J.G.I. Oberholster and M.J. Nieuwoudt
For years, interim financial reports in South Africa were regulated by the South African Companies Act No. 61 of 1973 (as amended) (i.e. statutory requirements) and by the…
Abstract
For years, interim financial reports in South Africa were regulated by the South African Companies Act No. 61 of 1973 (as amended) (i.e. statutory requirements) and by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Listing Requirements (i.e. regulatory requirements) only. However, on the international front, major progress was being made in respect of improving the quality of interim financial reporting. South Africa soon followed suit and issued its own accounting statement, AC 127, which is based on the international standard (IAS 34). The School of Accountancy at the University of Pretoria commenced a research project on interim financial reporting in 1997 to investigate compliance with related reporting requirements. This paper is a product of the project. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to: [a] Compare the requirements stated in IAS 34 and AC 127 with the local regulatory and statutory requirements, to determine whether these requirements are duplicated and to establish in which respect the accounting standards require additional disclosure requirements. [b] Provide an overview of the extent to which companies listed on the JSE adhered to IAS 34 and AC 127 and complied with regulatory and statutory requirements in their interim financial reports in the period 1997 to 1999. [c] Make recommendations regarding the improvement of local statutory and regulatory disclosure requirements.
Details
Keywords
M.J. Nieuwoudt, J.S. Wilcocks and O.V. Kilpert
Research, teaching and service are usually regarded as an academic’s main responsibilities. One of the most hotly debated issues in the international arena is what academics…
Abstract
Research, teaching and service are usually regarded as an academic’s main responsibilities. One of the most hotly debated issues in the international arena is what academics should devote their time to, since time is a limited commodity for academics and tradeoffs are necessary. The aim of this study was to establish the perceptions of South African accounting academics with regard to how they spend their academic time. Managers can use this information in efficiency planning and individuals can use this information to compare their effort allocations to those of their colleagues. A descriptive study was conducted in which a questionnaire was used to test, inter alia, the perception of how South African accounting academics at every SAICA‐accredited university use their academic time. Nine activities were tested that relate to management, teaching, research and service. It was found that South African accounting academics spent 10% of their time on management tasks, 78% on teaching, 5% on research and 7% on service. Half (50%, median) of the respondents spent 5% of their time on management tasks, 65% on tuition and 5% on enhancing their own knowledge. It appears as if excessive time is spent on teaching, whilst inadequate time is allocated to research activities. Time spent on service activities appears to be reasonable. An Accounting academic’s qualification appears to be the best indicator against which to measure time allocation. A clear pattern emerged in a comparison between qualification and time allocation in seven of the nine activities tested. The higher the respondent’s qualification, the more time is spent on management tasks, research for both non‐accredited and accredited journals, acting as external examiner and community work. The inverse is true for subject‐related administration and tuition.
Details
Keywords
M.J. Nieuwoudt and J.S. Wilcocks
The South African government is restructuring tertiary education, and subsidies to universities that do not build and strengthen their research capacity will be severely…
Abstract
The South African government is restructuring tertiary education, and subsidies to universities that do not build and strengthen their research capacity will be severely restricted. Hence, academics must publish more research. This study used a questionnaire to gauge the personal opinions and perceptions of and attitudes towards research held by South African Accounting academics. The questionnaire was based on international debates and discourses on Accounting education and research that suggest factors that might affect research production and consumption, and on informal discussions with colleagues in the discipline. Tertiary institutions can use this constructive information to build a research culture and improve research output among these academics, by changing perceptions where needed and empowering Accounting academics to conduct research. The results indicate that the main limitations to research output are inadequate qualifications and a lack of skills with regard to conducting research (only 10 per cent of the respondents possess a doctoral degree), insufficient time for conducting research, financial factors, a lack of mentorship and departmental support, and difficulty finding research topics. The debate on “teaching versus research” is also ongoing.
Details
Keywords
Grant Samkin and Annika Schneider
The purpose of this paper is to examine the profiles of Australian, New Zealand and South African accounting faculty members. Additionally, the study investigates whether there…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the profiles of Australian, New Zealand and South African accounting faculty members. Additionally, the study investigates whether there are any differences in research productivity of the accounting faculty between countries as measured by peer-reviewed academic journal output.
Design/methodology/approach
This archival study uses details obtained from webpages of Departments of Accounting in the three countries to construct a profile of accounting academics.
Findings
Significant differences in the profiles of accounting academics were found that can be attributed to the institutional factors that exist in each country. Staffs at the junior lecturer and lecturer levels are more likely to be female, while senior lecturers and professors in all three countries were more likely to be male. While Australia and New Zealand had a similar percentage of staff holding PhD or equivalent academic qualifications, only a small proportion of the South African faculty held PhD or equivalent qualifications. A greater proportion of the South African faculty was professionally qualified compared to their Australian and New Zealand counterparts. New Zealand accounting faculty was more productive than their Australian colleagues, with South African academics being the least productive. Academics holding a doctoral qualification or equivalent were more productive than those that did not.
Research limitations/implications
The research limitations relate to the use of websites as the primary data source. Incompleteness of information, inconsistencies in the type of information presented and a lack of comparability of information across institutions and countries may have led to some errors and omissions. However, given the relatively large sample size of 2,049 academics, this was not deemed to materially affect the final analysis.
Originality/value
The paper provides an important contribution to the literature on accounting academics. It is the first of its kind to present a comprehensive “snapshot” of the profiles of accounting academics at the universities in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Details
Keywords
Grietjie Verhoef and Grant Samkin
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the actions of the accounting profession, the state, universities, and academics have inhibited the development of South African…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the actions of the accounting profession, the state, universities, and academics have inhibited the development of South African accounting research.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple history approach using traditional archival material and oral history is used.
Findings
Since the late nineteenth-century, a network of human and non-human actors has ensured that accounting education in South Africa retained a technical focus. By prescribing and detailing the accounting syllabuses required for university accreditation, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and its predecessors exercise direct control over accounting education. As a result, little appetite exists for a discipline based on academic enquiry or engagement with international scholars. While the SAICA claims to support accounting research, this support is conditional on its meeting the professional body’s particular view of scholarship.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations associated with this research are that it focusses on one particular professional body in one jurisdiction. The South African situation provides a cautionary tale of how universities, particularly those in developing countries, should take care not to abdicate their responsibilities for the setting of syllabi or course content to professional bodies. Accounting academics, particularly those in a developing country currently experiencing major social, political, and economic problems, are in a prime position to engage in research that will benefit society as a whole.
Originality/value
Although actor network theory has been used in accounting research and in particular to explain accounting knowledge creation, the use of this particular theoretical lens to examine the construction of professional knowledge is limited. This study draws on Callon’s (1986) four moments to explain how various human actors including the accounting profession, the state, universities, and accounting academics, along with non-human actors such as accreditation, regulation, and transformation, have brought about South African academic disengagement with the discipline.
Details
Keywords
Martin E. Persson and Christopher J. Napier
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by an Australian accounting academic, R. J. Chambers, in the 1950s, in breaking into the accounting research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by an Australian accounting academic, R. J. Chambers, in the 1950s, in breaking into the accounting research community, at that time, almost entirely located in the USA and the UK. For academics outside the networks of accounting research publication in these countries, there were significant, but not insurmountable obstacles to conducting and publishing accounting research. We examine how these obstacles could be overcome, using the notion of “trials of strength” to trace the efforts of Chambers in wrestling with intellectual issues arising from post-war inflation, acquiring accounting literature from abroad and publishing his endeavours.
Design/methodology/approach
The article uses actor-network theory to provide an analytical structure for a “counter-narrative” history firmly grounded in the archives.
Findings
Documents from the R. J. Chambers Archive at the University of Sydney form the empirical basis for a narrative that portrays accounting research as a diverse process driven as much by circumstances – such as geographical location, access to accounting literature and personal connections – as the merits of the intellectual arguments.
Research limitations/implications
Although the historical details are specific to the case being studied, the article provides insights into the challenges faced by researchers on the outside of international research networks in achieving recognition and in participating in academic debates.
Practical implications
The findings of this article can provide guidance and inspiration to accounting researchers attempting to participate in wider academic communities.
Originality/value
The article uses documents from perhaps the most extensive archive relating to an individual accounting academic. It examines the process of academic research in accounting in terms of the material context in which such research takes place, whereas most discussions have focussed on the underlying ideas and concepts, abstracted from the context in which they emerge.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to examine the levels of interim financial reporting (IR) disclosure by listed firms in the Asia-Pacific region and factors influencing these disclosure levels.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the levels of interim financial reporting (IR) disclosure by listed firms in the Asia-Pacific region and factors influencing these disclosure levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a sample of 700 interim reports issued in 2012 by the top 100 listed firms in seven Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), the author constructed a disclosure index consisting of disclosure items commonly required across the sample countries. Using this index, the study measures the extent to which listed firms in the Asia-Pacific Region comply with IR disclosure requirements. The study performs ordinary least square regression to investigate the influence of the four country-level factors including international financial reporting standard (IFRS) adoption, audit review, reporting frequency and reporting lag.
Findings
This research documents that IR disclosure varies significantly across the region. The IR disclosure levels are positively associated with IFRS adoption, audit review and mandatory of quarterly reporting, but negatively associated with reporting lag.
Originality/value
IR regulation varies across the Asia-Pacific region, but there is no existing research on the country-level factors influencing IR disclosure practices. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper providing some insights into IR disclosure levels by listed firms in the region. It also contributes to the disclosure literature by providing empirical evidence on the country-level factors influencing these disclosure levels. Deriving from the findings, the authors offer recommendations for regulators, investors and listed firms on the issue of reviewing the regulation, using information and preparing IR.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this study is to describe the multiplicity of the role of the Accounting academic as a knowledge agent: in terms of the discovery of new knowledge and its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe the multiplicity of the role of the Accounting academic as a knowledge agent: in terms of the discovery of new knowledge and its recontextualisation into pedagogy, as well as effective teaching and learning in the field of Accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a literature review and the collection of qualitative data (using purposive sampling), this study describes the Accounting academic’s role as a knowledge agent, as viewed by Accounting academics and professional accountants, with the aim of providing insight into the tensions that exist in the education of professionals.
Findings
The data collected in this study indicate that Accounting academics find themselves torn between their different roles: those of researcher and teacher. Accounting academics do not feel valued in their role as teachers, as at the university, more emphasis is placed and promotion is based on research, yet the Accounting profession places more value on their teaching and scholarship role.
Practical implications
There is an urgent need in professional Accounting education (trapped within a multiple principal paradigm) for some fundamental re-thinking of the focal point of research, and the knowledge agency of academe, particularly within a developing economy, such as South Africa.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is in its identification and description of the tensions experienced in the education of professional accountants. The university and profession are urged to value, acknowledge and reward the multiple roles of Accounting academics.
Details
Keywords
The treatment of the credit difference that arises from an acquisition took a step in a new direction in South Africa with the adoption of a new accounting standard, namely AC…
Abstract
The treatment of the credit difference that arises from an acquisition took a step in a new direction in South Africa with the adoption of a new accounting standard, namely AC 131, which is based on the international standard IAS 22. It is now called negative goodwill. According to the rules contained in AC 131, it is to be classified as a negative asset and recognised as income. The research on which this paper is based, was undertaken to examine the nature of negative goodwill against the background of the international accounting practices regarding the treatment of negative goodwill. At present these practices differ significantly and the differences represent obstacles to international harmonisation. The paper critically evaluates the various treatments and recommends a preferred accounting treatment.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to provide a contextual analysis of the professional accounting education system of South Africa (SA).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a contextual analysis of the professional accounting education system of South Africa (SA).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the Global Model of Accounting Education (Watty et al., 2012) to describe the accounting education system of SA, which is then compared with similar case studies of Australia, Japan and Sri Lanka. Information about the SA accounting education system is contextualised from multiple sources, using data triangulation.
Findings
Several similarities between the SA accounting education system and that of Australia are found, such as the role and involvement of the professional bodies in the accreditation processes, with less similarities with that of Japan and Sri Lanka. The comparisons illuminate the economic development of each country and the level of involvement in the education programmes by the profession. Specific challenges in SA include the entrance hurdles to higher education and emphasis on an accounting degree.
Practical implications
The application of the Global Model of Accounting Education helps to identify the similarities in the global accounting arena and illuminates the uniqueness of the SA accounting education system. This study illustrates the establishment of an accounting education system that aligns with the International Education Standards (IESs).
Originality/value
The study contributes to the discussions around challenges in accounting education, specifically those associated with accreditation and a strong controlling relationship between academe and the profession.