A Chaotic field of practice: Financial reporting of the Library collections of Australia's public Universities, 2007-2011
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Sidaway, Shannon , West, Brian
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Academic and Research Libraries Vol. 44, no. 4 (2013), p. 195-216
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The accounting practices adopted by Australia's 36 public universities in accounting for their library collections - including heritage and special collections - are identified and analysed. The data is collected from a survey of these institutions' annual reports over the period 2007 to 2011 and the analysis is guided by theoretical perspectives drawn from new institutional sociology (NIS). Consistent with prior research by West and Carnegie (2010), accounting for university library collections is depicted as a chaotic field of practice. Inconsistent and idiosyncratic policies that compromise the overall reliability, comparability and usefulness of university financial reports are observed, along with instances of dramatic valuation adjustments. However, the beginnings of some amelioration of the chaos are also detected, as regulatory activity and a voluntary homogenisation of accounting policies begin to take effect. In particular, a general trend towards more conservative accounting practices is evident as universities perhaps seek to guard against accounting debacles - most notably massive valuation write-downs - of the kind that have been suffered by several institutions over the last decade. Assigning financial values to the library collections and other non-financial resources of not-for-profit public institutions remains a problematic issue. © 2013 Australian Library & Information Association.
- Description: The accounting practices adopted by Australia's 36 public universities in accounting for their library collections - including heritage and special collections - are identified and analysed. The data is collected from a survey of these institutions' annual reports over the period 2007 to 2011 and the analysis is guided by theoretical perspectives drawn from new institutional sociology (NIS). Consistent with prior research by West and Carnegie (2010), accounting for university library collections is depicted as a chaotic field of practice. Inconsistent and idiosyncratic policies that compromise the overall reliability, comparability and usefulness of university financial reports are observed, along with instances of dramatic valuation adjustments. However, the beginnings of some amelioration of the chaos are also detected, as regulatory activity and a voluntary homogenisation of accounting policies begin to take effect. In particular, a general trend towards more conservative accounting practices is evident as universities perhaps seek to guard against accounting debacles - most notably massive valuation write-downs - of the kind that have been suffered by several institutions over the last decade. Assigning financial values to the library collections and other non-financial resources of not-for-profit public institutions remains a problematic issue. © 2013 © 2013 Australian Library & Information Association.
A Commentary on 'Contextualising the Intermediate Financial Accounting Courses in the Global Financial Crisis'
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , West, Brian
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting Education Vol. 20, no. 5 (2011), p. 499-503
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Accounting is a practical discipline, existing to satisfy particular human needs which are usually depicted in terms of decision-making processes and accountability evaluations. Proposals for how accounting education may be infused with learning from the ‘realworld’ contexts in which it operates are always welcome. However, as the recent global financial crisis (GFC) and other phenomenal episodes have repeatedly revealed, accounting practice is itself neither perfect nor uncontroversial. Examining the ‘real world’ contexts of accounting offers not just the prospect of learning more about what accounting is and how it is currently practised, but also the limitations and deficiencies of that practice.
A conceptual analysis of price setting in Australian local government
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , West, Brian
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Accounting Review Vol. 20, no. 2 (2010), p. 110-120
- Full Text: false
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- Description: A complex set of issues underlies the pricing of the diverse range of goods and services from which Australian local governments derive a significant portion of their revenues. Although local governments have a not-for-profit orientation, they are expected to be financially viable and embrace a broad notion of accountability. They are also expected to influence the behaviour of constituents in accordance with policy decisions, but be equitable in doing so. These and related parameters are discussed and illustrated in order to reveal and elucidate the nature of pricing decisions in local government, and to differentiate the local government context from other price-setting environments.
Accounting and the history of the everyday life of captains, sailors and common seamen in eighteenth-century Portuguese slave trading
- Authors: Pinto, Ofelia , West, Brian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 22, no. 3 (2017), p. 320-347
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This archive-based case study uses accounting and related records to uncover details of the everyday life of the captains, sailors and seamen who manned the ships that allowed Portuguese slave trading to flourish during the eighteenth century. By elaborating the lives of the crews of the ships of the Companhia Geral do Grão Pará e Maranhão, a Portuguese chartered company created in 1755 for the express purpose of slave trading, the study contributes to a growing body of literature that uses accounting documents as a source of social history and enables previously silent voices to be heard. Furthermore, the study brings together two notions which have previously remained separated in the accounting history literature: the everyday lives of participants within the setting of a ‘dark’ episode of human history. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.
Accounting professionalisation and occupational context: The role of the public accounting profession in China
- Authors: Yee, Helen , West, Brian
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 6th Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference: Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting (APIRA 2010) p. 1-28
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- Description: While applied broadly within the setting of accounting and some other occupations, ‘profession’ is a particularly Western concept with peculiarly British origins. However, the significance of such status and the process by which it is acquired has defied precise explication. Examination of the sociology of the accounting occupation within non- Western locations can contribute to exposing and clarifying these problematic and contingent aspects of occupational stratification, as well as assist in redressing the bias towards English-speaking and European countries within the accounting history literature. Proceeding from these theoretical premises, a historical study of the accounting occupation within China is undertaken. Integrating episodes from this country into the broader historical narrative of the professionalisation of accounting reinforces – often vividly – that accountants’ work status is not bound to an innate and predetermined trajectory. Rather, the variety of localised and time-specific variables which constitute the occupational context are shown to exert a dominating influence.
Accounting's chaotic margins : Financial reporting of the library collections of Australia's public universities
- Authors: West, Brian , Carnegie, Garry
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at the Fourth Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference, Singapore : 4th - 6th July, 2004
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- Reviewed:
- Description: 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 imply that such collections should generally 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. This raises questions about the reliability and usefulness of the information reported, and renders problematic the technical propriety of attempting to express and account for non-financial resources in financial terms. The financial reporting of library collections is posited as a 'chaotic margin' of accounting and consideration is given to possible explanations for the disorderly state of practice observed.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003000769
Accounting's chaotic margins : Financial reporting of the library collections of Australia's public universities, 2002-2006
- Authors: West, Brian , Carnegie, Garry
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 23, no. 2 (2010), p. 201-228
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore 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 reporting of the library collections of Australia's public universities as assets in general purpose financial reports. Design/methodology/approach: A survey is undertaken of the annual reports of Australia's 36 public universities for the period 2002 to 2006. The analysis of the findings is informed by new institutional sociology (NIS), with a focus on mimetic processes, and the concept of "accounting's margins". Findings: The survey reveals considerable diversity and subjectivity in the accounting practices adopted, as well as instances of sudden and dramatic changes in carrying values. 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. Originality/value: The study questions the reliability and usefulness of the information reported, with implications for the accountability of the institutions surveyed as well as the accounting profession in the comparatively neglected domain of the public sector. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Accounting, slavery and social history : The legacy of an eighteenth-century Portuguese chartered company
- Authors: Pinto, Ofelia , West, Brian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 22, no. 2 (2017), p. 141-166
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Based on extensive archival research, this study documents and analyses the accounting techniques that the Companhia Geral do Grão Pará e Maranhão applied to its slave trading operations during the second half of the eighteenth century. The surviving accounting records of this Portuguese chartered company reveal – in meticulous detail – the integral role that accounting technology played in enabling the slave trade to flourish. However, and paradoxically, while evidencing this culpability the same accounting records also document the essential humanity of the slaves and preserve details of the bleak circumstances of their existence. Slaves are typically lamented as a lost people consigned to a tragic and an eternal anonymity, but it is from accounting records that many aspects of their lives can be reconstructed. In this way, the accounting records studied are also shown to provide a latent source of social history that constitutes a profound mea culpa. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.
Accounting’s chaotic margins : Financial reporting of the library collections of Australia’s public universities
- Authors: West, Brian , Carnegie, Garry
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2007 AFAANZ Conference, The Gold Coast, Queensland : 1st-3rd July 2007
- Full Text: false
- Description: 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.
- Description: 2003005170
All for Nothing? Accounting for Land under Roads by Australian Local Governments
- Authors: Elhawary, Hassan , West, Brian
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Accounting Review Vol. 25, no. 1 (2015), p. 38-44
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Accounting for land under roads by local governments has been one of the most controversial and protracted episodes in the setting of Australian accounting standards. However, after more than two decades of exposure drafts, regulation, transitional provisions and re-regulation, most land under roads has not been recognised in local government balance sheets. Australian Accounting Standard AAS 27 Financial Reporting by Local Governments was first issued in 1991 and, among other significant reforms, proposed that local governments report land under roads as an asset in their financial reports. However, persistent opposition to this requirement and practical difficulties associated with its implementation gave rise to a succession of transitional provisions deferring its mandatory application. Finally, in 2007 - 16 years after AAS 27 was first promulgated - the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) sought to bring closure to this issue with the release of AASB 1051 Land Under Roads. However, in the interim some state governments had pursued their own resolutions, forbidding the recognition of land under roads. This research reports the results of a survey of the impact of land under roads on local government financial reports. After two decades of debate and regulation, diversity is found to persist in the extent and manner of recognition of this 'asset'. However, recognition remains the exception rather than the norm and is typically confined to recent acquisitions that comprise only a very small portion of total assets. These circumstances are suggestive of an episode of regulatory failure. © 2015 CPA Australia.
Australia's divided accounting profession : the 1969 merger attempt and its legacy
- Authors: Sidhu, Jasvinder , Carnegie, Garry , West, Brian
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Accounting Review Vol. 53, no. 3 (2021), p.
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The Australian accounting environment is dominated by two competing brands – Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) – which signal that the profession has been unable to achieve full unification. Focussed on 1969, this dual theory-informed, in-depth study examines the first of four unsuccessful attempts to merge the two professional accounting associations from which the two brands originate: The Australian Society of Accountants (the Society) and The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the Institute). Primary data from public archives and oral history interviews, combined with secondary sources, are drawn upon to explain the failure of this proposed merger and to consider its legacy. The complementary theoretical perspectives of “boundary-work” and “institutional work” are applied. Amidst other challenges, corporate collapses during the 1960s precipitated a legitimacy crisis for the profession and raised the prospect of there being sufficient commonality of purpose to enable a merger. While there was overwhelming support from Society members, the merger proposal was defeated by a comprehensive “no” vote from Institute members. This pattern of voting was repeated in three subsequent merger attempts, leading to the persistence of the curious binary structure of the Australian accounting profession and associated ongoing differences and tensions. © 2021 British Accounting Association
Digitising archival records : Benefits and challenges for a large professional accounting association
- Authors: Keneley, Monica , Potter, Brad , West, Brian , Cobbin, Phillip , Chang, Steven
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Archivaria Vol. 2016, no. 81 (2016), p. 75-100
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- Description: With antecedents extending to 1886, CPA Australia is one of the world’s most significant professional accounting associations. Reflective of its long history and widespread influence, the organization holds an extensive and diverse archive that evidences both its own development and the general evolution of accounting and business practices. This article presents a case study of a project to digitize selected aspects of this archive. Informed by perspectives on managing archives in the digital era, the benefits and challenges of digitization are presented. A key benefit was enabling access to digital images while preserving rare and fragile original records and documents. However, challenges arose in prioritizing the items for digitization, and this necessitated the development of a model, taking the form of a decision matrix. The CPA Australia case study will be informative for other organizations seeking to use digitization as a means to overcome the dilemma associated with providing access to archival materials while also ensuring their preservation. © 2016, Association of Canadian Archivists. All rights reserved.
Does accounting history matter?
- Authors: Gomes, Delfina , Carnegie, Garry , Napier, Christopher , Parker, Lee , West, Brian
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 16, no. 4 (2011), p. 389-402
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Building upon panel discussion held at the sixth Accounting History International Conference, a resounding "yes" is offered in response to the question of whether accounting history matters. However, reflecting the viewpoint that accounting history can and should matter more, various suggestions are presented for advancing the quality, relevance and significance of historical research in accounting, commencing with the need to redress persistent misconceptions about the discipline. Practical strategies for enhancing the impact of accounting history scholarship are then developed around the themes of promoting its contemporary relevance and implications, fostering engagement with diverse groups of scholars, writing accounting history in informative and engaging ways, and articulating and developing appropriate methodologies. Finally, the role of accounting historians as "change agents" is explored and advocated. © The Author(s) 2011.
Enhancing the accessibility of accounting and business archives: The role of technology in informing research in accounting and business
- Authors: Cobbin, Phillip , Dean, Graeme , Esslemont, Cameron , Ferguson, Patrick , Keneley, Monica , Potter, Brad , West, Brian
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Abacus-a Journal of Accounting Finance and Business Studies Vol. 49, no. 3 (September 2013), p. 396-422
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The application of advanced digitization technologies to accounting and business archives has created new opportunities for accounting and business historians. The joint American Accounting Association and European Accounting Association Task Force (2006-2010) that examined digitization confirmed this. This paper explores these opportunities, along with some attendant challenges and cautions, with reference to the digitization of two significant archives located in Australia. The first is the archive of CPA Australia, a professional accounting association that has its beginnings in 1886 and which today has over 132,000 members. The second is the archive accumulated by the pre-eminent accounting scholar Raymond Chambers during his long and extraordinarily productive tenure at the University of Sydney. Studies of surviving business records, biography and institutional history provide examples of scholarship that is enabled by digitization technology and which has the capacity to inform contemporary issues and debates.
- Description: C1
External influences on the development and professionalisation of accounting in Malaysia, 1957-1969
- Authors: Ali, Azham Md. , Lee, Teck Heang , West, Brian
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2008 AFAANZ / IAAER Conference, Sydney, New South Wales : 6th-8th July 2008
- Full Text: false
- Description: The accounting history literature identifies a tendency for accounting in developing countries to be dominated by the style of accounting institutions and practices of western developed nations – particularly the USA and UK. This “importation” hypothesis is investigated and refined through a case study examination of the history of accounting in Malaysia during the formative years of 1957 to 1969. This era commences with the Malay States gaining independence from Britain and closes with the race riots which marked a turning point in the nation’s history. The establishment of the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) in 1958 and the passing of the Companies Act of 1965 and the Accountants Act of 1967 are identified as key events which perpetuated British colonial influence within the new nation. These circumstances add credence to the “importation” hypothesis and support a depiction of accounting and its institutional apparatus as regularising forces with a capacity to transcend political and social change within a nation state.
- Description: 2003006230
F.E. Vigars' "Station Book-keeping": A specialist Australian text enabling the adaptation and transfer of accounting technology
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Foreman, Peter , West, Brian
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 33, no. 2 (2006), p. 103-130
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Studies of early Australian accounting texts and their authors have yet to be augmented by examinations of the subsequent specialist books which were written to guide accounting practice within specific domains, such as the pastoral and mining industries. This study examines the contents, use, and influence of an early specialist pastoral accounting text entitled Station Book-keeping, which was published in Australia in five editions over the period 1900 to 1937. The life and career of the book's author, Francis Ernest Vigars, are also outlined. Station Book-keeping described and advocated a comprehensive system of double-entry accounting for pastoral stations and is posited as a key medium by which this technology was adapted and transferred for use by these entities. In turn, it is argued that Vigars' book, by extending the use of conventional accounting technique, facilitated greater involvement by professional accountants within a major Australian industry.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001787
Financial reporting and accountability in charitable organisations
- Authors: Dellaportas, Steven , Langton, Jonathan , West, Brian
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2008 AFAANZ / IAAER Conference, Sydney, New South Wales : 6th-8th July 2008
- Full Text: false
- Description: The not-for-profit sector is made up of approximately 700,000 entities employing around 600,000 people and controlling assets up to $70 billion, with the largest charities comparing favourably in size and value to big business. While it is expected that many charitable organisations are well-managed and make a significant contribution to society, a lack of good governance and/or accountability could have devastating affects on the community. Official inquiries into the not-for-profit sector have questioned the lack of transparency and accountability created by a complex legal and regulatory regime. Critics of the existing regime have called for reforms including mandatory financial reporting requirements and an independent regulator to enhance public accountability and organizational efficiency and performance. This study provides an insight into the financial reporting activities of Australia’s largest charities so as to provide a measure of the extent to which charities meet public expectations of accountability. This involved the examination of over 100 publicly available reports for charitable organizations and the administration of a questionnaire. The majority of charities examined in this study provide community, welfare or health services, employ over 100 employees, and rely on a similar number of volunteers to assist with their activities. We have attempted to shed light on a significant failure of the not-for-profit sector to date, in that although our research highlights inconsistencies in reporting formats, ambiguus financial information and a high proportion of qualified audit reports there is a strong belief from charity organisations that the public is entitled to receive quality information on financial performance, suggesting that increased financial disclosures would be beneficial to the charitable sector. Respondents supported ‘programme accountability’ (89.1%), ‘fiscal accountability’ (78.2%) and ‘profit’ (76.6%) as suitable measures of performance with the circumstances of not-for-profit organisations sufficiently different to require a specific and dedicated accounting standard for the sector.
- Description: 2003006345
Financial reporting of the library collections of Australia's public universities, 2007-2010: The chaos continues
- Authors: Cornegie, Garry , Sidaway, Shannon , West, Brian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AFAANZ 2012 Confrence Proceedings
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: E1
Governance and accountability in Australian charitable organisations: Perceptions from CFOs
- Authors: Dellaportas, Steven , Langton, Jonathan , West, Brian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Accounting and Information Management Vol. 20, no. 3 (2012), p. 238-254
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of senior accounting officers on governance, performance and accountability issues in the charity sector. Design/methodology/approach - The empirical data presented in this paper were collected via a mail-out survey to Chief Financial Officers (CFO) of large charity organisations in Australia. Findings - The executives surveyed agreed that the public is entitled to receive high quality financial disclosures from charities, favouring "programme accountability", "fiscal accountability" and "profit" as relevant performance indicators rather than cash surplus/deficit. The respondents also considered that charities warrant a dedicated accounting standard but were less enthusiastic about an independent regulator with stronger control functions. Research limitations/implications - The data in this study report the opinions of financial executives which may not represent the view of all managing executives. Originality/value - While governance in charities has been examined previously from an organisational or management perspective, this is one of the few papers that emphasises how members of the accounting profession view this important topic.
How well does accrual accounting fit the public sector?
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , West, Brian
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol. 62, no. 2 (Jun 2003), p. 83-86
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: In this 'controversy' we challenge the unqualified application of full accrual accounting within the Australian public sector. In particular attention is directed to the recognition and valuation for financial reporting purposes of public sector resources that are of a non-financial nature, such as library and museum collections. Our main contention is that attempting to recognise such resources at monetary values within the financial reports of public sector organisations is a contrived, imprecise and inappropriate practice that threatens to occlude rather than enable the accountability of public sector institutions and their managers. Building from this accountability theme, we present perspectives on promoting accountability for the technical accounting practices which have been imposed within the public sector.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000618