Anura De Zoysa and Kathy Rudkin
The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of how users of company annual reports in the emerging market of Sri Lanka view those reports. Since limited studies exist that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of how users of company annual reports in the emerging market of Sri Lanka view those reports. Since limited studies exist that examine financial reporting practices in emerging markets, little is known about the user perceptions of company annual reports in these markets. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining the views of a wide spectrum of users on the usefulness of corporate annual reports in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
The data reported in this study were collected through a questionnaire survey, covering seven user groups – accountants, executives, bankers, tax officers, academics, financial analysts, and investors. The 264 responses received were analysed using the Kruskal‐Wallis one‐way ANOVA test.
Findings
The results reveal that most use annual reports for obtaining information for share transactions. Despite the long delay in publishing many annual reports and lack of availability of these reports to the general public, the majority of users view annual reports as the most important source of company information. The paper also reveals that, in comparison with developed markets, Sri Lankan users depend more on annual report information than on information provided by stockbrokers, newspapers, and other media reviews.
Originality/value
This paper provides information about the usefulness of annual reports in an emerging market, Sri Lanka. No prior research on this aspect of Sri Lankan companies is reported in the literature.
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Sandra Chapple, Lee Moerman and Kathy Rudkin
The purpose of this paper is to present the views and challenges from a range of accounting professionals, regulators and preparers with the introduction of a standardised…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the views and challenges from a range of accounting professionals, regulators and preparers with the introduction of a standardised approach to accounting for customer loyalty programmes (CLPs). It aims to highlight the ambiguities of the classification of commercial transactions, particularly the nature and timing of revenue recognition.
Design/methodology/approach
Comment letters in response to the exposure draft D20 CLPs are analysed together with an exposition of the effect of International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) 13 on an early adopter, Qantas airlines.
Findings
Despite limited support for the consensus view advocated in D20, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has upheld the deferred revenue approach consistent with the anticipated outcome of the IASB and Financial Accounting Standards Board revenue recognition project.
Research limitations/implications
The paper analyses the characteristics and views of lobbyists using the IFRIC process. The use of other discourse methodologies may present issues of power within this process.
Practical implications
The paper highlights how the implementation of IFRIC interpretations has the potential to alter reported financial results.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the lobbying process and interpretation process at an international level. It also illustrates how companies can engage accounting interpretations to manage earnings, particularly in times of economic challenges.
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Helen Irvine, Lee Moerman and Kathy Rudkin
The purpose of this paper is to expose the impact of the shortage of senior academics, particularly professors, in Australian accounting schools, to relate the way one school…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expose the impact of the shortage of senior academics, particularly professors, in Australian accounting schools, to relate the way one school addressed this shortage through a mentoring scheme, and to challenge existing institutional arrangements.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a contextualised qualitative case study of a mentoring scheme conducted in an Australian accounting school. Data collected from semi‐structured interviews, personal reflections and from Australian university web sites are interpreted theoretically using the metaphor of a “green drought”.
Findings
The mentoring scheme achieved some notable successes, but raised many issues and challenges. Mentoring is a multifaceted investment in vocational endeavour and intellectual infrastructure, which will not occur unless creative means are developed over the long term to overcome current and future shortages of academic mentors.
Research limitations/implications
This is a qualitative case study, which, therefore, limits its generalisability. However, its contextualisation enables insights to be applied to the wider academic environment.
Practical implications
In the Australian and global academic environment, as accounting professors retire in greater numbers, new and creative ways of mentoring will need to be devised. The challenge will be to address longer term issues of academic sustainability, and not just to focus on short‐term academic outcomes.
Originality/value
A mentoring scheme based on a collegial networking model of mentoring is presented as a means of enhancing academic endeavour through a creative short‐term solution to a shortage of accounting professors. The paper exemplifies the theorising power of metaphor in a qualitative study.
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Ying Zhang, Jane Andrew and Kathy Rudkin
This paper aims to explore the implementation of fair value accounting (FVA) in China as part of a global process of neoliberalisation and financialisation of political and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the implementation of fair value accounting (FVA) in China as part of a global process of neoliberalisation and financialisation of political and economic systems. It establishes that FVA forms part of the technical architecture of neoliberalism.
Design/methodology/approach
In considering the processes of neoliberalisation in China, this paper uses a qualitative approach to explore some of the impacts the adoption of FVA has had on Chinese capital markets.
Findings
It is shown that the practice of FVA is imbued with assumptions about the state and the market that have little bearing on the realities of Chinese capital markets. Rather than advancing the public interest, as neoliberal theories claim, this accounting change has failed to transform political and economic power. Instead, it has provided another opportunity to reposition powerful political and economic elites both inside and outside China. This paper argues that the process has reconfigured capital markets in the image of those in advanced capitalist economies, but is devoid of the regulatory and socio‐political apparatus to rationalise its relevance and reliability in the Chinese context.
Originality/value
By positioning the research in broader literature of neoliberalism, this paper offers an alternative framing of the purpose of adopting FVA and, more broadly, the globalisation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
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The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the varied concerns of delegates at an international accounting conference.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the varied concerns of delegates at an international accounting conference.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology takes the form of a prose article and accompanying fictional poem.
Findings
Accounting conferences gather many different voices and points of view, but with a degree of commonality in themes.
Research limitations/implications
The paper encourages the use of creative expression to represent areas of research and enquiry.
Originality/value
A review of some of the proceedings of a major conference is structured in a novel manner, combining the use of the cento (a composite, “found” poem) with prose.
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Jeannette Oppedisano and Sandra Lueder
NEJE Editors interview Cindi Bigelow: director of activities at Bigelow Tea