Issues concerning the employment and employability of disabled people in UK accounting firms: An analysis of the views of human resource managers as employment gatekeepers

In this paper we consider attitudes of human resource managers towards the employment and employability of disabled people in United Kingdom (UK) accounting firms. Only one study [Duff, A., Ferguson, R.J., in press. Disability and accounting firms: Evidence from the UK. Critical Perspectives on Accounting] has considered the employment of disabled people in accounting firms, despite a growing number of studies considering gender, race and social class in accounting employment. This dearth of evidence is unexpected given the passing of disability rights legislation in the UK in 1995 and the United States of America in 1990. Our investigation utilizes nine semi-structured interviews with human resource managers (or their equivalent) in large and medium-sized UK accounting firms. Three participants are from the Big Four firms, which dominate the market for accounting and auditing services. Views were elicited regarding: (i) drivers of disability awareness, (ii) the role of partners, (iii) how firms view disability, (iv) impairments firms view as a problem, and (v) job applications. Participants’ responses indicate an awareness of existing legislation governing disability issues, in particular, the UK's Disability Discrimination Act, 1995. However, there is evidence that accounting firms restrict their understanding of disability to legal definitions. The study identifies specific impairments which firms see as impediments to employment and critically assesses firms’ perceptions of the employability of disabled people.     

The impact of voluntary audit and governance characteristics on accounting errors in private companies

This paper examines the extent to which the audit and corporate governance characteristics of UK private companies are associated with defective accounting information. Despite the economic importance of private firms, relatively little is known about their financial reporting and governance characteristics. Using a large sample of UK private companies, we examine the effects of voluntary audit, board gender balance and financial expertise on the likelihood of errors occurring in published annual accounts. Our results indicate that audited accounts are approximately half as likely as unaudited accounts to contain errors. In addition to contributing to recent academic research in this field, our findings are likely to be of interest to policy makers, who are considering exempting more firms from mandatory audit. We also find that gender diversity among board members is positively associated with the accuracy of accounting information, though our primary measure of directors’ financial expertise has no significant effect.     

Social mobility via elite placements: working class graduates in elite accounting and banking firms

ABSTRACT

Little research attention has been paid to the effect of yearlong placements in elite accounting firms and investment banks on the social mobility of working class graduates. Using the framework of Bourdieu, this paper examines the link between placements and employment destinations of eight cohorts of accounting and finance graduates from a non-elite British university. We find that elite professions are most likely to recruit graduates who have already gained the ‘right’ professional habitus through the successful completion of yearlong placements in the same elite firms in that particular field and/or with better degree averages. Social mobility of working class graduates taking an elite placement is evident after controlling for gender, age, ethnicity and degree average. The findings indicate that working class graduates need to consciously and continuously modify their class specific dispositions so that they can fully engage with higher education and elite placement experiences to achieve social mobility.     

CLASS REPRODUCTION IN PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT: EXAMINING THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION

This paper argues that the application forms of the ‘big-five’ accounting firms discriminate against applicants from working-class communities. While issues of discrimination in relation to race and gender have been considered in the accounting literature, discrimination and class in a contemporary setting is relatively under-explored. A historical analysis of the formation of the accounting profession in Scotland serves to illustrate the historical importance of class in controlling entry to the profession. During this period professions such as accounting came to play an increasingly important role in the reproduction of class from one generation to the next. However, in a contemporary setting processes of class reproduction are subtler. Initially access to university education was a key way of controlling access to professions. However, with the growth of a mass education system other strategies of reproduction have emerged. These are commonly based on an emphasis of charismatic qualities, also known as generic or transferable skills. This paper presents an analysis of the application forms of the big-five accounting firms and argues that the selection of future employees on the basis of these forms will favour applicants from the middle-class.     

Employment quality and 10-K report readability

This study examines the relationship between firms’ employment quality and annual report readability. Using 9,366 U.S. firm-year observations from 1994 to 2018, we find that a favorable employment quality is positively associated with a more readable 10-K report. Such a positive relationship can be observed when firms recruit industry-specialist auditors and when employees are considered important stakeholders to the firm. However, we find a negative association between employment quality and 10-K report readability when there is a presence of firm-level unionization. Our findings inform policymakers that initiatives to promote disclosure readability may be undermined by firms that place less emphasis on employment quality. Further, firm-level unionization can reduce the incentive for firms with a favorable employment quality to provide readable disclosures.     

True and Fair': UK Auditors' View

An earlier paper surveyed the behaviour of finance directors of the 900 largest UK companies with respect to giving a true and fair view in annual accounts. This present paper results from personal interviews with technical partners of all the 20 largest UK auditing firms (which includes the auditors of nearly all the companies in the previous survey). The paper examines the operational meaning of ‘true and fair’ to large auditing firms, and how it fits into the context of law and standards. It is concluded that one effect of the requirement as it works in practice is to give support to auditors' views in areas not yet covered by accounting standards. Contrasts emerge between the interpretations of directors and those of auditors.     

残疾人就业影响因素研究文献综述

近年来,国家对残疾人就业的重视程度越来越高,但是针对性的学术研究成果很少,研究影响残疾人就业的因素,是未来残疾人就业问题研究中不可或缺的部分。本文通过文献计量学方法对相关文献进行全面研究,分析了残疾人就业问题研究的现状,指出要运用多视角、按残分类的研究方法,并且不断地提升研究过程的科学性和实效性;其次运用内容分析法从定性研究的视角对学者观点进行归纳整理,掌握当前影响残疾人就业因素的主要研究方向及其成果;最后,简要评析目前研究影响残疾人就业因素研究过程中存在的不足并进一步提出研究展望,为后续研究影响残疾人就业的因素的学者提供有效的参考。     

The changing portrayal of the employment of women in British banks' and retail companies' corporate annual reports

This paper examines disclosure with respect to gender and employment in the corporate annual reports of major British banking and retail companies during the period 1935–1993. Setting the disclosures in the social, political and economic context of six distinct periods, the authors suggest that the position of women in the two sectors can in part be explained by continuing patriarchal attitudes of management.     

Is better banking performance associated with financial inclusion and mandated CSR expenditure in a developing country?

Motivated by legislation mandating CSR expenditure to improve social equality and economic development in India, we examine the association of CSR expenditure and financial inclusion with the performance of banking firms in the period after introduction of the legislation. We study whether mandated CSR expenditure and/or financial inclusion measures are associated with better financial performance, using both accounting and stock market measures of performance, for Indian banks during 2015–2017. Our results demonstrate that level of CSR expenditure and degree of financial inclusion is not associated with banks’ financial performance when performance is measured in accounting terms. However, a significant negative association is found when performance is measured by stock market return. These results suggest that the current design of the legislation is unlikely to achieve its purpose. This is the first study to present clear evidence on the associations of mandatory CSR spending and firm‐level financial inclusion with accounting‐based and market‐based bank performance.     

Market valuation of greenhouse gas emissions under a mandatory reporting regime: Evidence from the UK

This study provides evidence on the potential benefits of mandatory environmental reporting for listed firms’ market valuation. It takes advantage of recent regulation that requires all listed firms in the UK to report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their annual reports and shows that the magnitude of the negative association between GHG emissions and the market value of listed firms decreased after the introduction of the reporting regulation. This decline is attributed to regulation forestalling shareholders’ negative reflexive reaction toward firms’ carbon disclosures, as proposed by the theoretical work of Unerman and O’Dwyer (2007).     

Minority self-employment in the United States and the impact of affirmative action programs

In this paper I examine changes in self-employment that have occurred since the early 1980s in the United States. It is a companion paper to a recent equivalent paper that related to the UK. Data on random samples of approximately twenty million US workers are examined taken from the Basic Monthly files of the CPS (BMCPS), the 2000 Census and the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS). In contrast to the official definition of self-employment which simply counts the numbers of unincorporated self-employed, we also include the incorporated self-employed who are paid wages and salaries. The paper presents evidence on trends in self-employment for the US by race, ethnicity and gender. Evidence is also presented for construction which has self-employment rates roughly double the national rates and where there are strikingly high racial and gender disparities in self-employment rates. The construction sector is also important given the existence of public sector affirmative action programs at the federal, state and local levels directed at firms owned by women and minorities. I document the fact that disparities between the self-employment rates of white men and white women and minorities in construction narrowed in the 1980s, widened during the 1990s after the US Supreme Court’s decision in Croson but then narrowed again since 2000 after a number of legal cases, which found such programs constitutional. Despite this substantial disparities remain, particularly in earnings. I also find evidence of discrimination in the small business credit market. Firms owned by minorities in general and blacks in particular are much more likely to have their loans denied and pay higher interest than is the case for white males. This is only partially explained by their lack of creditworthiness and is consistent with a finding of discrimination in the credit market by banks.     

Do accounting standards matter to financial analysts? An empirical analysis of the effect of cross-listing from different accounting standards regimes on analyst following and forecast error

This paper explores whether the effects of cross-listing on analyst following and forecast error differ among firms with different accounting standards. The results reveal a higher increase in the number of analysts for cross-listed firms that follow their home country's GAAP prior to cross-listing and reconcile or switch to IAS/US GAAP or UK GAAP after cross-listing, compared to those that adopt IAS or US GAAP prior to cross-listing. We find that firms that switch to IAS/US GAAP have a higher increase in analyst following after cross-listing compared to firms that reconcile to IAS/US GAAP. In addition, we find a higher increase in analyst following after cross-listing for firms from low-level accounting standards environments compared to firms from high-level accounting standards environments. Our results show evidence of an increase in the magnitude of analysts’ forecast error after cross-listing for firms that follow their home country's GAAP pre-cross-listing but reconcile post-cross-listing to IAS/US GAAP or UK GAAP. On the other hand, we report a decrease in forecast error for firms that switch to IAS/US GAAP.     

A Perspective on UK Productivity Performance

The paper reviews recent UK productivity performance using insights from new growth economics and its embodiment in growth accounting techniques. The sources of the UK labour productivity gap are found to differ across countries; broad capital per worker plays a larger part with regard to France and Germany while innovation matters more compared with the USA. The role of incentive structures is examined and the importance of competition as an antidote to agency problems in UK firms is highlighted. Current UK policy is reviewed and the need to address government as well as market failures is stressed.     

Employment protection legislation and R&D investment

This paper examines how employment protection legislation influences corporate R&D investment. With a sample of 113,228 observations across 23 OECD countries from 2001 to 2018, I document that firms in strong employment protection legislation have lower R&D expenditure and investment efficiency. In addition, I find that the effect of employment protection on R&D expenditure is stronger in financially constrained firms but the effect of employment protection on R&D investment efficiency is stronger in financially unconstrained firms.     

The Incidence of Accounting-based Covenants in UK Public Debt Contracts: An Empirical Analysis

Accounting-based covenants are of particular interest to accounting researchers in view of their potential to influence management's accounting policy choices and their attitudes to new accounting standards. This exploratory paper provides evidence on the incidence of accounting-based covenants in 108 UK public debt contracts for the period 1987-1990. Thirty percent of the agreements contain such covenants, the majority of which are affirmative gearing covenants. Focusing on the institutional differences between the UK and the US, the paper examines relationships between the presence of accounting-based covenants and (a) characteristics of the issuing firm, and (b) other control mechanisms included in the debt agreement. UK firms raising public debt are of good credit quality and UK insolvency procedures afford unambiguous protection to secured creditors. As a result, accounting-based covenants are associated with long-term unsecured debt and with firms having high values for assets-in-place but, in contrast with US findings, are unrelated to gearing. Convertibility appears to reduce the need for accounting-based covenants, especially when the debt is also subordinated. The relationship between accounting- based covenants and security depends on the nature of the security (fixed or floating). Longer term non-convertible debt agreements are, therefore, particularly likely to contain covenants that could influence management's accounting behaviour. This paper provides a starting point for further research into these issues.     

A multiple state model for the working-age disabled population using cross-sectional data

A multiple state model describes the transitions of the disability risk among the states of active, inactive and dead. Ideally, estimations of transition probabilities and transition intensities rely on longitudinal data; however, most of the national surveys of disability are based on cross-sectional data measuring the disabled status of an individual at one point in time. This paper aims to propose a generic method of the estimation of the expected transition probabilities when the model allows recovery from disability using the UK cross-sectional data. The disability prevalence rates are modelled by taking into consideration the effect of age and time. Under some plausible assumptions concerning the death rates among inactive and active people, the estimated prevalence rates of disability are used to decompose survival probabilities in each state.     

The Impact of Audit Committee Characteristics on CSR Disclosure: An Analysis of Australian Firms

This study examines the influence of audit committee (AC) characteristics on voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in the corporate annual reports of Australian listed firms. It develops hypotheses about the relationship between voluntary CSR disclosure and AC characteristics such as size, frequency of meetings, independence, independent chair, financial expertise and gender diversity. Using multiple regression analysis on data collected from the corporate annual reports of 300 listed firms, the study finds that AC characteristics such as size, frequency of meetings, committee independence and gender diversity have a significant positive influence on the level of CSR disclosure. However, there is no evidence that AC characteristics such as independent chair and members’ financial expertise affect CSR disclosure in Australian firms. Based on an additional analysis, the study also sheds some light on the effect of AC characteristics on environmental disclosure. The findings of this study may be of particular interest to regulators, shareholders, investment analysts and managers in assessing CSR disclosure in annual reports, and in strengthening the monitoring and oversight role of ACs.     

How do Professional Financial Services Firms Understand their Skill Needs and Organise their Recruitment Practices?

Abstract

The recruitment practices of professional financial service firms are informed by hegemonic cultural norms embedded in global and national institutions. There is a propensity, particularly in the financial services, to employ ‘people like us’ [Erel, U. (2010). Migrating cultural capital: Bourdieu in migration studies. Sociology, 44(4), 642–660. doi:10.1177/0038038510369363], which, it is argued, has constrained the employment outcomes of skilled migrants. Using the concept of cultural fit, this paper draws on interviews with representatives of accounting firms in Australia to understand the criteria for recruiting in a highly commercialised and globalised professional labour market. The results demonstrate that client-focused firms place an emphasis on cultural fit in the recruitment process. It is concluded that a lack of cultural capital by migrants means that their efforts to infiltrate the professional accounting labour market in Australia are limited. Furthermore, from an education perspective, the skill set taught in the accounting curriculum is increasingly geared to meet the recruitment strategies of professional service firms.     

Employment Quota System and Labour Market Outcomes of Individuals with Disabilities: Empirical Evidence from South Korea

To date, only a few studies have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of disability employment quota systems using structural changes in policies. This study exploits the structural changes in South Korea's disability employment quota system that took place in 2004 and 2006 to expand the current disability policy evaluation literature. We separate the effect of these changes in the quota system into their effect on the probability of labour force participation and their effect on the probability of employment (after controlling for selection into the labour market). We also study the extent to which the changes – which included increasing the number of employers covered by the quota system, the number of jobs available to individuals with disabilities and the financial incentives for employing individuals with disabilities – have affected job satisfaction among individuals with disabilities. Our results suggest that the changes in the quota system may have increased labour force participation but have had a limited positive impact on the probability of employment among people with disabilities in South Korea. Further, compulsory hiring and expanded opportunities have not substantially affected the level of job satisfaction observed among employees with disabilities relative to their non‐disabled counterparts.     

Accounting textbooks: Exploring the production of a cultural and political artifact

This paper explores the production of introductory financial accounting textbooks in the UK. Despite being a pervasive pedagogical device (see Brown and Guilding, 1993, Accounting Education: an international journal, 4(2) pp. 211–218), there has been little research carried out which examines the role or contents of textbooks in accounting education. This is a surprising gap in the literature when one considers the numerous concerns that have been expressed regarding the content of accounting education, the values which it projects and the type of student which it produces. Drawing on contemporary research into textbooks, this paper considers accounting textbooks to be ‘cultural artifacts’ which may reflect the cultural, ideological, and political interests of particular groups in society. In this regard, introductory financial textbooks have the potential to reinforce cultural homogeneity through the advancement of shared attitudes. This study is based upon 12 semi-structured interviews with both textbook authors and commissioning editors. Results indicate that the contents of textbooks are the product of complex social and cultural relations. Whilst conflicts and negotiations may characterize the production process, the knowledge that is considered most ‘legitimate’ tends to be mandated, either directly or indirectly, by professional accounting bodies through course accreditation requirements. Furthermore, this knowledge reflects wider cultural issues and assumptions regarding the structure of society and of how it should be organized.