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The purpose of this paper is to pay tribute to several of the ideas of Jan‐Erik Gröjer by reviewing and critiquing the field of Human Competence Accounting (HCA) since his Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal review article in 1998.Three research questions he posed in that article are now addressed in the current paper: What could be done, as envisaged in the commentary of Gröjer and Johanson; What has been published in HCA research in the ten year period (1999‐2008); What more could/should be done in HCA as a research agenda.

A literature based analysis and critique of HCA accounting articles published in the selected journals from 1999 to 2008 is employed. A purpose built coding and classification scheme is built around several categories for the purpose of analysing the HCA literature.

The paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of Gröjer and Johanson's review and indicates that questions they raised and possible research directions have been acted upon by a number of authors. The findings of the analysis indicate that, a decade on from the original review, HCA is a legitimate area for accounting research and is multi‐disciplinary and multi‐focused in nature.

The paper only considers selected HCA articles within the ten journals used over the period 1999‐2008.American mainstream positivist research has not been reviewed. Also the categories chosen to represent HCA have several limitations which are addressed in the paper.

HCA research has a strong tradition and the Gröjer and Johanson review is an important beacon that provided insights to accounting researchers. The current analysis extends Jan‐Erik's work by providing several insights into what has happened and also provides several ideas for future research and policy work in accounting for HCA.

This paper aims to understand how managers in an Australian financial institution coordinated different organisational actions for the management of the work health of employees, by adopting “work‐life balance” initiatives.

The paper uses a narrative approach to analyse various internal and external documents and has also collected “self‐accounts” of employees.

It was found that management used “work‐life balance” initiatives to manage both the physical and emotional health of employees. Management's main focus was on community volunteering, which was satisfying for employees, but also of significant benefit to the organisation in terms of marketing and branding. Thus, management was able to use these initiatives to motivate employees to work towards organisational goals.

The paper contributes to the developing literature on human competence accounting by using employee “self‐accounts” to compare with organisational statements in relation to worker health.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of social accounting at the micro level and examines the use of social reporting for constructive purposes through internal communication devices. It explores the discourse adopted by a large organisation in social accounting and reporting (workplace flexibility) through employee newsletters. In doing so the paper seeks to answer two research questions. First, what workplace flexibility practices are evident in the employee newsletters? Second, do management use discourse (including self-accounts) in newsletters for self-serving management control purposes or for the emancipatory purposes of benefiting employees?

Content and discourse analysis are used to examine “workplace flexibility” practices portrayed within the newsletters. This study explores the discourse adopted by a large Australian financial institution, in its social accounting disclosure in employee newsletters. It does so by examining the discourse adopted by the organisation in relation to one aspect of social accounting, that is, “workplace flexibility” in the employee newsletters over the period 2003-2007.

The paper finds the financial institution used its internal newsletters to influence employee attitude and behaviour, not as claimed for social “betterment” – justice, welfare, emancipation. The possibility of social accounting's emancipatory potential was suppressed by those responsible for providing the accounts. The paper found that management used discourse (including self-accounts) in the newsletters for self-serving management control purposes and not as claimed for benefiting employees.

The idea that the organisation provides workplace flexibility for the sake of benefitting employees is questionable. The discourse found in the newsletters suggests that flexible work options instead appear to be aimed at garnering employee loyalty, with subsequent employer benefits of improved organisational performance. The organisation used the discourse on workplace flexibility to blur the boundaries of work and life and persuade the employees to work harder and longer, to continuously increase productivity. In doing so, the organisation camouflaged its own economic sustainability and profitability as workplace flexibility.

The purpose of this study is to explore the human capital (HC) value creation practices of knowledge‐based software and service exporter industry in India.

The study used HC disclosure attributes as a tool to the contents of the annual reports for the year 2003‐2004, to evaluate the type and amount of HC disclosed by the software firms. The study also conducted semi‐structured interviews with the heads of human resources (HR) of 14 software firms to obtain a greater understanding of the similarities between reporting and managed HC practices.

The study identified most reported and least reported attributes of HC using content analysis and explained their reporting of value creation using interviews and resource‐based view. The findings suggest that the HC reporting practices were consistent with interview findings. The frequency of HC attributes reported followed the extent of the management's perception of HC value creation to the firm.

The limitations of the study are: first, it is a cross‐sectional study; second, the findings may be applicable exclusively to the software and service industry in India and cannot be generalised to other industries in India or software industry in other countries; third, the assertions by the HR heads are assumed to faithfully reflect the firm's HC practices; fourth, the study assumes that annual reports are the primary documents available to public (stakeholders) requiring information on the firms.

This study provides an insight into the HC reporting practices of the nascent software and service exporter industry in India that is experiencing an economic boom that is positively influenced by the information technology software industry. This study throws light on the utilization of HC for value creation by the top software firms. This may help countries having tie‐up with Indian firms to understand the value creation process of these firms to sustain growth. The study would enable other software firms to understand HC reporting practices of the industry, and could use a framework that is similar to the framework used in this study.

This paper aims to analyse the relationship between intellectual capital and financial capital using a case study. This makes it possible to discuss how intellectual capital is related to value creation with a degree of nuance that is absent from most statistical studies of relationships between human, organisational, relational and financial capital.

The paper uses a case study of a firm that invests in intellectual capital in order to develop financial capital. It traces the relationship between intellectual capital elements and financial capital via interviews. This allows the development of a nuanced account of the performance of intellectual capital. This account questions the universality of the linear model typically found in statistical studies. The model makes it possible to show how items of intellectual capital not only interact but also compete.

Relationships between intellectual capital and financial capital are challenging to specify because they are complementary rather than causal. Financial capital is not only an effect but also an important input because the development of intellectual capital takes place through the firm's budgeting processes.

The findings suggest future development of accounts of the role and performance (strength) of intellectual capital be developed around imaginative, perhaps recursive and certainly dynamic, statistical models and/or more inclusive case studies of the various elements that influence the development and transformation of intellectual capital.

The case study suggests that investments in intellectual capital happen in the context of many other investments. Bounded by the budgeting process, intellectual capital has no separate agenda and therefore, intellectual capital investments compete with other types of investments.

The present communication aims to investigate the influence of cobalt substitution on the structural, mechanical and elastic properties of nickel–zinc ferrite thick films. The changes observed in the crystallite size (D), lattice constant (a), texture coefficient [TC(hkl)] and mechanical and elastic properties of the thick films due to cobalt substitution have been reported systematically.

Ni–Zn ferrites with the stoichiometric formula Ni_0.7−xCo_xZn_0.3Fe₂O₄ (where, x = 0, 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, 0.16 and 0.20) were synthesized via solution combustion technique using sucrose as the fuel and poly-vinyl-alcohol as the matrix material. The thick films of the ferrites were fabricated on alumina substrates by the screen printing method. The thickness of the films was 25 μm, as measured by the gravimetric method. The thick films were subjected to X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

The detailed study of variation of lattice parameter (a), sintering density, micro-strain and elastic properties with cobalt (Co+2) substituted was carried out. The remarkable increase in lattice parameter (from 8.369 A^° to 8.3825 A^°), bulk density and average grain size (69-119 nm) with the cobalt content was due to larger ionic radius of Co²⁺ compared to Ni²⁺. Texture analysis [TC(hkl)] reveals all thick films have adequate grain growth in the (311) plane direction. The main absorption bands of spinel ferrite have appeared through infrared absorption spectra recorded in the range of 300-700 cm⁻¹.

The variation in stiffness constants (for isotropic material, C11 = C12), longitudinal elastic wave (Vl), transverse elastic wave (Vt), mean elastic velocity (VMean), rigidity modulus (G), Poisson’s ratio(s) and Young’s modulus (E) with cobalt (Co+2) composition has been interpreted in terms of binding forces found.

The case highlights a $1.4 billion fraud committed by the founder of a NYSE listed, Information Technology Services firm in India. In response to the crisis, the Indian government appointed an interim board to find a strategic investor in the company. The case traces the events leading to the fall of the company. Students are asked to analyze the governance and intermediation failures, assess the financial position of the company and to estimate the intrinsic value of the company from an acquirer's perspective.

The purpose of the study is to understand whether psychological contract (PC) expectations manifest differently for diversity clusters of gender, physical disability and region in relation to job performance and intention to stay.

It is a survey-based study. Data from 1,065 information technology and business process management professionals were analysed using partial least square based structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and multigroup analysis.

The met PC expectations related to career growth and development impact performance and are influenced by regional diversity. The met PC expectations related to job and work environment impact the intention to stay. Gender and physical disability do not influence any relationship.

The findings related to physical disability are based on a small sample of 60 employees. This could be reflective of their actual participation in the workplace.

No significant differences were found between men and women employees with/without physically disability. However, regional diversity creates significant differences. Diversity policies should reckon these similarities/differences while viewing requirements of job performance and determinants of intention to stay.

One needs to be careful while assuming diversity as a heterogeneous phenomenon. The reality could reflect both differences and similarities. Diverse employee groups having a common set of expectations is a socially positive evolution connoting better social integration.

This article is one of the first to research the influence of gender, physical disability and regional diversity on PC and its outcomes in India. Regional diversity has not been studied based on this framework and this adds to the body of knowledge.