Bridging the Gap: Engaging in Scholarship with Accountancy Employers to Enhance Understanding of Skills Development and Employability

Abstract

This paper reports on the author's experiences of working with accountancy employers to develop a deeper understanding of skills development and employability in the accountancy profession. It notes that while there is a well-developed literature that examines skills development amongst university accounting students, there is also evidence of a gap between skills development in the university setting and the reported experiences of new entrants into the accountancy profession. The paper examines the nature of this gap and attempts to bridge it, using the experiences of working together with employers. The evidence from this study is that accountancy employers seek new recruits with the capacity to establish professional credibility amongst colleagues and clients through their attitudes and behaviours, something subtly different from much of the literature, which focuses on the importance of discrete generic skills.     

Employment Discrimination and the International Workplace: A Review of Recent US Court Rulings

The extraterritoriality clause in the Civil Rights Act of 1991 amended Title VII and the ADA to include employment discrimination protection for US citizens working abroad for US employers. A review of recent court rulings demonstrates an absence of lawsuits involving alleged violations of the extraterritorial provision. Instead, recent cases show that Americans working outside of the US are filing charges against foreign employers rather than US employers and applying state level employment statutes rather than federal legislation. In addition, non US citizens are exhibiting a trend toward invoking US federal and state statutes against US employers. These cases are reviewed and implications discussed for managing employment relations in an increasingly international workplace.

Big business in the Russian empire: A European perspective

This paper presents an inventory of the largest private companies in the Russian Empire in 1914, and their comparison to the largest contemporary British, German, and French companies identified by Youssef Cassis as ‘big business’. It focusses on three questions. First, how big was big business in Russia from a European perspective? Second, how did the structure of big business in Russia compare to that of other large European economies? And finally, how did foreign entrepreneurship appear in Russian big business? Drawing on new empirical evidence, it contributes to the discussion on the ‘backward’ and ‘peripheral’ character of the Russian economy before the First World War.     

雇主视角下的高级技工短缺问题探析

针对我国高级技工短缺问题,从雇主视角出发,构建＂委托—代理＂模型对专业技能培养的投资行为进行数理推导,并在此基础上对雇佣双方的行动策略作单次动态博弈与重复动态博弈分析。结果表明由于存在技工离职的风险,企业会选择放弃对高级技工培养进行投资。为此,建议企业实施有利于雇佣双方在技能培养中采取合作行为的管理措施,为培养高级技工创造良好的博弈环境。     

Shortages in an ageing labour market: an analysis of employers' behaviour

Different policies are being promoted to increase the labour supply in ageing labour markets. This article presents the results of a large-scale survey carried out among Dutch employers into their management of the constraints presented by a tight labour market. Organizations take different measures in response to staff shortages, which can in fact be distinguished as four strategies. The first relates to the recruitment of new groups of workers: groups that traditionally were perhaps not a preferred choice. The principal measures in this strategy are the recruitment of women and ethnic workers, and to a lesser extent the elderly. The second strategy focused on increasing the labour supply of existing workers. Overtime, encouraging part-timers to work extra hours and a structural increase in the length of the working week were part of this strategy. The measures constituting the third strategy were of a different type. Generally, these measures were adopted in order to cope with temporary peaks. Work was outsourced, a recruitment agency used, and higher wages offered to try to fill a vacancy. The fourth strategy focused on substituting technology/capital for labour. Regression analyses is carried out to explain which strategies organizations use to deal with shortages.     

政府人员培训需求问题分析与框架构建

作为人力资源开发的领域之一,政府人员开发的目标和对象应指向公务员所应具备的能力、知识、素质与品质。培训是人力资源开发的重要途径,而当前我国行政机关对政府人员培训不够重视,政府人员培训不能按需进行,培训方式落后,无法保证培训效果。恰当的培训需求分析,是提高我国政府人员培训整体效果的重要条件。我国行政机关培训应从单位的组织特点、任务要求、人员素质结构出发,在认可培训重要性的基础上,从国家、社会、单位、个体等各个层面,利用多种培训媒介,通过多种培训方式,不断丰富培训内容,提升培训层次,最终有效提高培训对象的知识、技能和品质。而要实现这一目标,必须把人力资源培训看做一项系统工程,使培训与社会、组织、政府人员个体素质之间实现很好的匹配,同时总结历史经验,建立政治经济社会发展与政府人员培训方法之间的关系模型,进而从组织视角和个体视角出发建立我国政府人员培训的需求框架。     

The Use of Criminal Record in Employment Decisions: The Rights of Ex-offenders, Employers and the Public

The evidence suggests that employers discriminate against ex-offenders in the labour market. The problem is potentially serious as it involves a substantial proportion of the population, especially the male population. Since research has shown that most people with prior convictions stop offending by their late 20s or early 30s, the validity of selection based on criminal record remains questionable. This paper examines the need for legal protection of ex-offenders by limiting employers' access to, and use of, information on criminal background. The rights and interests of the various parties involved, employers, ex-offenders, and the general public, are discussed. Approaches to the legal protection of ex-offenders in Australia are reviewed and legislative changes proposed.