- Title
- Accounting’s chaotic margins : Financial reporting of the library collections of Australia’s public universities
- Creator
- West, Brian; Carnegie, Garry
- Date
- 2007
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/69670
- Identifier
- vital:3774
- Abstract
- This paper explores the circumstances and implications of an episode of accounting change arising from the extended use of accrual accounting within the Australian public sector. The matter under scrutiny is the financial reporting of the library collections of Australia’s public universities. Accounting standards applying within the Australian public sector may be interpreted as requiring such collections to be accounted for as assets in the statements of financial position of the entities that manage them. A survey reveals considerable diversity and subjectivity in the accounting practices adopted in seeking to satisfy this requirement. Consideration is given to possible explanations for the disorderly state of practice observed, and questions raised regarding the reliability and usefulness of the information reported. The financial reporting of library collections is depicted as a “chaotic margin” of accounting, and the technical propriety of attempting to express and account for these non-financial resources in financial terms is rendered problematic.
- Publisher
- The Gold Coast, Queensland :
- Relation
- Paper presented at 2007 AFAANZ Conference, The Gold Coast, Queensland : 1st-3rd July 2007
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- 0806 Information Systems; Public sector accounting; Chaotic accounting; University libraries
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