) with regard to the theoretical development of the definition and identification and level of agency by supplementing it with elements of Schmidt’s (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012) sentient agents. The improved concept of discursive policy entrepreneurs (DPEs) is then applied in an in-depth case study about the agenda setting process of micro and macro whole-of-government accounting in Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Design/methodology/approach Based on the concept of DPEs, a series of operationalised characteristics and proxies are developed to identify them and describe their behaviour. These are then applied in the case study. The two main data sources are semi-structured in-depth interviews and archival documents.Findings The findings show that the focus on DPEs’ discursive and coordination activities is critical for identifying and investigating the key actors of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)/Government Finance Statistics (GFS) harmonisation agenda setting process. The study also finds that the two relevant decision-making bodies, the Financial Reporting Council and the Australian Accounting Standards Board, lost control over their agendas due to the actions of DPEs.Research limitations/implications The improved concepts of DPEs will allow researchers to better identify the main agents of policy change and differentiate them from other supporters of policy ideas. Due to the qualitative nature of the study, the findings are not necessarily generalisable.Practical implications The findings from this study can help participants of agenda setting processes to gain a better understanding of the actions and behaviours of DPEs. This might allow standard setting bodies to mitigate against undue influences by DPEs.Originality/value This study is the first study that uses Schmidt’s concept of the sentient agent to address the limitations of Kingdon’s concept of PE and develops and applies characteristics to identify PEs and their actions. It is also the only study to date that investigates the GAAP/GFS harmonisation agenda setting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to explore how the lack of staff engagement with a university's strategy on sustainability could be an enabling lever for organisational change. It examines the attitudes and views of employees of a business faculty at an Australian metropolitan university as it attempts to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper opted for a case study using data from an on-line survey, semi-directed interviews with key management personnel and archival material. Responses were analysed using Piderit's (2000) notion of ambivalence. Findings -- The paper provides empirical insights into why staff lacked engagement with the university's strategy on sustainability. It suggests that staff were ambivalent, displaying dissonance in their personal beliefs on sustainability, the university's strategy and the extent of their intentions to support the university. Staff were willing to offer ideas on how the university could, in the future, change towards sustainability. These ideas allow the possibility for the university to learn to adjust the scope of the implementation of its sustainability strategy. Research limitations/implications -- The research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to further examine staff attitudes on sustainability in higher education using Piderit's notion of ambivalence. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions could allow a better understanding of harmony and dissonance in cognition of and intention for university sustainability strategies and initiatives by academic, professional and sessional staff. Practical implications -- The paper includes implications for staff engagement with sustainability in higher education. Originality/value -- This paper fulfils an identified need to study how staff engagement with sustainability in higher education can be enabled for organisational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In 2015, one university student in KC – a small town in regional Australia – unknowingly launched a resistance movement and national debate on modern wage theft. We apply labour process theory to analyse accounting's role in this case. Design/methodology/approach: We study multiple instances of wage theft in one Australian town. This case site reveals how wage theft can emerge in a developed economy with well-established legal and institutional constraints. We use Thompson's "core" labour process theory to analyse accounting's role via two interrelated dialectics: (1) structure and agency and, (2) control and resistance. Findings: Accounting was "weaponised" by both sides of the controversy: as a tool of employer control and as a vehicle for student resistance. Digital technologies enabled employee resistance to form unconsciously and organically. Proponents mobilised informally, with information and accounting the ammunition. Social implications: Wage theft affects industrialised as well as developing economies, especially "precarious" workers. We show how accounting can conceal exploitation, but also how – with the right support – accounting can help vulnerable workers enforce their rights and entitlements. Originality/value: The paper uncovers novel dynamics of exploitation and resistance at work under contemporary economic and technological conditions. Labour process theory can provide a more dialectical perspective on accounting's role in these dynamics, including the emancipatory potential of informal and opportunistic counter-accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore environmental reporting in the Australian Commonwealth public sector through the focus on departments with a primary responsibility for social and environmental issues. Design/methodology/approach – The research moves beyond the existing theorisation for environmental reporting through a legitimacy theory perspective and adopts Bourdieu's theory of practice. The practices of the two selected departments for this study are assessed through interviews and documentary data. Findings – The findings suggest that the practice of environmental reporting in a research context moves beyond legitimacy considerations with the internal context being critical in explaining current practices. It is in this regard that the theoretical perspective provides useful insights in understanding environmental reporting in the Australian commonwealth public sector. Research limitations/implications – The paper calls for further studies that go beyond desk-based analysis of environmental disclosure and utilise field studies and varying theoretical perspectives which focus on the practices that lead to the production of environmental reporting via various media. Practical implications – This paper provides insights into how internal actors influence the practice of public sector environmental reporting which has practical implications for the development and enhancement of environmental reporting in many jurisdictions. Originality/value – The paper develops a theoretical perspective for environmental accounting that provides a comprehensive account of environmental reporting in a specific context. This approach could be utilised in different contexts and contributes towards extending the existing theorisation for environmental reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to stimulate further discussion on divergent institutional and academic needs for effective marking processes to evaluate student work in Australian universities. This is in specific response to institutional stated goals and emerging policies under current economic realities. After identifying the three significant areas of marking that must be addressed: content, consistency and cost; the author proposes that the use of the AERO-dynamic model of marking will reduce academic workloads and provide institutions with an effective marking process to meet corporate budgets. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper is a synthesis of researcher participation and discourse interpretation. It is based on a cynical response to changing realities and resides in the arena of the "Theatre of the Absurd". Findings – The AERO-dynamic model of marking was found to be highly cost effective for institutions with large student cohorts and ever diminishing budgets. Critical analysis identified areas of concern in marking consistency and assignment content and recommends specific actions to address these but also identifies that no process will be perfect and that some tradeoffs between cost, consistency and content need to be made. The role of the academic within this marking process is redefined and the implications of this for both institution and individual acknowledged. Originality/value – This paper offers a starting point for further debate into the widening gap between student expectations on assignment marking and institutional resource allocation and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to strengthen the theoretical understanding of the processes through which a new regulator seeks to gain legitimacy within an existing regulatory space. The authors do this by investigating the case of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC). Design/methodology/approach – Synthesising legitimacy theory with the concept of regulatory space, the authors analyse formal public discourse surrounding the establishment and operations of the ACNC. Findings – Regulation is essentially a context-bound political process in which a new regulator needs to establish legitimacy to ensure its survival. It must convince its constituents that it has developed processes to operate effectively and professionally in addressing constituents’ needs, to bargain authoritatively with other regulators in establishing its operational boundaries, and to engage politically with government and constituents. Over a relatively short time, the ACNC built legitimacy, despite the political threats to its formal regulatory authority. Research limitations/implications – The conclusions are based on the analysis of one case. There is scope for further investigations of the processes by which new regulators establish their legitimacy in different contexts. Practical implications – The potential for a political threat to the authority of a new regulator, and the difficulty of achieving regulatory reform, particularly in a federated system such as Australia, highlight the necessity for a new regulator to develop a compelling discourse of legitimacy. Originality/value – The authors synthesise regulatory space and legitimacy perspectives, contributing to an understanding of the processes of regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This editorial aims to consider the relationship between academic accounting research and professional practice. Design/methodology/approach - The paper takes the form of an editorial review and argument. Findings - The paper acknowledges that accounting academic research is important to the higher education system, careers and publishers. However, its impact on teaching, professional practice, and the professions and society is a hotly debated issue. Research limitations/implications - The editorial offers scope for accounting academics to engage with the profession and society as to the impact of their research, an important issue in higher education, not only in Australia, but internationally. Originality/value - The paper provides important commentary on the relationship between accounting research and practice as represented in academic journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of taxation legislation to a mythical character. Design/methodology/approach - The paper takes the form of humorous fiction. Findings - The paper suggests that different understanding of concepts can produce unexpected results. Research limitations/implications - Taxation legislation is difficult to apply to mythical characters. Originality/value - The paper is a humorous story designed for Christmas reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical account of the discourse-practice nexus relating to an accounting for intellectual capital (IC) at an Australian public sector organisation (LandsNSW). Design/methodology/approach - The paper is a case study. Data collection techniques comprised semi-structured interviews, in situ observation of meetings and internal presentations, and reviews of documents such as internal memos, strategic plans, IC statements and business performance and annual reports. Findings - Although ambiguity in discourse may reduce its ability to prescribe particular practices, the paper argues that such qualities allow discourse producers greater flexibility in attempting to shape action. At LandsNSW, IC discourse was given shape by those mobilising it. Specifically, constructing IC as a potential solution to practical concerns made IC more attractive to discourse consumers. By interesting and enrolling users in this manner, IC discourse was taken up where it had previously been discarded. Research limitations/implications - External factors that comprised IC discourse outside the organisation have only been given limited attention. It is also acknowledged that discourse consumers extend beyond practice manager level to also include employees in lower level operational positions and that these have not been explored in this study. Purpose - The paper provides useful information on enrolling discourse consumers to affect material intellectual capital practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to determine the appropriateness of a general-purpose financial reporting model derived from a "decision-useful" framework for government departments. Design/methodology/approach - This research in this paper uses a survey methodology to access users of government department general purpose financial reports and is innovative because it has directly studied actual users across the entire public sector. Findings - The findings of this paper indicate that general-purpose financial reports are used to satisfy financial accountability and public accountability rather than decision making - indicative of users having an accountability focus rather than a "decision-useful" focus. This provides systematic empirical evidence against the current financial reporting model used international in the public sector. Research limitations/implications - The paper has important implications for policy makers since the choice of an accounting framework has the capacity to affect the information content of reports - what is reported and how it is measured, and thus have a direct impact on the operations of government. The paper argues that it is crucial that public policy regulators re-examine the financial reports provided to stakeholders. Originality/value - The research in this paper is original in that it has, for the first time, systematically reviewed all of the three elements of the public sector general-purpose financial reporting model as well as directly accessing users. The authors can categorically argue for the abandonment of the model in favour of one, which is better suited to the public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- Recently enacted Australian law governing financial services requires investment managers to report to what extent social considerations are employed in portfolio construction. Using the principal-agent framework as an interpretive backdrop, the paper aims to analyse institutional responses to the introduction of the legislation. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper distinguishes formal, claimed accountabilities from practised accountabilities. It identifies practised accountabilities by examining legislative requirements, noting responses of mainstream investment banking institutions in the period of legislative development, interviewing a sample of investment managers, and examining a sample of information disclosures issued in the initial period of the legislation. Findings -- The paper finds that while appeasing investment managers and the lobby group that urged for the disclosures, the non-prescriptive regulations promise little in terms of promoting the integrity of management practices. Initial disclosures were poor, providing little basis for comparability. Research limitations/implications -- The paper provides a basis to investigate accountabilities in service-based contractual relationships, particularly managed investments. Originality/value -- The paper introduces a new research field: social reporting in financial services. The period reviewed was the initial reporting period in which Australian practitioners were required to issue social reports. Counterpart European legislation has not attracted scholarly attention. A contribution is made to critical research on social investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how sustainability assurance providers' (SAPs) promotion of sustainability assurance influences the scope of engagements, its implications for professional and managerial capture and the ability of sustainability assurance to promote credible reporting. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted in-depth interviews with sustainability reporting managers (SRMs) and SAPs in Australia and New Zealand, using an institutional work lens to focus the analysis. Findings: At the start of a new assurance engagement, SAPs offer pre-assurance and flexible assurance scopes, allowing them to recruit clients on narrow-scoped engagements. These narrow-scoped engagements focus on disclosed content and limit SAPs' ability to add value and enhance credibility. During assurance engagements, SAPs educate managers and encourage changing the norms underlying sustainability reporting. At the end of the assurance engagement, SAPs provide a management report demonstrating added-value of assurance and encouraging clients broader-scoped engagements. However, with each assurance engagement, the recommendations offer diminishing returns, often leading managers to question the value of broad-scoped engagements and to consider narrowing the scope to realize savings. Under these conditions, client pressure (potentially managerial capture) along with practitioners' desires to grow assurance income (potentially professional capture) can affect SAPs' independence and the quality of their assurance work. Practical implications: The study implies that regulation mandating the scope of engagements may be called for. Originality/value: The authors contribute to the research literature in several ways. First, the findings show how professional and managerial capture occurs before, during and at the end of the assurance process. The authors highlight how perceived value addition from sustainability assurance diminishes over time and how this impacts the scope of engagements (with implications for SAPs independence and the quality of assurance work). The authors show these findings in a table, clarifying the complicated interrelationships. Second, the authors contribute to theory by identifying a new form of institutional work. Third, unlike previous studies focused on SAPs, the authors provide insights from the perspectives of both SAPs and SRMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability reporting managers (SRMs) institutionalise sustainability reporting within organisations. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 35 semi-structured interviews with SRMs in Australia and New Zealand were analysed using an institutional work perspective. Findings: SRMs' institutional work can be categorised into four phases with each phase representing a different approach to sustainability reporting. Organisations transition from phase one to four as they achieve a higher level of maturity and a deeper embedding and routinisation of sustainability reporting. These include educating and advocacy work undertaken by engaging with managers (phase one), transitioning to a decentralised sustainability reporting process (phase two), transitioning to leaner, focussed, materiality driven sustainability reporting (phase three), and using sustainability key performance indicators and materiality assessment reports for planning, decision-making, goal setting, performance appraisal, and incentives (phase four). However, SRMs face challenges including their inexperience, limited time and resources, lack of management commitment to sustainability reporting and low external interest in sustainability reporting. The study identifies ten reasons why material issues are not always (adequately) disclosed. Practical implications: This study recommends more training and development for SRMs, and that regulation be considered to mandate the disclosure of the materiality assessments in sustainability reports. Originality/value: This research extends the existing literature examining how sustainability reports are prepared and sheds further light on how a materiality assessment is undertaken. The study identifies ten reasons for the non-disclosure of material matters, including but not limited to, legitimacy motives. Researchers can use these reasons to refine their methods for evaluating published sustainability reports. At a theoretical level, the study provides four observations that institutional researchers should consider when examining forms of institutional work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the belief-based factors (attitude, subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC)) and environmental management accounting (EMA) practices. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the study develops a structural model and uses partial least squares (PLS) technique to analyse data collected based on a survey of the Australian cotton farmers. Findings: The findings indicate that while attitude and PBC significantly influence farmers' intention to adopt EMA practices, SN has a significant indirect influence on EMA practices through farmers' attitude and PBC. Further, the study reveals that while the intention of more environmentally friendly farmers is largely influenced by attitude and SN, the intention of less environmentally friendly farmers is primarily driven by PBC. Practical implications: The study provides important insights into the role of attitude, SN and PBC in motivating farmers towards adopting EMA practices. Such insights could also help farmers in designing effective EMA practices. Originality/value: This study contributes to very limited EMA literature on TPB by integrating three belief-based factors namely attitude, SN and PBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, the public sector both in Australia and overseas has undergone a period of intense change. The focus has been on efficiency, effectiveness and value for money of public sector operations. The methods by which governments account and report on their operations has received scrutiny. While Treasuries and Departments of Finance in each Australian jurisdiction have traditionally formulated the reporting and accounting rules used in the public sector, since 1983, with the formation of the Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (PSASB), the accounting profession has become involved in the setting of accounting standards for the public sector. Several researchers have suggested that a "contest" exists between the accounting profession and the government regulators for control over the public sector accounting standards process. This paper explores the processes whereby the public sector in Australia formulates its financial reporting policies by examining the interactions between the PSASB and the government regulators in each of the Australian jurisdictions. Policy community and policy network theory are used to argue that policy is formulated by a "cooperative"grouping of accounting professionals from the central agencies of Treasuries and Departments of Finance and the PSASB. The paper concludes that this method of policy formulation has implications for the content of policy and for the access of stakeholders to the formulation of that policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments in Australia are in the process of implementing accrual reporting for their departments and governments as a whole. The central issue of this paper is to provide an explanation as to how general purpose financial reporting became a significant issue for governments in Australia. Agenda-setting literature provides the framework within which to analyse the specific events and strategies used by public sector accountants to promote accrual technologies. The main finding of the research is that accrual technologies have been promoted by public sector accountants working from within government institutions, and often aligned with the organised accounting profession. Prior to the late 1980s the Auditors-General were the main actors involved, however, more recently, accounting technologies have been promoted by accounting policy units within Treasuries and Departments of Finance The paper concludes with a call for future research on the implications of such accounting changes for organisational and social functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how a heterogeneous range of water efficiency responses were driven across a field of seven water consuming organisations in Australia at a time of acute drought conditions into the late 2000s. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of individuals from 2008 to 2010. Findings – A loosely coordinated range of drivers motivated pervasive water efficiency responses in two of the seven case organisations. Would-be leaders sought to invoke a water efficiency field, and champion nascent logics and theorisation in order to gain some competitive advantage. There was little sense among others of any normative, mimetic or coercive pressure to adopt homogeneous practices. While the field lacked effective champions for change, an institutionalisation of novel water efficiency practices continued across the field into 2010. Research limitations/implications – Further research could investigate how water efficiency responses continued to develop or decline into the 2010s, and how such practices integrate with the management of other sustainability issues (including carbon). Practical implications – Global water resources are subject to increasing supply constraints. This paper responds by exploring how the institutionalisation of water efficiency change can be driven across a field of organisations. Originality/value – Relatively little is understood about “institutionalization” as an unfinished process. This paper responds by contributing an understanding of how institutional logics developed, and how theorisation for water efficiency progressed in the context of water scarcity in Australia in the late 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A primary tool for managing the democratic risks posed by political donations is disclosure. In Australia, corporate donations are disclosed in government databases. Despite the potential accountability benefits, corporations are not, however, required to report this information in their annual or stand-alone reports. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the quantity and quality of voluntary reporting and seek to add to the nascent theoretical understanding of voluntary corporate political donations. Design/methodology/approach: Corporate donors were obtained from the Australian Electoral Commission database. Annual and stand-alone reports were analysed to determine the quantity and quality of voluntary disclosures and compared to O'Donovan's (2002) legitimation disclosure response matrix. Findings: Of those companies with available reports, only 25 per cent reported any donation information. Longitudinal results show neither a robust increase in disclosure levels over time, nor a clear relationship between donation activity and disclosure. The findings support a legitimation tactic being applied to political donation disclosures. Practical implications: The findings suggest that disclosure of political donations in corporate reports should be mandatory. Such reporting could facilitate aligning shareholder and citizen interests; aligning managerial and firm interests and closing disclosure loopholes. Originality/value: The study extends the literature by evaluating donation disclosures by companies known to have made donations, considering time-series data and theorising the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the context of global new public management reform trends and the associated phenomenon of performance auditing (PA), the purpose of this paper is to explore the rise of performance audit in Australia and examines its focus across audit jurisdictions and the role key stakeholders play in driving its practice. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a multi-jurisdictional analysis of PA in Australia to explore its scale and focus, drawing on the theoretical tools of Goffman. Documentary analysis and interview methods are employed. Findings: Performance audit growth has continued but not always consistently over time and across audit jurisdictions. Despite auditor discourse concerning backstage performance audit intentions being strongly focussed on evaluating programme outcomes, published front stage reports retain a strong control focus. While this appears to reflect Auditors-General (AGs) reluctance to critique government policy, nonetheless there are signs of direct and indirectly recursive relationships emerging between AGs and parliamentarians, the media and the public. Research limitations/implications: PA merits renewed researcher attention as it is now an established process but with ongoing variability in focus and stakeholder influence. Social implications: As an audit technology now well-embedded in the public sector accountability setting, it offers potential insights into matters of local, state and national importance for parliament and the public, but exhibits variable underlying drivers, agendas and styles of presentation that have the capacity to enhance or detract from the public interest. Originality/value: Performance audit emerges as a complex practice deployed as a mask by auditors in managing their relationship with key stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify and gain insights into the significance of barriers contributing to the purported “gap” between academic management accounting research and practice. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on diffusion of innovations theory, this study collects and analyses data from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with 19 representatives of the four principal professional accounting bodies in Australia. Findings – Professional accounting bodies perceive the gap between academic research and practice in management accounting to be of limited concern to practitioners. The two most significant barriers to research utilisation by practitioners are identified as: difficulties in understanding academic research papers; and limited access to research findings. In acting as a conduit between the worlds of academia and practice, professional bodies have an important role to play by demonstrating the mutual value to both academics and practitioners resulting from a closer engagement between MA research and practice. Research limitations/implications – As one of the few empirically-based, theoretically informed investigations exploring the research-practice gap in management accounting, this study provides insights rather than “answers”. Its findings therefore serve as a foundational basis for further empirical and theoretical enquiry. Originality/value – This study contributes to the conversation about the “research-practice gap” in management accounting by adopting a distinct theoretical vantage point to organize, analyse and interpret empirical evidence obtained from Australian professional accounting bodies about management accounting practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to convey the importance of improvements to Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a poetic exposition. Findings – This paper highlights the necessity for alignment of research activity to ERA indicators of quality. Research limitations/implications – The paper emphasises the importance of research to academics and the need to allocate dedicated time in a school's curriculum. Originality/value – The paper is a reflective piece written during a research day inspired by proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically test legitimacy theory by comparing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures of tax aggressive corporations with those of non-tax aggressive corporations in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – A unique sample of 20 Australian corporations accused by the Australian Taxation Office of engaging in tax aggressive activities during the 2001-2006 period was hand-collected. These 20 tax aggressive corporations were then matched with 20 non-tax aggressive corporations (based on industry classification, corporation size and time period). This process generated a choice-based sample of 40 corporations for empirical analysis. Using content analysis techniques, financial accounting data were gathered from the Aspect-Huntley database and CSR disclosures were individually measured for each corporation in the sample. Various statistical techniques were then used (e.g. paired sample statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and ordinary least squares regression analysis) to test legitimacy theory. Findings – Overall, the empirical results consistently show a positive and statistically significant association between corporate tax aggressiveness and CSR disclosure, thereby confirming legitimacy theory in the context of corporate tax aggressiveness. Originality/value – The paper provides empirical evidence in support of legitimacy theory as an explanation for why specific corporations disclose more CSR-related information than others. Additionally, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the paper is one of the first to document an empirical association between corporate tax aggressiveness and CSR in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make visible the relationship between accounting and stigma in the absence of accounting. This research examines how failure to implement mandatory accounting and auditing requirements in the management of indigenous wages contributed to stigmatisation of indigenous Australians and led to maladministration and unchecked financial fraud that continued for over 75 years. The accounting failures are by those charged with protecting the financial interests of the indigenous population.Design/methodology/approach An historical and qualitative approach has been used that draws upon archival and contemporary sources.Findings Prior research has examined the nexus between accounting mechanisms and stigma. This research suggests that the absence of accounting mechanisms can also contribute to stigma.Research limitations/implications This research highlights the complex relationship between accounting and stigma, suggesting that it is simplistic to examine the nexus between accounting and stigma without considering the social forces in which stigmatisation occurs.Social implications This research demonstrates decades of failed accounting have contributed to the ongoing social disadvantage of indigenous Australians. The presence of accounting mechanisms cannot eradicate the past, or fix the present, but can create an environment where financial abuse does not occur.Originality/value This research demonstrates that stigma can be exacerbated in the negative space created by failures or absence of accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this Australian case study, set in the 1960s, is to comprehensively examine the responses of the two major professional accounting bodies to a financial/corporate/regulatory crisis necessitating the defence of the profession's legitimacy. Design/methodology/approach – This historical paper draws on surviving primary records and secondary sources and applies the perspectives on the dynamics of occupational groups and the legitimacy typology of Suchman. Findings – While the history of the accounting profession has been characterized by intra-professional rivalries, this case study illustrates how such rivalries were put aside on recognising the power of collectivizing in defending the profession's legitimacy. Based on the available evidence, pragmatic legitimacy is shown to have been a key focus of attention by the major accounting bodies involved. Research limitations/implications – The paper may motivate similar studies in Australia and elsewhere, thus potentially contributing to developing a literature on comparative international accounting history. The evidence for this historical investigation is largely restricted to surviving documents, making it necessary to rely on assessments of the key sources. Originality/value – In addressing responses to crises in defending the legitimacy of the profession as a whole, the paper makes an original contribution in exploring the relationship between literature on the dynamics of occupational groups and on legitimacy management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Increased awareness regarding environmental issues has encouraged organisations to use environmental management accounting (EMA), which has been said to deliver many benefits to users, including an increase in innovation. There is, however, little evidence to consubstantiate this claim and thus this paper aims to investigate the issue. It also seeks to examine the role of strategy with EMA use and innovation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses a survey designed and administered to management accountants and financial controllers in large Australian businesses. Findings - The analysis suggests that EMA use has a positive association with process innovation, but not with product innovation. It also finds that the effect of strategy on innovation was driven by the level of commitment to research and development. However, no statistically significant relationship between strategy and EMA use was found. The key driver of EMA use was industry. Research limitations/implications - The small sample size is the most important limitation of this study and affected the statistical power of the analysis conducted. The results need to be interpreted with caution. Practical implications - The study suggests that EMA use is associated with process innovation, implying that economic benefits may be realised by using this technique, while simultaneously enhancing environmental performance. Originality/value - This is the first study to provide cross-sectional evidence of the relationship between strategy, EMA use and innovation. It is also the first to propose a research instrument to measure EMA use as a multi-item construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Recent failures and scandals in the banking and financial services industry have served as catalysts for anxiety about operational risk. In particular, the Basel II accord emphasises the need to develop methodologies for assessing and managing this category of risk. However, operational risk is said to be an elusive and problematic concept. This paper aims to examine how certain events in the banking and financial, services industry become enframed and constructed as operational risk and how such risk is managed. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on the sociology of risk literature to analyse how an "unauthorised trading" event (and associated losses) that occurred in the currency options trading desk of the National Australia Bank (NAB) was enframed and constructed as operational risk. Data are gathered through metadiscourse analysis of textual materials relating to this event. Findings - The analysis reveals the social and institutional mechanisms underlying the construction of risk and the contested nature of risk knowledge. In particular, it highlights the significant role of media discourse in articulating risk claims and dominating public discourse about risk. It also highlights the moral character of the concept of risk and how the moralising of risk discourse leads to the creation of particular forms of subjectivities and the operationalisation of certain risk management rationalities in NAB. Originality/value - The paper will be helpful in improving researchers' and practitioners' understanding of how, in a given field of possibilities, particular events become constructed as operational risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the question of whether two early Australian public accounts committees were established for the purpose of legitimating governments of the time. Design/methodology/approach - The paper addressed these issues through a study of the establishment, early work and abolition in the 1930s of the Victorian Committee of Public Accounts (VCPA) and the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (JCPA). Findings - Clear evidence is found that the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (JCPA) had been copied from the VCPA and that the VCPA had been copied from the UK House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, which was established in 1861. This would indicate that the primary objective in the establishment of both these committees was legitimation rather than control. It was found that the subsequent work of both the VCPA and the JCPA showed a drift away from an accounting focus towards a policy focus. This is similar to the JCPA experience described by Degeling et al in relation to the JCPA, which also supports the legitimation argument. It was also found that both committees could be disestablished with relative ease because their legitimating purpose was no longer strong enough to demand their continuation and that, in fact, their abolition became the factor that served a legitimating purpose for governments. Originality/value - The paper suggests that the ideas of legitimation and mimetic isomorphism provide a more convincing explanation for the nature and work of these two public accounts committees than the idea of accounting colonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose--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. Design/methodology/approach--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. Findings--The paper finds that the unique history and continuously evolving nature of the DPWS makes it an important context fox 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. Research limitations/implications--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. Practical implications--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. Originality/value--This paper would be of value to researchers and practitioners with an interest in public sector reform and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose--The purpose of this paper is to extend the work of Carnegie and Walker and report the results of Part 2 of their study on household accounting in Australia during the period from the 1820s to the 1960s. Design/methodology/approach--The study adopts a microhistorical approach involving a detailed examination of actual accounting practices in the Australian home based on 18 sets of surviving household records identified as exemplars and supplemented by other sources which permit their contextualisation and interpretation. Findings--The findings point to considerable variety in the accounting practices pursued by individuals and families. Household accounting in Australia was undertaken by both women and men of the middle and landed classes whose surviving household accounts were generally found to comprise one element of diverse and comprehensive personal record keeping systems. The findings indicate points of convergence and divergence in relation to the contemporary prescriptive literature and practice. Originality/value--The paper reflects on the implications of the findings for the notion of the household as a unit of consumption as opposed to production, gender differences in accounting practice and financial responsibility, the relationship between change in the life course and the commencement and cessation of household accounting, and the relationship between domestic accounting practice and social class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the use of graphs, selection of variables to graph and construction of graphs in prospectuses issued by Australian companies making their initial public offering (JPO) of shares to the Australian capital market. The paper formulates and tests hypotheses concerning selectivity in the use of graphs and distortion in the construction of graphs presented in IPO prospectuses, as well as providing descriptive evidence about the use of graphs in such prospectuses. Results show that firms enjoying improving profit performance are significantly more likely to include graphs of key financial variables in their prospectuses than firms suffering deteriorating profit performance. Thus, similar to studies of graphs in annual reports, evidence of selectivity in the inclusion of graphs is found. No significant relationship is found between performance on the variable being graphed and distortion in the construction of the graph. When the graphs are split between those covering key financial variables and other variables, a significant relationship is found in both categories. For graphs of other variables, a significant positive association is found between performance and distortion. However, the relationship for key financial variables is in the opposite direction to that suggested by impression management. Further analysis identifies significant sub-period differences in selectivity and distortion which are consistent with the view that the major regulatory and institutional changes outlined in the paper, reduced the extent of selectivity and graphical distortion in the post-1991 period As far as we are aware, this is the first study reported in the literature to investigate the use of graphs in prospectuses. The results also have policy implications for the regulatory authority in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the link between the importance, as stated by reporters, of specific factors in the decision to disclose environmental information and actual reporting practices. Through a mail survey, chief finance officers (CFOs,) of selected Australian companies rated the perceived importance of specific factors in the decision to disclose environmental information. Environmental disclosure within respondents' annual reports were reviewed and an analysis was undertaken to determine if relationships existed between actual reporting practices and ratings of importance assigned to various factors. The results indicate some significant correlations between the perceived importance of a number of factors and environmental reporting practices. The results of the analysis provide limited support for legitimacy theory as an explanatory link between identified influential factors in management's decision process and actual environmental disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that affect corporate governance in Australian state government departments. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 65 executives and middle managers from 25 departments across Australia is used. The interviews identified managers' perceptions of the structures and practices of governance in four nominated areas: strategic planning, auditing, risk management and capacity building. A social capital model is utilised to analyse the data along structural, relational and cognitive dimensions. Findings – Aligned with the structural dimension, frequent departmental and leadership changes and the size and complexity of departments are reported as major barriers to good governance, while well-structured committees are perceived to strengthen governance. Aligned with the relational dimension, a culture of good working relationships between staff and strong leadership are recognised as critical for strong governance while, aligned with the cognitive dimension, a lack of shared understanding of risk, a short-term focus, and unclear individual roles and organisational goals are seen as barriers to effective governance. Research limitations/implications – The evidence is based on perceptions of participants and may not reflect actual practices nor the perceptions of others. Originality/value – A contribution of this study is the application of social capital theory to advance understanding of public sector governance. The study adds insights into the behavioural and organisational factors that encourage or impede effective governance based on the experiences of managers from key governance functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This aim of this study is to explore the relationship between management control systems (MCSs) and the formulation of strategy in not-for-profit (NFP) organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper views the relationship between MCS and strategy through the contrasting lenses of new-institutional and contingency theory, using data collected from semi-structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs. Findings – Strategy is formulated predominantly by intended means, through structured strategic planning processes. Emergent strategy is typically a rare means by which strategy is developed, and is in fact often actively discouraged in the NFPs investigated. Contrary to expectations, control is predominantly exercised through informal means, rather than by formally designed systems. Originality/value – With strategy and control being central concerns for most NFPs, this sector provides a unique vehicle for exploring the "robustness" of prior MCS strategy empirical findings. Investigating the MCS strategy relationship within a highly complex NFP context is thus an "acid test" of existing understanding of the MCS-strategy nexus. As one of the few studies to investigate the relationship between control and strategy as it may apply in this context, this study refines and further develops extant management control theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the circumstances and implications of an episode of accounting change arising from the extended use of accrual accounting within the Australian public sector. The matter under scrutiny is the reporting of the library collections of Australia's public universities as assets in general purpose financial reports. Design/methodology/approach - A survey is undertaken of the annual reports of Australia's 36 public universities for the period 2002 to 2006. The analysis of the findings is informed by new institutional sociology (NIS), with a focus on mimetic processes, and the concept of "accounting's margins". Findings - The survey reveals considerable diversity and subjectivity in the accounting practices adopted, as well as instances of sudden and dramatic changes in carrying values. The financial reporting of library collections is depicted as a "chaotic margin" of accounting, and the technical propriety of attempting to express and account for these non-financial resources in financial terms is rendered problematic. Originality/value - The study questions the reliability and usefulness of the information reported, with implications for the accountability of the institutions surveyed as well as the accounting profession in the comparatively neglected domain of the public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]