Australian Rural Accountants’ Views on How Locally Provided CPD Compares with City-based Provision

Abstract

This paper analyses Australian rural accountants’ attitudes and levels of satisfaction with continuing professional development (CPD), based on whether the CPD was delivered by a professional accounting body in a rural or metropolitan area. The paper responds to prior research that finds rural accountants are dissatisfied with professional accounting bodies [Rural and regional Australian public accounting firm services: Service provision, concerns and tensions. Australian Accounting Review, 23(23), 163–176]. Findings of a survey to which 156 rural accountants responded were that when CPD is delivered into the rural areas, there are greater levels of CPD satisfaction. The study also found that cost was significantly better for rural-delivered CPD and that when more rural-based CPD was attended differences became more significant across a number of satisfaction measures. The findings have important implications for both rural accountants and professional accounting bodies.     

More than ‘continuing professional development’: a proposed new learning framework for professional accountants

This paper explores literature relating to continuing professional development (CPD) and lifelong learning to develop an understanding of how the learning landscape has evolved in recent years, both in the accountancy profession and more widely. Three different perspectives on learning are drawn together and this synthesis is used to develop a framework for professional learning. In this, the concepts of CPD and lifelong learning are replaced with ‘learning relating to professional competence’ and ‘learning relating to career adaptability’. The framework also contrasts the learning of an ‘informed professional’, a ‘competent professional’ and a ‘complete professional’. This holistic model, derived from existing literature, will be of interest to professional accountancy bodies and educators of accountants and will inform their ongoing interactions with current and future professional accountants.     

物业服务企业知识管理存在问题与对策研究

本文首先分析了当前物业管理的发展现状、面临的机遇和挑战。在此基础上引入知识管理是一种新的管理理念和模式。文章分析了物业服务企业知识资源的特点,研究了知识管理在物业服务企业实施中存在的问题,提出了解决问题的对策和建议。通过研究希望能够帮助物业企业有效实施知识管理,使物业服务企业能充分挖掘、利用知识资产,增强物业企业的核心竞争力。     

Enterprise Resource Planning and a contest to limit the role of management accountants: A strong structuration perspective

The implementation and use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems raise fundamental questions about the role of management accountants in an organisation. The case studied here, involving an attempt to establish an ERP system in an organisation funded by both the European Union (EU) and the Egyptian government, is an exploration of conflicting beliefs about the role of management accountants. Elements of strong structuration theory (a reinforced version of Giddens’ structuration theory) are used to analyse how the contest over the role of the management accountant in a new organisation was played out during the partially successful attempt to establish ERP in conjunction with a system that was felt to better support the requirements of the EU for performance-based budgeting. Despite the forward-looking dispositions of key actors within the organisation and from the EU, the role of the management accountant here became compressed to the traditional one of cost information collector and provider.     

Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education

ABSTRACT

Ethical instruction is critical in accounting education. However, does accounting ethics teaching actually instil core ethical values or simply catalogue how students should act when confronted with typical accounting ethical dilemmas? This study extends current literature by distinguishing between moral/ethical and legal/ethical matters and then re-evaluating the effectiveness of ethics training. A cohort of final-year accounting students with significant ethical training evaluated ethical scenarios. Half were moral (non-legal) and half contained legal as well as moral components. After further ethical instruction they re-evaluated the scenarios. Ethical attitudes towards legal/moral issues improved, but attitudes towards moral-only issues did not. This questions previous studies which purport to demonstrate the effectiveness of ethical instruction and queries the benefits of accounting ethics education. Are fundamental ethical principles being ignored in an effort to prevent more obvious accounting wrongdoings? Accounting ethics training needs to be reassessed if true ethical improvement is to be achieved.     

Work-Integrated Learning in accountancy at Australian universities – forms,future role and challenges

This exploratory study seeks to obtain the views of strategic decision-makers surrounding the implementation of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Accountancy programs in Australian universities. Using an online questionnaire with mainly open-ended questions, the results showed most respondents perceived WIL programs as important and should be offered and assessed. Work placements and internships were the prominent forms of WIL; and WIL programs were of varying length but typically long, elective, unpaid, in the middle and/or end of the course/degree, assessed, with students awarded grades and credit points. The most challenging issues identified were the difficulty of finding placements and the resourcing implications. The contributions of the study relate to highlighting the various models of accountancy WIL actually implemented and providing empirical evidence on the challenges faced. Since WIL is perceived as important for the future and should be included in degree courses, the proposed future research could help overcome these challenges.     

Controllers’ role in managerial sensemaking and information trust building in a business intelligence environment

This study explores how an organization’s controllers (management accountants) give sense to the information provided by its business intelligence (BI) system, and thus shape the construction of information trust. A qualitative case study was conducted within a Finnish food manufacturing company, building on the notion of trust related to management accounting information and sensemaking theory. The study was informed through open-ended interviews and an examination of internal accounting and management reports. The authors found that the company used an integrated BI system that enabled the production of information in a timely and perceivably standardized manner. Controllers managed this accounting information and gave sense to it, helping deliver a shared understanding of the daily business situation. The findings show that controllers play a pivotal role in building information trust by giving sense to the information provided by the BI system.     

承包地利用的守成与突破——以土地经营权法律定位的检讨为中心

农地家庭承包带来的分散经营的弊端,可通过在农户的土地承包经营权上为新型经营主体设立土地经营权而得到克服。新《农村土地承包法》创设的土地经营权,摆脱了集体成员身份对土地承包经营权的束缚,有助于更大程度释放农地的财产价值。“以其他方式承包取得的权利”应为物权性质的土地承包经营权,而非土地经营权。承包地因物权性利用和债权性利用之不同,各自法律效果存在明显差异。在三权分置的结构下,土地经营权的性质应属于债权。明确土地经营权性质,不仅有利于促进土地有效利用,还能够解决农地权利群的逻辑冲突。     

论高职教师必须具备的专业素质及提高途径

面对新的形势,高等职业教育定位是培养应用型高技能专门人才。教师素质的高低直接影响教育教学的质量。为从根本上解决人才培养和使用的脱节问题,要求高职教师要有多方面的素质。高职教师在新形势下应具备哪些基本素质以及如何培养,本文对此进行一些浅显的分析,并提出几点建议。     

The role of tax regulation and compensation contracts in the decision to voluntarily expense employee stock options

We show that firms with executive bonuses that qualify for deduction under Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) were less likely to expense stock option compensation (SOC) in 2002. Additionally, the more likely it is that a qualified firm will incur re-contracting costs, the less likely it is that the firm will expense SOC. CEOs of qualified firms that also expense SOC receive smaller bonuses than CEOs of expensing firms that are not qualified under 162(m), and the lower 162(m) bonuses are not offset by higher SOC. Our results suggest that 162(m) tax incentives are an important determinant of the decision to expense SOC.     

An analysis of the adoption, perceived benefits, and expected future emphasis of western management accounting practices in Chinese SOEs and JVs

This paper considers the adoption, perceived benefits, and expected future emphasis of western management accounting practices in the Chinese emerging market economy based on a sample of 64 joint ventures (JVs) and 115 State Owned Enterprises (SOE) gathered from a questionnaire survey. The study finds that the level of adoption of management accounting practices is most influenced by ownership type of the enterprise (JV or SOE) and to a lesser extent by the nature of the management accounting techniques to be adopted. A further significant finding is that management accounting practices such as budgeting for controlling costs, profit and sales budgeting, and target costing are perceived to be more beneficial for SOEs compared to JVs. However, responsibility accounting which is traditionally associated with SOEs and accounting for decision making is perceived to be less beneficial to SOEs compared with JVs.     

Quality in professional accounting education provision in the UK – the CIMA experience

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) introduced its Quality Through Partnership (QTP) scheme in 1994. This scheme was designed to provide a system of monitoring and quality control for colleges providing CIMA tuition. Following a review of colleges by trained assessors, those colleges which had in place quality procedures that met certain minimum threshold standards were approved under the QTP scheme in terms of the quality of their course delivery. The aim of this paper is to trace the development of the QTP scheme in the UK since its inception within the context of evolving notions of ‘quality’. The paper begins by discussing notions of quality, distinguishing between quality control and quality assurance, and emphasizing the evolutionary process indicated by the progression from control to assurance. The history of the QTP scheme since its inception is then traced. Finally, the experience of the QTP scheme is reflected upon in the light of the concept of quality within professional education.