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The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction and overview of the various papers in this special issue.

This takes the form of a discussion paper that explores a number of issues relating to accounting in the media.

The paper describes a variety of theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches used in the papers for this special issue. In addition, the paper suggests that although the media have provided a rich source of data that has informed accounting research, the use of media and media texts will remain a fertile area of research.

The portrayal of accounting in the media is of interest to accounting researchers, practitioners, trainees and auditors.

This special issue provides a range of examples of accounting in the media and sets an agenda for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the changes in gender‐biased employment practices that it is perceived have occurred in New Zealand accountancy workplaces over the last 30 years, using Oliver's model of deinstitutionalization.

Sequential interviewing was carried out with 69 experienced chartered accountants and three human resource managers, and at a later date with nine young female accountants.

Evidence is presented of perceived political, functional and social pressures cumulatively contributing to deinstitutionalization of overt gender‐biased employment practices, with social and legislative changes being the most influential. Deinstitutionalization appears incomplete as some more subtle gender‐biased practices still remain in New Zealand's accountancy workplaces, relating particularly to senior‐level positions.

This study adds to understanding of how professions evolve. The purposeful bias in the sample selection, the small size of two of the interviewee groups, and the diversity in the interviewees' workplaces are recognized limitations.

Identification of further cultural change is required to deinstitutionalize the more subtle gender‐biased practices in accountancy organizations. This could help to avoid a serious deficiency of senior chartered accountants in practice in the future.

This paper represents one of a limited number of empirical applications of the deinstitutionalization model to organizational change and is the first to address the issue of gender‐biased practices in a profession. The use of sequential interviewing of different age groups, in order to identify and corroborate perceptions of organizational change is a novel approach.

This article reviews 69 press releases published by the Norwegian Økokrim from June 2022 to November 2023. The presented research applies the theory of focal concerns to identify the main themes in the press releases.

Serious fraud offices such as the Norwegian national authority for investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crime (Økokrim) are facing many challenges when combating white-collar and corporate crime. Press releases represent an element of facing such challenges, as the messages are an important vehicle for the organization to disclose organizational activities to the public.

Three themes emerged: offender conviction, impression management and crime deterrence. Offender prosecution followed by offender conviction is at the core of Økokrim's business. Impression management serves the purpose of emphasizing the important role of the national authority in society. The subjective perception of detection and prosecution by potential offenders can be influenced by crime deterrence messages.

Press releases are signals that may be interpreted in other ways.

When politicians are to review national authorities, they may want a slightly different serious fraud office.

The deterrence effect is often not real for alleged white-collar crime.

Understanding a national authority in terms of its focal concerns based on press releases from the authority.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes and consequences of financial crimes perpetrated against New Zealand small businesses.

A random sample of 200 court cases was selected from 2010 to 2017. A total of 12 cases involving 14 small businesses were analysed.

The results reveal that financial crime is a systemic problem and involves people with diverse demographics, and the victims are not restricted to any specific type of small business. The offenders are mostly middle-level managers. The length of offence varied from 1 year to 12.5 years. Most of them funnelled the stolen money into their personal accounts. The common motive is “keeping up appearance”. The management placed immense trust in their employees and did not vet candidates before employment. The losses suffered by small entities ranged from $6,000 to $590,000 and liquidated one business. The severity of the actual court cases indicates the necessity of an employee screening as the first line of defence in these businesses.

The small sample of court cases is a limitation, but the study contributes to the fraud auditing literature by examining actual court cases involving small businesses. Small businesses as victims of employee fraud and their lack of internal controls are known but under-researched to promote thought about fraud risk severity in these businesses.

The C.R.I.M.E model has yet been tested on fraud cases involving small businesses.

A number of international agencies, governments, individual institutions and philanthropic foundations have contributed in various ways to the development of libraries in Ghana. This paper looks at the role of the Overseas Development Administration’s Book Presentation Programme (ODA/BPP) in the University of Ghana Library. The paper provides a justification for the continued reliance on such assistance and concludes that the assistance which has now been channelled to second cycle institutions should be reintroduced, but with a suggestion that slight modifications be made in the programme.

Reports a study of procedures employed in staff appraisal in a Ghanaian university library over a period of 16 years. A total of 650 appraisal forms filled by 25 assessors in the Balme Library, University of Ghana were examined. The conclusions drawn indicate that the performance procedures used did not provide the information required for management decision making. Recommendations are made as to how the procedure could be made effective and efficient.

Reports a questionnaire survey which attempted to identify the significant elements in the impact of the use of microcomputers on the work patterns affecting staff and users in the University of Ghana Library. Discusses the results and considers the prospects for further automation.

Lack of access to current materials in libraries of universities in developing countries is a major problem that hinders research and teaching. Interlibrary loans and document delivery projects have not solved this problem by themselves. The Internet makes it possible for users to have access to large volumes of information irrespective of their geographical location. The three older universities in Ghana are all linked to the Internet. The assumption then is that their faculty now have access to current information through the Internet. Research results show that in spite of the benefits of the Internet, its use among faculty is still very low. The main reasons for this are lack of access to the Internet and the need for training. Clearly, university authorities need to take immediate steps to provide general access points for faculty through computer laboratories. Again, the expertise of librarians, information professionals and computer scientists needs to be tapped to provide training and refresher sessions for faculty to keep up to date on harnessing the immense potential of the Internet as a source of information for teaching and research.

I AM MOST GRATEFUL for the opportunity to contribute a foreword to this special Ghana issue of THE LIBRARY WORLD. Barely ten years ago, there was nothing of a library service worth the name in Ghana. Today we have a national wide library service, and a great measure of the success in this great experiment to provide books for a predominantly unlettered population is of course due to the support and patronage of the Government. The first step towards a national library service was taken in 1950 with the passing of the Ghana Library Board Act. By this legislation, not only did the Government give its recognition to the need for inculcating the reading habit among the literate masses, but also committed itself to providing the necessary financial support.