Business Commons^™

The New Researcher, Graham Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose This poem is a reflection of the processes and associated emotions early career academic researchers may experience in preparing, presenting and publishing their research. Design/methodology/approach: Fictional poem Findings: This poem highlights that the processes an early career academic researcher undertakes to publish his/her research isn’t necessarily the hardest lesson to learn. Rather the hardest lesson is learning to cope with the mix of emotions they will experience during the process. Research Implications: Provides early career academic researchers, and their supervisors, a guide of what they can expect to experience during the first few years during their research. Originality/Value A …

Preparing Accountants For Today’S Global Business Environment: The Role Of Emotional Intelligence In Accounting Education, G. E. Jones, A. Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The tasks and skills that are required of accounting practitioners in today’s global business environment have changed significantly since the early 1990s. Accounting practitioners are no longer merely required to undertake the tasks necessary for information provision, such as bookkeeping, data analysis and tax preparation. Instead, their roles are now extended to encompass information facilitation, thus repositioning them as knowledge professionals rather than accounting technicians. This includes a greater emphasis on the components of emotional intelligence. However, accounting students are generally not aware of this expanded role. Thus students who are attracted into accounting courses may not possess the appropriate …

Mentoring In Academe: An Australian Response To The Drought Of Senior Accounting Academics, H. J. Irvine, L. Moerman, Kathy Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to expose the shortage of senior academics in Australian accounting schools, to relate the way one school is addressing this crisis through an innovative mentoring program, and to challenge existing institutional arrangements. This is a qualitative case study of one mentoring program set within the institutional context of Australian accounting schools. Data collected from semi-structured interviews, archival sources and personal reflections, is presented using metaphor to theorize (Llewellyn 2003). The scheme achieved some notable individual successes, but raised many issues and challenges to extant mentoring models and existing structures. Mentoring is a multifaceted investment …

Submission To The Independent Review Of The Environment Protection And Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Graham Bowrey, Ciorstan J. Smark

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Please find following a submission to the Independent Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. This submission focuses on reviewing the level of compliance with Section 516A (Annual reports to deal with environmental matters) of the EPBC Act 1999 by addressing the following questions raised in the Independent Review of the EPBC Act’s Discussion Paper: Question 37 – Does the Act contain sufficient comprehensive and appropriate range of enforcement mechanisms? Are those mechanisms capable of deterring and responding to contraventions of the Act? Question 40 – Does the Act provide sufficient guidance for decision makers in …

Customer Loyalty Programmes: Ifric13 And The Ambiguities Of Revenue Cecognition, S. Chapple, L. Moerman, Kathy Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

From 1 July 2008 IFRIC 13 becomes mandatory in Australia, requiring a standardised deferred revenue treatment to account for a plethora of Customer Loyalty Programmes (CLP). This paper highlights the diverse views of appropriate classification, and the ambiguities faced by those accounting for CLP. A text based analysis of documents pertaining to IFRIC 13 shows the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) to be committed to a principles based approach in making its interpretation. While IFRIC members were responsive to the concerns of interested parties, they were not subservient to the ensuing lobbying process.

The Sustainability Of Public Sector Ecological Sustainable Development Reporting, Graham Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Over the past two decades there has been significantly increased public awareness of and focus on the environmental impact of organisations operations. However, in spite of this increased focus on the environment, most organisations in Australia are not required by regulation to outline the impact of their organisations on the environment nor the measures they are taking to contain or reduce their impact on the environment. To be fair many private sector organisations have been voluntarily providing reports to varying degrees on their environmental performance and management. For example there has been the development and implementation of triple bottom-line reporting, …

Intellectual Capital Practices Of Firms And The Commodification Of Labour, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and implications of the actual techniques used in the measuring and reporting of intellectual capital.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a literature review.

Findings – The paper demonstrates that the commodification of intellectual capital, rather than solving the contradictions accompanying market value maximisation, simply shifts these contradictions to a new location.

Practical implications – The wide range of intellectual capital definitions, frameworks, and indices allow firms to choose intellectual capital reporting which will justify maximising their market value, resulting in the construction of data in …

Intellectual Capital Disclosure Trends: Singapore And Sri Lanka, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This paper investigates the intellectual capital disclosure trends and disclosure category differences of top 20 listed firms in a developing nation, Sri Lanka, and moderately developed nation, Singapore. The aim of this study is to highlight the differences in IC disclosure practice between developing and developed nations.

Design/methodology/approach - The study investigates the top 20 firms by market capitalization listed on the Colombo stock exchange in 1998 to 2000. Using the content analysis method, it reviews the annual reports of these firms to determine intellectual capital disclosure trends in Sri Lanka. It then compares these findings with a …

Accounting Meets Politics: Theoretical Interpretation Of Key Events (1940 To 2003) Of The Accounting Profession In Australia, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines some key developments in the Australian accounting profession and the changing nature of the authoritative influence of that profession on accounting and auditing activities. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate the shift in power between the political constituent (the government) and the accounting profession. The paper attempts to demonstrate how the corporatist view can help us understand the social nature of accounting and how the accounting profession can gain a greater awareness of this reality. Finally, the paper questions whether the accounting profession in Australia has entered an episode of liberal ideals imposed by the …

Motivations Behind Human Capital Disclosure In Annual Reports, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Although much has been discussed about voluntary disclosure of human capital in annual reports there has been limited examination of the motivations behind such disclosure. This study uses the perspective of the political economy of accounting to understand motivations. Using the method of content analysis, this paper examines human capital disclosure practices in annual reports of a sample of firms in Sri Lanka, a developing nation. Eleven case study interviews from the sample explore the motivations behind the disclosure practices of firms. Findings reveal that firms use disclosure to reduce tension between firms and their constituents, in the interest of …

Preferred Learning Methods: Comparisons Between International And Domestic Accounting Students, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study provides a comparison between the preferred learning modes (traditional, interactive, group case-based lectures) of international and domestic students undertaking a new undergraduate accounting topic at an Australian university. A Likert-scale survey questionnaire was used to determine the differences and similarities between the two groups. When the results are analysed using the Hofstede model of societal cultural dimensions, they indicate significant differences between the two groups of students with regard to their preferences for formal versus interactive and group case-based lectures. The paper provides a discussion of the implications of these findings for teaching methods, assessment and curriculum development.

Keeping Up Appearances: The Quest For Governance Legitimacy, Graham Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

An effective corporate governance structure is as crucial to a public sector organisation as it is to a private sector organisation. This paper reviews the profile of directors on governance boards of government controlled organisations and finds that, while the governance structures are similar with those in the private sector, the real power to set the strategic, financial and operational directions of these organisations is not in the hands of the directors, as it is in the private sector, but in the hands of the responsible ministers. This de-coupling, it is argued, is due to the perception that private sector …

An Explanation Of Human Capital Disclosure From The Resource Based Perspective, S. Abhayawansa, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Though the importance of human capital (HC) in firm value creation is firmly established in the literature the level of emphasis placed on human capital disclosure (HCD) by preparers of financial statements and sell-side analysts is minimal. The purpose of this paper is to address this dilemma by critically analysing the conceptualisation of human capital in disclosure literature and introduce a more germane explanation.