PREDICTORS OF EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING FIRMS

As the most important asset of a firm is its employees, it is useful to know the characteristics associated with successful job performance. This paper reports the result of an investigation which sought to examine the relationship between employee performance in professional accounting firms and a broad group of employee characteristics.     

ACCOUNTING FOR SEIGNIORAGE

This paper examines anomalies in the accounting procedures for the treatment of seigniorage on the Australian note and coin issue. It explains how the substitution of coins for notes leads to the unexpected result of reducing the budget deficit     

新企业会计准则系列——投资项目的分析方法一

近年来,一些上市公司利用长期投资进行资产交易获得高额投资收益仿佛已经成了习惯。一些不稳定的投资收益实际上是公司业绩的地雷,或许能支撑起公司暂时的繁荣,但却掩盖了公司经营与治理结构存在的问题,由此避免不了公司因投资收益剧减而业绩大滑坡的风险。因此,银行债权人应意识到,会计报表中的投资收益如果没有真实的业绩作背景,单凭利润表中的净利润说明不了任何问题。所以,本期我们将结合投资项目在会计报表中的披露,掌握投资项目对企业财务的影响。     

THE CORE OF THE CURRICULUM FOR ACCOUNTING UNDERGRADUATES - AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY*

This paper reports a study that adapted an American curriculum questionnaire to identify a common core of accounting knowledge from a list of 190 topics. Senior practitioners' and educators5 perceptions were surveyed to reach conclusions about the content of the common core and also the separate cores of accounting knowledge for the areas Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting and Auditing.     

ACCOUNTING COURSES AND PROFESSIONAL FUNCTIONS*

In Australia, people performing accounting functions may have undertaken a course at a university, CAE, or technical college. This study is addressed to the rationale for this multiplicity of courses by seeking to determine whether there are different outcomes, such as professional functioning and salary, among graduates from these different courses. A specially devised questionnaire was developed to determine the degree of professionalism in late 1979 of accounting graduates from some Sydney and Melbourne universities, CAEs (UG1 bachelor degree and UG2 diploma courses), and technical colleges from the following years: 1970, 1974, 1976 and 1978. Limitations such as sample size prevent definitive answers. It was found that degree of professionalism and salary were related to attendance pattern, years of accounting experience before course completed, and years of accounting experience after course completed, but that the relationships with accounting course studied are low. Data counceming the mean percentage time spent on professional, technician, and other functions are provided.     

FIELD STUDIES IN THE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM*

This paper describes the introduction and evaluation of a field study component in the management and cost accounting subjects of two undergraduate accounting courses. The three types of participants in the field studies — organizational contacts, College staff, and students — were surveyed using questionnaire (semantic differential) and telephone interview techniques, to ascertain attitudes toward the field study. Results of the survey demonstrated strong support for the studies from all three groups of participants, and several useful suggestions for improvement were received. From these results the field study concept seems to warrant further development and evaluation.     

新企业会计准则系列——新企业会计准则下的会计报表构成（一）

会计准则是规范企业会计确认、计量和报告行为,保证会计信息质量的会计法规,是会计人员在进行业务处职时的法律依据。     

VALUING AND ACCOUNTING FOR LOAN GUARANTEES

To achieve certain policy objectives, governments frequentlyprovide private borrowers with loan guarantees that cover someor all of the risk that the borrower will be unable to repaythe loan. Such guarantees are extremely valuable, and theirvalue increases with the riskiness of the underlying asset orcredit, the size of the investment, and the duration of theloan. The flip side of a guarantee's value to a lender is itscost to the government. Such a cost is not explicit but is realnevertheless. When providing guarantees, governments thereforemust establish accounting, valuation, and risk-sharing mechanisms.This article describes methods of valuing guarantees; reportsestimates of the value of guarantees in different settings;and summarizes new methods of accounting designed to anticipatelosses, create reserves, and channel funds through transparentaccounts to ensure that the costs of guarantees are evidentto government decisionmakers.      

PROPOSALS FOR NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS FOR FOREIGN MONETARY ITEMS

The purpose of this study was to propose and evaluate different methods for measuring and reporting exchange gains and losses on corporate monetary items. Focusing on the Swedish experience, the empirical validity of three laws/monetary relationships from economic theory were examined for currencies in the Swedish 'basket' for the period 1974–1981. The basic overall finding of the study was that a method based on the Purchasing Power Parity Theory appears generally superior to methods based on either Fisher's Open Relationship or the Interest Rate Parity Theory, and also superior to the currently favoured use of the closing rate.     

REACTIONS TO REGULATION OF ACCOUNTING FOR GOODWILL

Regulations designed to achieve “uniformity in practice” in Australian firms' reporting of goodwill were first adopted in 1985 with the introduction of AAS18. Because of the requirement to amortise purchased goodwill, a number of firms either did not comply or took evasive actions to mitigate the effects of the standard. This paper documents and explains the pre-regulation cross-sectional variation in accounting practices. Reactions to the set of regulations introduced between 1985 and 1989 are then described and explained through a longitudinal study of accounting policy choice. We develop hypotheses which explain why the goodwill accounting rules reversed relations between the accounting methods adopted by firms and both the earnings effect of compliance and the market value of the firm's goodwill. The results are confirmatory.     

ACCOUNTING FOR INVESTMENTS IN UNINCORPORATED JOINT VENTURES

A consideration of the pertinent legal and commercial features of unincorporated joint ventures reveals some accounting and disclosure issues that are not adequately dealt with by existing accounting standards or disclosure rules. In addition, a review of current practice reveals major deficiencies in reporting the financial results of investments in joint ventures. Some deficiencies, especially the disclosure of contingent liabilities, may be in breach of the requirements of the Companies Act, 1961. Our conclusion on accounting methods is that the equity method is to be preferred to the more popular proportionate consolidation method.     

SOME ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF MANAGEMENT LOBBYING FOR ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF ACCOUNTING: EVIDENCE FROM THE ACCOUNTING FOR INTEREST COSTS ISSUE

This paper extends the theory of management lobbying on accounting standards. Specifically, it is hypothesized that, in addition to the variables previously identified in literature, the capital structure of the firm would affect its management's lobbying position on an accounting standard. The results of an empirical investigation of the lobbying position of firms on the accounting for interest costs issue, reported in the paper, confirm the extended theory.     

MANAGERIAL REMUNERATION AND ACCOUNTING FOR RECURRING EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS

The Australian standard on income statements (AAS 1) was recently amended to require that extraordinary items be non-recurring. Although the amendment applies from 1990, the Corporations Law requires that comparative financial statements for 1989, complying with the new rule, be included with the 1990 financial statements. Comparison of these with actual financial statements for 1989 indicates how the statements would have differed in 1989 if the standard had then required extraordinary items to be non-recurring. The differences are investigated to partially explain cross sectional differences in firms' classification criteria. Results imply that managers who are remunerated highly (relative to the magnitude of the earnings of the firm) prefer to classify gains as operating and losses as extraordinary.     

ACCOUNTING STANDARDS FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN AUSTRALIA

The need for better financial reporting by public sector entities as a means towards greater accountability has been widely canvassed. This paper discusses the development and application of accounting standards in Australia in this context. The responses of the accounting profession, through its standard setting process, and of the Commonwealth and several State governments are described and the conclusion reached that these developments will mean significant improvement in the information content of public sector financial reports.