Accounting - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableProfessional financial statement users' perceived value of carbon accounting disclosures and decision context(EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD, 2023-07-10)Purpose This study aims to investigate how professional financial statement users use carbon accounting information in their decisions and whether this use is sensitive to changing the decision context from an investment to a donation. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 173 US professional financial statement users, the authors conduct an experiment that manipulates an investment or donation choice to evaluate how differing levels of carbon sequestration affect decision-making across contexts. Findings Carbon sequestration information affects users’ donation decisions but does not affect investment decisions. Variation in the reliability of the information and whether the information is linked to strategy do not affect users’ decision-making. Research limitations/implications This study is performed by an experiment and informs our understanding of the relevance to users of carbon sequestration disclosure. Results indicate that carbon sequestration disclosure has value for donation but not investment decisions. The authors interpret this as evidence of some value of this type of disclosure in professional financial statement users’ decision-making but not for a financially focused evaluation. Originality/value This paper provides unique insights into the effect of reporting carbon sequestration on decision-making. There has been significant research on the broader topic of corporate sustainability, and capital markets research indicates that the market values increased sustainability disclosure. This study extends the research by examining a specific component of carbon disclosure that is not currently widely reported and by the use of information for different types of evaluations. The results find evidence that the value of this type of carbon disclosure does not stem from a purely financial perspective but instead, from other nonpecuniary factors.
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ItemGoing Concern Uncertainty: What Do Firms Disclose?(WILEY, 2022-09)Abstract We examine disclosure of going concern uncertainties by Australian companies. We begin by outlining the extant reporting framework applicable from accounting and auditing standards, and compare the approach to this issue taken across several different countries – Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. We then examine reporting of going concern uncertainties for a selection of 127 Australian companies reporting at 30 June 2020 that also receive modified audit reports highlighting going concern issues. Our results indicate substantial variation in the specific requirements of audit and accounting standards impacting going concern disclosure across jurisdictions, with relevant disclosure guidance for Australian entities primarily contained in auditing, rather than accounting, standards. Not surprisingly then, we also observe significant variation in management reporting practices. These results inform our understanding of existing disclosure requirements and highlight how regulatory reliance on auditor discussion of going concern issues likely results in relatively limited management disclosure. We suggest that additional guidance may be required from accounting standard setters and also regulators with respect to management discussion of going concern uncertainty.
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ItemKeeping it private: financial reporting by large proprietary companies in Australia(WILEY, 2019-03-01)Since 2010, proprietary companies have had a choice of preparing three types of financial reports that vary in scope. We find that between 2010 and 2015, most proprietary companies in our random sample chose the lowest scope option, with very low quality financial reports. Few adoptedthenewoptionprovidedbyAASB1053Application of Tiers of AustralianAccounting Standards. The characteristics of the firms that adopted each type of report are consistent with the regulator’s intention. Our findings should provide a better understanding of how accounting standards impact practice, and should assist regulators to reform private company financial reporting.
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ItemAsbestos Contamination: Governance and Financial Reporting Issues in the Public, Private and Not-for-profit Sectors(WILEY, 2021-12)Abstract We explore implications of asbestos for the measurement and reporting of liabilities, assets and expenses by diverse entities. We argue that entities in both public and private sectors are failing to recognise or appropriately measure liabilities related to asbestos and that the implications of asbestos for assets and expenses in financial statements are rarely reported. While we focus on recognition and measurement implications for Australian entities, we also examine relevant requirements in other jurisdictions and for sustainability reporting.
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ItemSustainability Reporting to Improve Organizational Performance(Network for Business Sustainability, 2017-10-11)
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ItemSustainability Reporting Playbook(Network for Business Sustainability, 2017-10-11)Sustainability reporting can allow internal stakeholders to be more effective in their roles. It can increase employee engagement and inform management decision-making, among other benefits. Yet companies often fail to connect sustainability reporting to the core operations of the business, and so fail to realize the potential benefits. This playbook identifies opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness and impact of sustainability reporting.
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ItemExploring the Challenges of Broadening Accounting Reports(Oxford University Press, 2014-10-02)
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ItemDigitizing archival records: Benefits and challenges for a large professional accounting association(Association of Canadian Archivists, 2016-03-01)With antecedents extending to 1886, CPA Australia is one of the world’s most significant professional accounting associations. Reflective of its long history and widespread influence, the organization holds an extensive and diverse archive that evidences both its own development and the general evolution of accounting and business practices. This article presents a case study of a project to digitize selected aspects of this archive. Informed by perspectives on managing archives in the digital era, the benefits and challenges of digitization are presented. A key benefit was enabling access to digital images while preserving rare and fragile original records and documents. However, challenges arose in prioritizing the items for digitization, and this necessitated the development of a model, taking the form of a decision matrix. The CPA Australia case study will be informative for other organizations seeking to use digitization as a means to overcome the dilemma associated with providing access to archival materials while also ensuring their preservation.
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ItemAccounting as a social and institutional practice: Perspectives to enrich our understanding of accounting change(WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2005-10)In the past two decades, a body of literature has developed which depicts accounting as a social and institutional practice. Researchers adopting this perspective typically demonstrate an appreciation for the pervasive and enabling characteristics of accounting and an awareness of the importance of local, time‐specific factors which shape accounting change within particular instances. This work examines this literature and classifies its content using the themes identified by Miller (1994). Drawing upon aspects of this literature, the final sections develop a broad, thematic framework to assist researchers in future studies directed at understanding the diverse and complex processes through which changes to the accounting domain can occur.
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