A Critical Theory and Postmodernist approach to the teaching of accounting theory

This paper outlines my teaching philosophy for the Accounting Theory subject. A Critical Theory and Postmodernist approach is recommended, which makes full use of non-accounting “tangential” material [Boyce G. Critical accounting education: teaching and learning outside the circle. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2004;15(4/5):565–86] and material from popular culture [Kell P. A teacher's tool kit: an introduction to social theory. In: Allen J, editor. Sociology of education: possibilities and practices. 3rd ed. Southbank, Melbourne: Social Science Press; 2004. p. 29–51 [chapter 2]; Nilan P. ‘Reality TV’? School students and popular culture. In: Allen J, editor. Sociology of education: possibilities and practices. 3rd ed. Southbank, Melbourne: Social Science Press; 2004. p. 306–21 [chapter 14]]. The paper discusses some classroom interactive activities, as well as interview results from interviews conducted with 11 international students and one Australian student at Charles Sturt University. The teaching approach proposed in this paper is to conduct classroom interactive activities which study theories and research results from a range of disciplines in order to illustrate key points that apply equally as much to accounting theories and the accounting research process, e.g. the Positive/Normative dichotomy. Classroom interactive activities are discussed in class using the “dialogical approach” to education recommended by Freire [Freire P. Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Pelican; 1996], Kaidonis [Kaidonis MA. Teaching and learning critical accounting using media texts as reflexive devices: conditions for transformative action or reinforcing the status quo? Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2004;15(4/5):667–73], Boyce [Boyce G. Critical accounting education: teaching and learning outside the circle. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2004;15(4/5):565–86], and Thomson [Thomson I, Bebbington J. It doesn’t matter what you teach? Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2004;15(4/5):609–28]. Once students gain experience in studying material from outside accounting, the interview results suggest that they are then better motivated [Wynder M. Creative management accountants: short case studies to promote creativity in the classroom. In: Paper presented at the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand annual conference; 2006] and better equipped to study and evaluate accounting theories.     

Budgeting in Catholic Parishes: An Exploratory Study

In this paper an aspect of accounting, namely budgeting, has been studied in an organizational context. According to Booth (1993) churches represent 'extreme cases' in which to study the impact of accounting. Following on from Laughlin (1988) Booth considered the sacred and secular divide to be a significant element in the use of accounting by church organizations. The parishes of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne form the context of this study in which evidence is sought for the sacred and secular divide by studying the role of budgeting in the parish. Questions were asked regarding participation in the budgetary process and the development and use of the budget. It was found that there was little consultation or participation in the budgetary process and that the use of the budget was restricted. These findings suggest that the sacred and secular divide operates at the parish level.     

Changes in accounting curricula: discussion and design

This paper illustrates a model accounting curriculum developed to meet the needs of future accounting professionals. In addition, it offers a process for encouraging change in accounting curricula and discussion concerning teaching, pedagogy, and curriculum development. Calls for change in accounting education from academics and professional accountants are reviewed and the conclusion is reached that accounting education, as a whole, is still in need of reform.     

The changing genderization of the accounting workforce in the US, 1930-90

The accounting profession in 1930 was predominantly a male workforce. By 1990, the gender composition of accounting had changed dramatically. Women, who in 1930 had represented only 10 per cent of the accounting workforce, now represented over 50 per cent of the workforce and earned 53 per cent of the accounting degrees. Increases in the aggregate workforce were not accompanied by subsequent proportional increases in participation at the upper-management levels of accounting firms. Thus, what occurred was a stratified regenderization of the aggregate workforce rather than an overall regenderization of the accounting profession. This paper delineates the historical, cultural, legal, economic and educational forces that led to this changing genderization.     

University - profession partnership in accounting education: the case of Sri Lanka

This paper analyses accounting education in Sri Lanka with particular reference to the university-profession partnership. In terms of the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Sri Lanka (ICASL) in 1959, the availability of accounting degree programmes in the university, and the on-going British influence in accounting, one might expect to find a vigorous accountancy profession in place, actively seeking to produce highly competent accounting professionals in adequate numbers suitable for its country's economic needs. However, such a situation would be misplaced. Over the past four decades ICASL has produced only 1800 qualified accountants in a country of 18 million population. Drawing upon a theoretical framework of professional accounting education, this paper explains the lack of a proper partnership between the university and the professional body over the last four decades in Sri Lanka, and speculates as to whether ICASL purposely exerts control over the supply of accountants by limiting the membership only to those who complete its own examinations.     

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.     

从墨尔本美世全球养老金指数看我国养老保险制度

墨尔本美世全球养老金指数是首次公布的对世界养老保险制度进行比较、评价的报告,本文通过对该指数的分析和研究,介绍了美世全球养老金指数的评价指标体系,分析了我国目前面临的人口老龄化状况,通过对比研究揭示了我国养老保险制度存在的漏洞和缺陷,最后提出了保障我国养老保险制度稳定、可持续健康发展的政策建议。     

Accounting research in the Asia–Pacific region: an update

We provide an updated study of accounting research in the Asia–Pacific region using the publication records of six premier accounting journals (top-6) from 1991 to 2010, and augment the findings with the broader range of publications from an additional twenty accounting journals during the same period. Overall, the higher education institutions (HEIs) in the region produced 7.7 and 11.1 % of the total weighted number of articles (wt-articles) in the top-6 and 20 accounting journals. Interestingly, HEIs in the region exhibit a trend toward an increase in the yearly wt-articles and relative percentage of the total. The general performance of the accounting programs in the region is persistent during 1991–2010. The Asia–Pacific accounting programs are particularly successful in placing publications in journals such as Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting. The accounting research productivity, however, is dominated by select institutions in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Singapore. Several institutions in these four countries/areas maintain a consistently high ranking. In terms of top-6 accounting journal publications, the top five institutions are the University of New South Wales, Nanyang Technological University, the University of Melbourne, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The percentage share of the research output among the top five institutions is high, suggesting that a high hurdle is set for up-and-coming institutions to move up the rankings.     

关于金融企业会计改革的几个问题

本文就我国金融企业会计改革的几个问题进行了探讨。首先分析了金融企业会计改革的目的和现实意义 ;其次提出了金融企业会计改革的基本思路 ;再次就金融企业会计改革的主要内容 ,包括资产、负债、所有者权益、收入、支出及相关费用损失、保险公司的准备金、外币业务以及财务会计报告等方面进行了论述 ;最后提出了金融企业会计制度可考虑分两步实施的设想     

Attitudes to the development and implementation of social and environmental accounting in Thailand

Motivated and shaped by a concern to realise the potentiality of accounting communication in relation to social and environmental issues in Thailand, this paper evaluates perceptions of current accounting as well as attitudes to social and environmental accounting among Thai accounting professionals. Making use of empirical data generated by questionnaire study and interviews, this paper aims to shed more light on the development and implementation of social and environmental accounting in Thailand. It argues that any change of accounting in future is likely to involve a change in the nature of the Thai accounting profession itself. The paper suggests ways in which the future development of social and environmental accounting practice might be given further impetus in the Thai context.     

浅议核算型会计向管理型会计的转化

当前"管理会计"已为企业管理者所接受,管理会计的一些方法也正在为会计工作所应用,但管理会计的完善发展仍受着制约。本文拟对核算型会计向管理型会计转化的问题作一些探讨。     

From voluntary to state control and the emergence of the department in UK hospital accounting

This paper explores the development and diffusion of accounting techniques in UK hospitals and finds that attempts to utilise accounting data, for performance measurement and control, predate the introduction of the NHS in 1948. The main focus of the paper is the move from the uniform system of accounts, first introduced in 1893, to departmental accounting information in 1956. After identifying the antecedent accounting conditions the paper explores both why and how change occurred by analysing the roles of dominant individuals, institutions, political and economic forces that led to the introduction of departmental accounting. The process of change, after the nationalisation of the hospitals in 1948, had a significant impact on the accounting technology adopted: with departmental budgeting being dropped. Finally, the role of the medical profession in the departmentalisation debate is explored and possible explanations for the reluctance to adopt new management accounting techniques are discussed.     

A controversial-issues approach to enhance management accounting education

A transformation of management accounting education is being driven by the changing role of the accounting educator and the increasingly controversial status of traditional management accounting practices. This paper discusses a variety of controversial issues and describes how controversy can be used to enhance management accounting education.     

Creating interactive spreadsheets to provide immediate feedback

Features available with electronic spreadsheets enable accounting educators to create interactive spreadsheets that provide students with immediate feedback regarding the accuracy of their solutions. Providing immediate feedback using an answer-until-correct approach can help students acquire and retain knowledge. In this approach students open an incomplete spreadsheet and create formulas to complete the accounting problem. Correct solutions are denoted by a change in font color. Security features prevent students from locating the correct answers stored in an adjacent area. Problems illustrated in this paper relate to principles of financial accounting. However, interactive spreadsheets can also be used in other accounting courses such as managerial, cost, and intermediate accounting.     

公允价值会计的多角度研究

本文从本次危机的形成和发展过程开始,详细描述了市价变动会计加剧金融危机发展和深化的机制,揭示了它成为市场波动加速器的内在机理。文章进一步从更广泛的视角研究市价变动会计的缺陷,包括从理论和实践两个方面来分析市价变动会计信息的失真性,从会计准则经济后果研究的角度来探讨它对企业价值的不正确估值,对企业管理层的反向激励机制,以及与现有会计准则体系的不一致性。文章还用中国上市公司2006年和2007年年报公布时间的统计数据证明了市价变动会计并不具备人们想象中的时效性。在探讨了市价变动会计存在的重大缺陷之后,文章进而深入地探究了市价变动会计产生的经济背景。最后,文章在对市价变动会计提出一些初步的修改建议后,呼吁对经济增长模式、实体经济与虚拟经济的关系等进行认真反思,中国不应再走西方发达国家经济发展的原有模式。     

Development of and student reactions to an international consolidation case problem

Use of case problems is a well established pedagogy for enhancing student learning. This paper describes development of an international consolidation case problem and reports how students responded to its assignment. The case problem could be effectively used in accounting classes such as international accounting and advanced accounting. Further, the case could be used to introduce professional accountants, who may not have previously faced this issue, with a basic overview of the international consolidation process. The issue of consolidation is typically covered in advanced accounting courses, and international financial reporting is covered in international accounting or intermediate accounting courses. The international consolidation case described in this paper makes a unique contribution by incorporating both consolidation accounting and international financial reporting (specifically, foreign currency translated financial statements) into one comprehensive case problem. When a subsidiary corporation is located in a different country from the parent corporation, the difficulty of consolidating the financial statements becomes more complex than for a strictly domestic company, as a result of different GAAPs and different currencies. The case problem has been used in two southwestern US universities. Student feedback indicates that the problem was well received and benefited student learning.     

A measurement approach to conservatism and earnings management

This paper formalizes a two-step representation of accounting measurement and uses it to formalize a general rationale for conservatism as a measurement principle. A transaction's economic substance manifests itself in characteristics of the transaction, and an accounting rule is a mapping from transaction characteristics to an accounting report. Managers who have stakes in the accounting report are able to influence transaction characteristics. Such earnings management is ex post rational for managers but ex ante inefficient. To safeguard against such ex post opportunism, the optimal ex ante accounting rule is conservative in the sense that it requires more verification of the transaction characteristics favorable to managers. Thus, this rationale for conservatism is as general as the managers' ability and incentive to inflate transaction characteristics. By opening the black box of accounting measurement, the two-step representation also formalizes some classic accounting concepts, such as relevance, reliability, verifiability, verification, and accounting-motivated transactions.     

会计学是一门设计型科学——会计理论“人工科学”本质的回归

由于会计环境的巨大变化,现有会计体系已呈现出固有的缺陷。当今主流会计学研究推崇的解释型科学范式在引领会计学步入科学殿堂的同时也使会计学陷入发展困境。会计学需要面向历史数据的解释型科学范式,而且也需要面向未来目标的设计型科学范式。本文系统论证了"会计学是一门设计型科学",指出会计理论需要回归"人工科学"本质,并初步探讨了如何构建基于设计型科学范式的"会计白箱理论"。