Search results

This paper aims to describe an effort to integrate accounting research and theory into an undergraduate accounting education program through the development and delivery of a fourth-year course. Informing ideas for the course design and content are discussed, and feedback from the students and instructor is provided.

This paper takes the form of a commentary and offers the authors’ opinion based on the experience of designing and teaching the course. An in-class survey was conducted in three separate offerings of the course.

Student response to the course and material was more positive than anticipated, indicating that undergraduate accounting students are receptive to learning about research and theory, even when it is not required for entrance into a professional certification program. Also, many students often went above and beyond the course requirements in the work they submitted. This indicates that there is an appetite for engaging with material that presents accounting as a social phenomenon rather than solely as a technical activity.

While the data were collected over multiple years, the survey was conducted at a single university. These findings have implications for the design of undergraduate accounting education programs and, potentially, for addressing the gap between accounting research and practice.

This review contributes to the discourse on integrating research into undergraduate accounting education as recommended by the AAA Pathways Commission. It describes one method of doing so and identifies the literature that informed the approach taken. This paper also contributes to the accounting education literature by providing evidence of student reaction to a course that uses research and theory as a subject matter rather than a pedagogical tool. This evidence may also inform the teaching –research nexus discourse.

This study aims to measure the response of undergraduate accounting students to a stand-alone course in accounting theory and research. The aim of the study was to gauge students’ perceptions of the usefulness of this course and to determine if exposure to this material would increase student interest in accounting research and in pursuing a career in academia.

Three cohorts of students enrolled in the course completed an in-class survey. The study was conducted from 2015 to 2017.

The results of the survey show that student interest in accounting research and theory increased substantially as a result of the course. Students felt that learning about accounting research and the theories used in accounting research enhanced their overall understanding of accounting and would be useful to them as accounting practitioners. This study also reports that students interested in pursuing a PhD and/or an academic career also increased.

Data were only collected at a single university and represent student perceptions only.

The results of this study and the description of the course design will inform academics seeking to answer the American Accounting Association Pathways Commission’s call to integrate accounting research and education. This study also suggests a pathway towards addressing the chronic academic accounting faculty shortage. Finally, the results will be of interest to those designing undergraduate accounting curriculum.

This study contributes to the literature on the “teaching-research nexus” in accounting by providing evidence, from the perspective of undergraduate accounting students, of the usefulness of integrating research into undergraduate accounting education. While many accounting researchers view accounting research and teaching accounting as separate activities, the response from students suggests that there is value in fostering a more complementary relationship between these two activities.

The paper aims to use the Trilobal® polyester (Y cross-section) for producing fabrics suitable for fencing suits and evaluating their various properties.

Double weave structure was chosen to produce the samples by using six different face structures and two back structures divided into two groups according to the back structures. They were evaluated by their physical and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, puncture resistance, air permeability and humidity properties in horizontal and vertical wicking, drying rate and water vapor transmission.

Fencing sport recently is one of the most growing sports in the world, which necessitates special requirements and properties of fencing suit, either mechanical properties, which allow the easily and freely movement for the athlete, or the comfort properties that save the player’s effort and energy for a long time to improve his performance.

ANOVA test analysis showed highly significant results in some properties comparing back and face structures of the double weave fabric high correlation coefficient were found between packing density factor of produced fabric and the weft material types. The final results showed the produced sample that weaved with plain 1/1 for back structure and warp rib 2/2 for face structure achieved the best results, followed by the produced sample weaved with plain 1/1 for back structure and weft rib 2/2 for face structure compared with the other produced samples.

Is “Fair Trade” really fair? This case examines the concept, history, and logistics of the Fair Trade movement, specifically for coffee. Fair Trade began as an attempt to ensure farmers received fair compensation for their crops and credit when needed. Fair Trade also provided opportunities to help coffee growers learn best practices and sustainable farming methods (minimal damage to the environment, for example). But Fair Trade had its critics, who claimed that ultimately the farmers did not benefit and that retailers charged more for Fair Trade products and pocketed the difference. This case examines these issues through the eyes of one coffee-drinker who has specifically chosen her caffeine venue because of the Fair Trade designation.

The chapter aims to reflectively discuss a participatory research project concerning the future of higher education in Hungary. This project can be understood as an ongoing methodological experiment which attempts to engage teachers and students, in order to reveal how key stakeholders think about the future of higher education. In line with this, this methodologically oriented chapter shows how different participatory methodologies can be combined in a so-called backcasting framework. This approach starts by describing the present situation, then moves beyond the present conditions so as to identify the cornerstones of an ideal future state. On the one hand, the chapter gives a detailed introduction to how our participatory research process was set up and what particular methodologies we used during this process. On the other hand, it critically reflects on the methodological and ethical challenges involved.

This study aims to examine the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on financial and non-financial aspects of firm performance in medium and large-scale manufacturing firms in Ethiopia.

The cross-sectional survey and simple random sampling methods are adopted while the data collection is through a questionnaire that covers five corporate governance indicators consisting of the board independence, board effectiveness, shareholders role, internal audit effectiveness (IAE) and disclosure and transparency. The dimensions of firm performance were indicated by six firm performance indicators of customer and market (CM), internal process (IP), differentiation, efficiency, competitive position (CP) and financial (organizational) performance (OP). The covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) with the maximum likelihood parameter estimation technique was used to perform the data analysis.

A significant positive relationship has been found between the independence of the board of directors and firm performance (especially with respect to differentiation, OP, CP and IP). However, the board of directors’ effectiveness showed an unexpected result, significant negative effect on differentiation, OP, CP, CM and IP. The study also indicates a positive significant effect of disclosure and transparency on differentiation, CP and OP. However, the coefficient on the CM construct of firm performance is negative and significant. A significant negative linkage has also been revealed between IAE and two constructs of performance: differentiation and CP. One of the important findings of the study is that shareholders’ role has a significant positive impact on both board characteristics (board independence and board effectiveness) and firm performance (differentiation, efficiency, CP and OP).

The study has two potential limitations. First, in comparison to prior studies, this study is based on a small sample size which limits the generalizability of the findings. Different scholars have suggested (Anderson and Gerbing, 1984, 1988; Iacobucci, 2010; Hair et al., 2019) that SEM requires a large sample size to test the hypothetical model. Thus, future research can further investigate the link between corporate governance and firm performance by using a larger sample size to achieve more reliable results. Second, the current study used a quantitative approach only, but prior studies (e.g. Ahrens and Khalifa, 2013) suggest a qualitative approach to more investigate and reach a very conclusive idea on corporate governance. The approach is currently receiving growing popularity in the literature.

The findings of the study would have measurable implications for different stakeholders who are in the position of supporting or regulating manufacturing firms. First, the findings give a clue about how a firm can design a good corporate governance system. Second, managers of the firm can get a hint or tip from the result that might help as input for designing strategies. Finally, it might help policymakers to understand and think about the very crucial role of active participation of shareholders in curtailing/reducing agency cost and enhancing firm performance apart from (beyond) the conventional corporate governance mechanisms (board of directors, internal audit, disclosure and transparency).

This study seeks to extend and contribute to the current literature in several ways. First, in contrast to previous studies, this study used both financial and non-financial performance measures and thereby providing new empirical insights relating to the non-financial performance measures. Second, this study provides a new result that the role of shareholders has a direct significant positive impact on board characteristics (i.e. board independence and board effectiveness) and firm performance. Finally, this study has come with a new insight that disclosure and transparency is a major driver of firm performance.

This paper aims to produce sustainable sport-hijab or veiling using cotton and bamboo as renewable and eco-material blending with polyester. Due to the unique characteristics of the knitting fabrics, the research focused on constructing the proposed samples using a circular knitting technique with a French terry structure, to achieve comfort, ease of care, good appearance and sustainability in different climatic conditions.

The researchers formed three different knitted samples using yarn count 30/1Ne for cotton and bamboo and 70 dens for polyester yarn, using the same blending ratio of 50:50% (cotton/polyester, bamboo/ polyester and cotton/ bamboo). They tested several mechanical and physical properties (weight, thickness, air permeability, water permeability, electrostatic charges, ultraviolet protection factor, stiffness, pilling resistance and bursting strength).

Using different tools, the researchers statistically analyzed the influence of variables on sample properties, including a Chart line, ANOVA test at p-value = 0.05 and the least significant differences values to identify the effect significantly as well as demonstrate the interaction among the samples at each tested property. Finally, radar chart areas to clarify the preferable sample performance.

The findings declared that blending materials used significantly affected most properties of the produced samples, except for the water permeability and an electrostatic charge. Furthermore, the findings pointed out that blending (cotton or bamboo/polyester) is more efficient and desirable than blending (cotton/ bamboo). Additionally, based on radar charts analysis, the cotton/polyester knitted outperforms other blended materials samples in producing sport-hijab or veiling fabric.

Summarizes the findings of a 1993 report by Ashridge Management Group on women on the boards of the top 200 companies in Britain. Compares the results with a similar survey done in 1989. Finds that, although the number of women directors has doubled since 1989, they still represent only 4 per cent of all directorship appointments in the 200 companies surveyed, despite more women being recruited. More women are becoming non‐executive directors but the old‐boy network is still very much in operation. Discusses the issues which seem to account for the slow progress in women′s career ladders. Suggests an action list to enable companies to offer opportunities to women to gain skills and experience necessary to become directors.

Teacher education pedagogies face the complex challenge of attending to standards of professionalism while being sensitive to the local changing needs of professional learning. Encounters between these two aspects of professional work are manifested, for example, through the relations between innovative, “against the grain” pedagogies and standardized criteria and accountability to policy issues and measurement. This chapter characterizes various “contact zones” across participants, contexts and contents, called for by the four categories of pedagogies (working with multimodalities, partnerships and community learning, teacher assessment, and vehicles for dissemination) that comprise this volume of International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part C). The four categories of pedagogies join five earlier categories of pedagogies (teacher leadership, diversity, family, social justice, and technology), which are found in International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part B). These go in with yet another five categories of pedagogies (teacher selection, reflection, narrative knowing, teacher identity and mediation and mentoring), which are found in International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part A).