Dissertations / Theses: 'Accounting Australia'

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McKenzie-Fowle, Stewart Myles. "Accounting for livestock." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1995. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36282/1/36282_McKenzie-Fowle_1995.pdf.

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Accounting for livestock activities affords particular accounting questions pertaining to asset valuation and profit measurement. The livestock industry impacts significantly on the Australian economy, but accounting information produced by firms in the industry has escaped accounting regulation. Traditional accounting theory suggests that uniformity in reporting provides optimal information for users of accounting reports and that lack of appropriate regulation results in diversity in reporting practices. Livestock represents one category of self-generating and regenerative assets [SGARA] and the purpose of this thesis is to develop recommendations on livestock accounting practices to assist in developing an accounting standard for SGARA generally. In achieving this aim, the thesis considers existing guidelines developed by professional bodies in other countries, professional recommendations and research papers produced in Australia and current Australian practice as revealed by the published accounting reports of Australian Companies. Despite the small sample available, published reports show marked differences in accounting policies and in the level of disclosure. Classes of livestock held, and the purposes of holding livestock vary. Most firms in the Australian livestock industry are not reporting entities. The more uncommon forms oflivestock tend to be held by non-reporting entities. Accordingly, accounting recommendations concentrate on traditional categories such as sheep and cattle. The major recommendation is the valuation oflivestock at net market value. Changes in value influenced by entity management are reflected in profit or loss for the period. Unrealised changes in value resulting from movements in market prices are transferred to a livestock revaluation reserve.

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Addison, Patricia A. "Receptivity to a proposed change in accounting education." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1995. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1196.

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This cross-sectional correlation study is concerned with accounting practitioners' receptivity to a propose change in accounting education; specifically, that the existing three year degree course be extended to four years. This change is proposed by the Accounting Profession in Australia. A model of accounting practitioners' receptivity towards the proposed change, at the adoption stage, was revised and adapted from a general model of teacher receptivity to any system-wide change. The revised model has one dependent variable, receptivity, which is measured in three aspects; overall feelings, attitudes, and general behaviour intentions towards the proposed change in accounting education. It has eight Independent variables, and a number of situation variables. These independent variables are; attitudes towards the structure and content of the proposed change, general beliefs about the change based on the expanding scope of accounting practice, overall feelings about the strengths and weaknesses of accounting graduates, overall feelings about alleviating fears and uncertainties of the proposed change, overall feelings about the practicality of the proposed change in the lecture room and tutorial room in two aspects, general behaviour intentions about expectations and achievements for the proposed change, and general behaviour intentions to support instructors and the accounting profession. The relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables are examined in the context of a number of situation variables.

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Chan, Mui Ching. "Voluntary disclosure of segment information in a regulated environment : Australian evidence." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2003. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1319.

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This thesis is an empirical examination of the relationship between six firm characteristics, namely: firm size, industry membership, minority interest, financial leverage, firm diversification, ownership diffusion, and voluntary disclosure of segment information in a regulated environment. This study provides empirical evidence that there are incentives for Australian companies with specific firm characteristics to voluntarily disclose segment information in a regulated setting. The theoretical frameworks employed in this research study are agency theory and contracting theory. Compensation contracts are employed to resolve the potential conflicts of interest between the shareholders and managers giving rise to agency cost of equity. Debt contracts are employed to resolve the bondholders and shareholders/managers conflict giving rise to agency cost of debt. Management may voluntarily disclose additional segment information to reduce these agency costs. Compensation contracts and debt contracts align the interests of management with those of shareholders and debtholders. Managers are directly rewarded using a variety of compensation plans, such as stock option grants and stock appreciation rights. Managers have incentives to maximise firm value under these compensation plans as they may be rewarded with an increase in bonus payments and an increase in the value of their share options. In information costs (or proprietary costs), there are two forces influencing voluntary disclosure: (i) the cost of providing information and (ii) the corresponding associated benefits. Where there is a demand for private information by shareholders, debtholders and investors, its non-disclosure is likely to be interpreted as bad news and hence adversely affect firm value. Managers have incentives to voluntarily disclose additional segment information if there is a net benefit in disclosure. Certain industries may attract a disproportionate share of scrutiny from government agencies and special interest groups. These companies are more likely to voluntarily disclose additional segment information to reduce the likelihood of political costs. Political considerations include managers' concern about attracting explicit and implicit taxes, or regulatory actions. The six hypotheses in this thesis focus on a test of the contracting theory and agency theory. The firm size and firm diversification hypotheses are used as a test of the contracting theory, information costs. The industry membership hypothesis is employed to test the contracting theory, political costs. The minority interest, financial leverage and ownership diffusion hypotheses are used as a test of the agency theory. This study is based on a sample of 185 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange top 300 shares. Univariate and multivariate tests were performed on the six hypotheses in this thesis. The univariate test results provide evidence to support voluntary segment disclosure is significantly related to firm diversification, minority interest and financial leverage but no support was found for firm size, ownership diffusion and industry membership. The bivariate logistic regression test results found statistically significant support that voluntary disclosure of segment information in a regulated environment is related to firm diversification and firm size. No support was found for minority interest, financial leverage, ownership diffusion and industry membership.

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Mignot, Helen R. "Users and accounting information preferences of government department financial reports." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1996. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/936.

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The introduction of an accounting standard requiring government departments to replace fund-type, cash-based accounting statements with business-type, accrual based accounting statements has led to criticism that business-type, general purpose financial statements do not take account of the information requirements of major users. Such criticism echoes a long standing debate in which the users of public sector financial statements and their informational requirements are analysed in competing models. One view suggests that there are many users with homogeneous informational needs, who can be classified into a few broad groups. The other view maintains that there are few users who have differential informational requirements. This research adds to the few empirical studies on the usefulness of public sector accounting statement information. The purpose of this research is to test the hypothesis that users perceive that there is no difference in the usefulness of fund-type, cash-based; business-type, accrual-based accounting statements, and both cash and accrual combined accounting statements. Responses from legislators, citizen/ interest group members, and preparers to a questionnaire provides the data for statistical analysis. Test results suggest that there is only moderate support for the hypothesis that heterogenous users have different information needs. Strong support is found for the hypothesis that combined sets of statements as opposed to cash, or accrual are more useful. This conclusion holds for both the importance and useability dimensions of the construct perceived usefulness.

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Grace, Felicity. "(Dis)continuous disadvantage : accounting for money, gender and sexuality in Australia /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2001. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe16170.pdf.

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Yau, Yeung Pui Yan D. "An exploration of risks in using cloud accounting information systems in Australia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2017. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/112366/1/Pui%20Yan_Yau%20Yeung_Thesis.pdf.

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This thesis is an exploratory study on the risk management of using cloud accounting in Australia. Using the interview method, this research identifies the specific risks for the use of cloud accounting in organisations and proposes possible measures to mitigate those risks from the end-user perspective. This research provides an understanding on the special characteristics of cloud accounting information systems. The findings of this research will assist businesses with their decision-making in relation to the use of cloud accounting.

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au, sandy heldsinger@uwa edu, and Sandra Heldsinger. "Accounting for unit of scale in standard setting methodologies." Murdoch University, 2006. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20070717.160817.

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Substantial sums of money are invested by governments in state, national and international testing programs. Australia in particular engages at all three levels. There are number of purposes served by these programs. One of these is to report student performance against standards. Standard setting exercises with respect to a particular assessment are commonly used by testing programs where there is a requirement to determine the point at which it can be said that students have demonstrated achievement of a standard. Several methodologies have been devised that use expert judgements to derive a numerical cut-score on an achievement scale. A commonly used standard setting methodology is one proposed by Angoff (1971). The kernel of the Angoff procedure is the independent judgement of the probability that a minimally competent person can or cannot answer a dichotomously scored item correctly. This methodology typically involves three stages: orientation and training, a first round of performance estimation followed by feedback, and then a second round of performance estimation. In the orientation session, judges are asked to define a hypothetical target group. This definition is dependent upon the judges tacit understanding of the standard. For example, in the context of a mathematics test, judges would be asked to agree the skills the students should be expected to have mastered. Then they would be asked to envisage a student with those skills and to estimate the proportion of a hypothetical group of equally competent students (as defined by the expected standard) who would answer each item correctly. This proportion is the estimate of the required probability. Then the sum of these probabilities is taken as the raw cut-score on a test composed of the items. Several studies, however, question the validity of the Angoff methodology because of the finding that judges were unable to perform the fundamental task required of them: to estimate the probability a student would answer an item correctly, (Shepard, 1995) even for groups of students who are well known to them (Impara and Blake, 1996). In addition, standard-setting exercises invariably take place in situations where the reporting of educational standards has a high profile and is of political importance. To address the accountability requirements that accompany such a task, a wide range of stakeholders are invited to act as judges in the exercises. Inevitably, however, variability between the judges conception of the standard, as represented by the cut-score set by each of them, causes concern. Can the public have confidence in the standard set if the judges themselves cannot agree? Several studies report the introduction of further rounds of performance estimation and more refined feedback in an attempt to obtain greater consistency between the judges ratings (Impara and Blake, 2000; McGinty and Neel, 1996; Reckase, 2000). In more recent studies Green, Trimble and Lewis (2003) report a study in which three standard setting procedures were implemented to set cut-scores and which required judges to synthesise the results to establish final cut-points. Green et al report studies such as Impara and Blake (2000) where convergence of results among multiple standard settings are used as evidence of validity of cut-scores, but note that while convergence may occur to a reasonable degree when variations of the same method are used, there are few reports of convergence when different procedures are used. The distinguishing factor between the standard-setting exercises reported in the literature, which rely on judges tacit understanding of the standard and this study, is the existence of an explicitly and operationally defined standard. In 1996 the Australian Ministers for Education agreed to a national framework for reporting of student achievement in literacy and numeracy and arising from this decision was the drafting of benchmark standards against which the achievement of students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 could be reported. The benchmark standards are articulated in two components. Criteria describe the skills that students need to have acquired if it is to be said that they achieved the standard and sample work exemplify these criteria. The setting of standards independently of placing them on a scale permitted a more rigorous assessment of the effects of different designs on the setting of cut-scores. Two different standard-setting methodologies have been employed in this study to translate descriptions of the standards into cut-scores. One draws on the Angoff method and involves the use of a rating scale. Judges consider the items of a test and indicate the probability that a student at the cut-score will answer each item correctly. The probabilities are in increments of 0.10, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0. The sum of the probabilities that a judge gives to the items is taken as the raw score cut-score from that judge. The second study involves a method of pairwise comparison of the same items together with items that are operationalised to be benchmark items. The judge has to decide which of each pair of items is the more difficult. The results of the two benchmark setting designs appear to support findings from other standard-setting exercises reported in the literature. Namely, i. Judges were unable to estimate absolute item difficulty for a student of prescribed ability. ii. Where two different designs were used, there is no convergence in results. iii. Ratings from different judges within each design varied widely. To indicate the resultant discrepancy in setting the benchmark on the same test, the rating methodology gives a value of 16.08 and the pairwise a value of 7.10 on ostensibly the same scale. A closer examination of the judges ratings, however, suggests that despite the evidence of dramatically different cut scores between the two exercises, the judges were highly consistent in their interpretation of relative item difficulty. Two lines of evidence indicate this high level of internal consistency: (i) the reliability index for the pairwise data; and (ii) the correlation between the item estimates obtained from the rating and pairwise exercises, which was 0.95. In addition, the correlation of the relative item difficulties with those obtained from students responding to the same items was a satisfactory 0.80 and 0.74 for the ratings and for the pairwise designs, respectively. The high correlation between judgements across the two exercises, in conjunction with the relatively high correlation of the item difficulties from the judges data and from the student data, suggests that problems observed in the literature do not arise because judges cannot differentiate the relative difficulties of the items. Accordingly, the unit of scale as assessed by the standard deviations of the item difficulties were calculated and examined. The standard deviation of the items from judges in the likelihood design was half that of the item difficulties from the student responses, and the standard deviation of the items from the pairwise design was over twice that of the student scale. The substantial difference between the standard deviations suggests a difference between the units of scale, which presents a fundamental problem for common equating. In general, and in the literature, it seems that the unit of scale as evidenced from the standard deviations is not considered and it seems that it is simply assumed that the unit of scale produced by the students and the judges is the same and each design should be the same. Then if the results of different modes of the data collections do not arrive at the same or very similar cut-scores, it is not considered that this might be only a result of different units of scale. In retrospect, it is not surprising that different formats for data collection produce different units of scale, and that different cut-scores result. In addition, it is not surprising that these might also produce a different unit of scale from that produced by the responses of the students. The reasons that the different designs are likely to produce different units of scale are considered in the thesis. Differences in the unit of scale will inevitably have an impact on the location of the benchmark or cut-score. When the difference in standard deviation is accounted for, and the cut-scores are placed on the same scale as that produced by the students, the two exercises provide similar locations of the benchmark cut-score. Importantly, the thesis shows that these locations can be substantiated qualitatively as representing the defined standard. There are two main conclusions of the study. First, some of the problems reported in the literature in setting benchmarks can be attributed to difference in the units of scale in the various response formats of judges relative to those of students. Second, this difference in unit of scale needs to be taken into account when locating the standard on the student scale. This thesis describes in detail the two cut-score setting designs for the data collection, and the transformations that are necessary in order to locate the benchmark on the same scale as that produced by the responses of the students.

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Lopez, Robert A. "Tax-effect accounting in Australia : the nature and treatment of the provision for deferred income tax." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1994. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1091.

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Tax-effect accounting has been controversy since its origin in allocation has generally been adopted the subject in the 1940s. Tax across the English speaking world, even though underlying basic issues have not been resolved. A review of the literature shows that issues such as: whether income tax is an expense; whether the provision for deferred income tax is a liability and whether the provision for future income tax benefit is an asset have not been resolved because of differing opinions as to what is an expense, liability or an asset. The development of a conceptual framework in Australia, which provides definitions of revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities, has provided an opportunity to reexamine some of the unresolved issues mentioned above. Since the conceptual framework, in SAC 4, defines an expense in terms of whether it increases a liability or reduces an asset the re-examination was directed at ascertaining whether the provision for deferred income tax satisfies the definition and recognition criteria for a liability. The results were inconclusive. However, it was possible to conclude that the provision for deferred income tax does not readily satisfy the criteria in SAC 4. An empirical investigation was then undertaken to ascertain whether selected user groups treat the provision for deferred income tax as a liability. The investigation surveyed investment houses, company secretaries, auditors and the parties to trust deeds. Evidence gathered suggest that investment houses and company secretaries treat the provision for deferred income tax all a liability. Auditors appear to regard the provision for income tax as a deferred credit; not a liability. No evidence was found that the parties to trust deeds treat the provision for deferred income tax In a systematic way. It is concluded that the parties to trust deeds do not consider the nature of the provision for deferred income tax when negotiating borrowing limitation ratio. It is hoped that the finding of this investigation will be highly relevant to any review of the standards on tax-effect accounting in Australia.

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Potter, Bradley N., and mikewood@deakin edu au. "Reforming Australian public sector accounting: An episode of institutional thinking." Deakin University. School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, 2003. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20051017.155728.

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In recent years in Australia, accounting reforms have been developed which have resulted in the application of commercial systems of accounting to diverse public sector organisations. The reforms, which include the requirement to recognise infrastructure and heritage resources as assets in financial reports, endorse financial notions of accountability and performance that have been traditionally applied within private sector, profit-seeking organisations. Such notions are applied to a range of public sector organisations for the first time, even though the primary missions or objectives of many of these organisations are social, rather than financial in orientation. This critical, interpretative case study, set within the context of not-for-profit public museums, seeks to enhance an understanding of public sector accounting change based on these unique social organisations. The study examines three aspects of the reforms, namely, their development, their promotion and their defence. This examination is undertaken using the ideas contained in Mary Douglas (1986) How Institutions Think as the key theoretical construct. The supplementary perspectives of problematisation and epistemic communities are used to assist in applying the primary theoretical construct by explaining how, and by whom, these reforms were advocated and implemented in this specific instance. The study shows how the interpretation and application of the statements comprising the conceptual framework have shaped the development, promotion and defence of detailed standards developed for specific public sector organisations. In doing so, the study addresses two key research questions: (1) How were financial notions of accountability and performance of Australian public sector organisations constructed during the period 1976-2001 and articulated in the CF, once its development began, within this reform period? (2) How were these notions and other concepts of financial reporting outlined in the CF interpreted and applied in the (i) development; (ii) promotion; and (iii) defence of detailed accounting standards for not-for-profit public museums in Australia during the period under investigation? The study demonstrates that the concepts of financial reporting outlined in the conceptual framework were used by a relatively small group of technical experts located in influential positions in accounting regulation and in other fields to justify the application of accrual accounting within diverse public sector organisations. During the period examined, only certain questions were posed and certain issues considered and many problems associated with the implementation of the reforms were not considered. Accordingly, a key finding of the study is that each aspect of the reform period was guided and constrained by institutional thinking. In addition, the study shows how the framework's content can be used to permit equally well-argued, but conflicting, accounting policies to be adopted and defended for the same items, indicating the framework to be of only limited value as a technical tool. This leads to another key finding of the study, namely, that the framework is best understood as a political tool, serving a crucial role in enabling accrual accounting reforms to be developed, promoted and defended within the public sector. Thus, the study seeks to offer an enhanced understanding of the nature and determinants of accounting change, and accordingly, it broadens an understanding of the use of the conceptual framework, as an institution, in developing, promoting and defending changes to accounting practice.

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Ruhupatty, Leroy. "The value relevance and reliability of information provided with respect to non-current assets under Australian GAAP." UWA Business School, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0031.

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[Truncated abstract] Following the introduction in 1999 of Australian Accounting Standard Board (AASB) 1041: 'Revaluations of Non-Current Assets' (Australian Accounting Standards Board 2001a), this study set out to examine the impact of the introduction of this new standard on: the number (percentage) of Australian firms revaluing various classes and submajor classes of non-current assets; and the value relevance and reliability of the information provided with respect to various sub-major classes of non-current assets. The study also set out to examine the apparent motivations for Australian companies electing the fair value (FV) basis, rather than the historic cost (HC) basis, for reporting property, plant and equipment (PP&E). The sample analysed in this study consisted of Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed firms that were included in each of the Connect4, Aspect Financial and Core Research Data (CRD) databases. After excluding firms not covered by all three databases and firms where there were missing data problems, 398 and 424 firms were left in the 1999 and 2002 samples, respectively. Of the 398 and 424 firms, there were 194 firms that were common to both sample periods and a separate analysis of these 'common' firms allowed a 'like-for-like' comparison to be made. The financial year ending June 30, 1999 provides data under the previous standard AASB 1010 (Australian Accounting Standards Board 2000) before the introduction of AASB 1041, while the financial year ending 30 June 2002 provides data under AASB 1041 (the new standard). ... At the disaggregated level (that is, for various sub-major classes of non-current assets), it appears that there was a decline in the number (percentage) of firms choosing to revalue investment property, property, and plant and equipment, while there was no change in the number (percentage) of firms choosing to revalue listed or unlisted investments. It appears that AASB 1041's requirement to revalue frequently when the FV basis was adopted discouraged firms from choosing the FV basis for some asset classes, presumably because the costs associated with frequent revaluations outweighed the perceived benefits. In terms of value relevance, the results suggest that where the variables of interest are scaled there was no improvement in the value relevance of the information provided by Australian companies following the introduction of AASB 1041. However, the results from the unscaled regressions do not support this conclusion and instead suggest that the introduction of AASB 1041 was associated with an overall improvement in the value relevance of the information provided with respect to the various sub-major classes of non-current assets investigated in this study. Resolution of this conflicting result is beyond the scope of this dissertation and is an issue worthy of future research. In terms of reliability, the results suggest that the introduction of AASB 1041 was generally associated with: an improvement in the reliability of information reported with respect to non-current assets reported at FV; and a deterioration in the reliability of information reported with respect to non-current assets reported at HC. Finally, with respect to the potential motivations behind a company's choice of the FV basis for reporting PP&E, the results suggest that firms are motivated to revalue PP&E to: improve their borrowing capacity; for signalling purposes; and to reduce information asymmetry.

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Hassan, Salleh B. "Determinants of the decision to capitalize finance leases by lessees : Australian evidence." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1995. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1172.

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The objective of this study is to examine the economic factors motivating Australian listed lessee firms to adopt capitalization or footnote disclosure of their finance lease commitments from 1985 to 1987 as permitted by the transitional provision of AAS 17. Six research hypotheses are developed from the economic consequences perspective. It is hypothesised that the decision to capitalize finance lease commitments is positively related to firm’s : (1) corporate structure, (2) size, {3) political visibility, _(4) financial performance, and (5) overseas association, and negatively related to (6) debt contract financial constraints. Support for these hypotheses would be construed as suggesting that capitalization is a means "for lessee firms to reduce or mitigate agency and/ or political costs and concurrently as a signal to the market that they are high quality firms. A-pooled multivariate cross-sectional analysis for 1985 to 1987 was performed incorporating sensitivity analysis to determine the "best" logistic regression model This model was then assessed to determine its validity and predictive, efficacy.

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Jari, Amish. "Voluntary formation of audit committees and their practices : an Australian study." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2008. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/189.

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The study has examined the determinants for the voluntary formation of audit committees and analysed their practices using the annual reports for the financial year 2004. The sample size was obtained from the Connect 4 database of companies. Using Agency theory, the study hypothesized that voluntary formation of audit committees was linked to Big 4 external auditors, proportion of independent directors, leverage, firm size, management's share of ownership, board size, assets in place and the total number of shares issued.

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Myers, Paul James, and paul myers@rmit edu au. "The conceptual framework : the views of natural shareholders in Australia." RMIT University. Accounting and Law, 2001. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20040910.100508.

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An enquiry into the relevance and reliability of accounting information that is provided to natural shareholders in Australia. The findings provide evidence that the information needs of shareholders are not being met, and that the existing theory of auditor independence has not integrated the views of this large and significant group of shareholders.

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Thorne, Helen. "The financial statement data of failed companies : the role of the Australian accounting profession /." Title page, contents and summary only, 1986. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09pht511.pdf.

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Rigby, Elaine Rose. "Modelling results of student evaluations to improve the quality of teaching in accounting departments." Thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/133664.

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The Course Evaluation Questionnaire is a student evaluation instrument designed to measure the teaching performance of academic organisational units. The statistical qualities of its scales, as well as their sensitivity, reliability and validity have been confirmed in other studies. This study situates the development of the CEQ within the context of public sector reform in Australia, which emphasised accountability measured through performance indicators. It reviews previous research using the CEQ and attempts to apply the CEQ in a new way, by using responses from students who were enrolled in a first year accounting subject at three established universities, to construct a model which quantifies the relationship between students' overall satisfaction score and certain variables which were tested for their contribution to students' satisfaction. The variables which were found to make a statistically significant contribution to student satisfaction were: good teaching; clear goals and standards; appropriate workload; emphasis on student independence; gender; language background; and university. The major conclusions reached are 1) that of the five CEQ scales good teaching appears to be most strongly related to overall satisfaction and that positive effect is the same at all three universities, 2) that gender affects satisfaction at all three universities and 3) that language background has an effect at two universities. The implications of these findings for quality teaching in accounting courses and for accounting education research are discussed.

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Lamminmaki, Dawne, and n/a. "Outsourcing in the Hotel Industry: A Management Accounting Perpective." Griffith University. School of Accounting and Finance, 2003. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20040920.091600.

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The broad objective of this thesis is to develop an understanding of factors affecting outsourcing in the hotel industry and also the role played by management accounting in hotel outsourcing. The thesis draws on transaction cost economics (TCE), agency, contingency, and labour process theories in the context of appraising factors motivating outsourcing. Two empirical phases have been undertaken in the study. The first phase involved a series of interviews with general managers and financial controllers in large South East Queensland hotels. The second phase involved two distinct questionnaire surveys of large Australian hotels. The first was administered to hotel general managers, and the second was administered to hotel financial controllers. Significant findings arising from the study include: 1. In light of the substantial international literature describing hotel outsourcing, it appears that outsourcing in Australian hotels is relatively limited. This appears to be particularly the case with respect to food and beverage related activities. 2. Mixed support is offered for the TCE model. Both the survey and interview data provide some support for TCE's prescription that frequently conducted activities will not tend to be outsourced. Two specific extensions are offered to this aspect of the model, however. Firstly, where activities are conducted to a minimal extent, it can be uneconomic to outsource. Secondly, where large activities are undertaken by a group of organisations, their enhanced purchasing power can result in inexpensive outsourcing arrangements. With respect to TCE's uncertainty proposition, support is offered for the view that the propensity to outsource will be greater where behavioural uncertainty is lower. No support has been offered with respect to environmental uncertainty. The interview data provides some support for TCE's asset specificity proposition, however, minimal support was found in the survey phase. Despite this, the many dimensions of asset specificity (eg. site specificity, human asset specificity, etc) provided a useful checklist of issues to be considered in relation to the outsourcing decision. 3. Negligible support was found for labour process theory (LPT) in the interview phase of the study. In light of this, and the need to narrow the studys focus in the survey phase, LPT was not pursued further. LPT is a difficult construct to operationalise, given the social desirability error that may result. This may partially account for the absence of significant LPT findings in the interview phase. 4. The survey data provides some support for the agency theory view that risky activities will tend to be outsourced. 5. Considerable cross-hotel variation exists in management of, and accounting's involvement in, outsourcing decision making and control systems. Accounting appraisal of outsourcing proposals rarely includes long term oriented, sophisticated techniques such as "net present value". It appears this may be because outsourcing decisions are not conducted in the context of the formal capital budgeting process. 6. High performing hotels and hotels that conduct their outsourcing decisions in the context of a long term outsourcing strategic agenda have more sophisticated outsourcing management systems.

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au, C. Lacroix@murdoch edu, and Carol Lacroix. "The politics of need accounting for (dis)advantage: public housing co-operatives in Western Australia." Murdoch University, 2007. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20080411.150027.

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Concerns about the nature of poverty and how to achieve equitable resource distribution are rife in Australia where, as elsewhere, welfare resources are becoming increasingly scarce. At the heart of these concerns are questions about access: in particular, how to ensure that the least affluent are able to access the resources they require. At the same time, there is a growing sense that cultural as well as social factors are central to patterns of unequal distribution, especially in a neo-liberal context where there is a deregulation of social and economic structures, and a shift to consumption or lifestyle capitalism. This thesis employs Bourdieus theoretical framework of capitals to examine the nature of affluence (and therefore poverty) in Australia, the processes that facilitate access to material resources by the affluent rather than the poor and, ultimately, the notion of need that underpins questions of choice, access and resource allocation. Drawing on interviews with members of publicly funded housing co-operatives in WA, an example of welfare housing that simultaneously represents an example of a deregulated symbolic economy and an expression of the contemporary lifestyle movement, I highlight key resources and interests that distinguish these individuals as affluent, as well as some of the cultural and social processes that enable them to convert their resources into the subsidised housing. Based on this analysis, I then interrogate the frameworks for understanding poverty that regulate the distribution of welfare resources, and argue that these were central to the ability of the more affluent to secure publicly funded housing resources. In particular, I examine the new multidimensional frameworks for understanding poverty in terms of their ability to recognise key resources and processes. I argue that Bourdieus framework as a resource based framework that accounts for cultural as well as social and economic factors in the (re)production of advantage and disadvantage represents a worthwhile inclusion into theories and policies that are concerned with accounting for poverty and ensuring that residual welfare aims are met.

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Lacroix, Carol Josephine. "The politics of need : accounting for (dis)advantage : public housing co-operatives in Western Australia /." Access via Murdoch University Digital Theses Project, 2006. https://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20080411.150027.

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Lacroix, Carol. "The politics of need accounting for (dis)advantage: public housing co-operatives in Western Australia." Thesis, Lacroix, Carol (2007) The politics of need accounting for (dis)advantage: public housing co-operatives in Western Australia. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2007. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/142/.

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Concerns about the nature of poverty and how to achieve equitable resource distribution are rife in Australia where, as elsewhere, welfare resources are becoming increasingly scarce. At the heart of these concerns are questions about access: in particular, how to ensure that the least affluent are able to access the resources they require. At the same time, there is a growing sense that cultural as well as social factors are central to patterns of unequal distribution, especially in a neo-liberal context where there is a deregulation of social and economic structures, and a shift to consumption or lifestyle capitalism. This thesis employs Bourdieu's theoretical framework of capitals to examine the nature of affluence (and therefore poverty) in Australia, the processes that facilitate access to material resources by the affluent rather than the poor and, ultimately, the notion of need that underpins questions of choice, access and resource allocation. Drawing on interviews with members of publicly funded housing co-operatives in WA, an example of welfare housing that simultaneously represents an example of a deregulated symbolic economy and an expression of the contemporary lifestyle movement, I highlight key resources and interests that distinguish these individuals as affluent, as well as some of the cultural and social processes that enable them to convert their resources into the subsidised housing. Based on this analysis, I then interrogate the frameworks for understanding poverty that regulate the distribution of welfare resources, and argue that these were central to the ability of the more affluent to secure publicly funded housing resources. In particular, I examine the new multidimensional frameworks for understanding poverty in terms of their ability to recognise key resources and processes. I argue that Bourdieu's framework - as a resource based framework that accounts for cultural as well as social and economic factors in the (re)production of advantage and disadvantage - represents a worthwhile inclusion into theories and policies that are concerned with accounting for poverty and ensuring that residual welfare aims are met.

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20

Lacroix, Carol. "The politics of need accounting for (dis)advantage: public housing co-operatives in Western Australia." Lacroix, Carol (2007) The politics of need accounting for (dis)advantage: public housing co-operatives in Western Australia. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2007. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/142/.

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Concerns about the nature of poverty and how to achieve equitable resource distribution are rife in Australia where, as elsewhere, welfare resources are becoming increasingly scarce. At the heart of these concerns are questions about access: in particular, how to ensure that the least affluent are able to access the resources they require. At the same time, there is a growing sense that cultural as well as social factors are central to patterns of unequal distribution, especially in a neo-liberal context where there is a deregulation of social and economic structures, and a shift to consumption or lifestyle capitalism. This thesis employs Bourdieu's theoretical framework of capitals to examine the nature of affluence (and therefore poverty) in Australia, the processes that facilitate access to material resources by the affluent rather than the poor and, ultimately, the notion of need that underpins questions of choice, access and resource allocation. Drawing on interviews with members of publicly funded housing co-operatives in WA, an example of welfare housing that simultaneously represents an example of a deregulated symbolic economy and an expression of the contemporary lifestyle movement, I highlight key resources and interests that distinguish these individuals as affluent, as well as some of the cultural and social processes that enable them to convert their resources into the subsidised housing. Based on this analysis, I then interrogate the frameworks for understanding poverty that regulate the distribution of welfare resources, and argue that these were central to the ability of the more affluent to secure publicly funded housing resources. In particular, I examine the new multidimensional frameworks for understanding poverty in terms of their ability to recognise key resources and processes. I argue that Bourdieu's framework - as a resource based framework that accounts for cultural as well as social and economic factors in the (re)production of advantage and disadvantage - represents a worthwhile inclusion into theories and policies that are concerned with accounting for poverty and ensuring that residual welfare aims are met.

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21

Sweeny, Kim. "Accounting for growth in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme." full-text, 2008. http://eprints.vu.edu.au/1960/1/sweeny.pdf.

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This thesis investigates the contribution to the growth in expenditure on medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from three inter-related sources: (i) the addition of new medicines offering an expanding range of treatments for disease, (ii) PBS processes for determining the prices of medicines and their conditions of listing and (iii) the demand by patients for PBS medicines. In doing so it uses trend analysis presented in both tabular and graphic form, expenditure decomposition techniques based on index and indicator numbers, and econometric analysis. Using novel techniques and interpretations, it addresses some key aspects of decomposition analysis including the treatment of new and disappearing goods and the potential bias arising from changing market shares among substitutable medicines. The analysis is undertaken for the period from 1991-92 to 2005-06. An important consequence of the cost-effectiveness and reference pricing techniques used by the PBS, is that the quantity index calculated within the decomposition of PBS expenditure can be interpreted as a measure of the quality-adjusted amount of medicines consumed by patients. This is virtually equivalent to the growth in expenditure of about 12% per annum. On average prices of medicines fell over time, modestly in nominal terms and to a greater extent in real terms. Based on the results of econometric analysis, new evidence is presented on the relative influences of copayments, safety net limits, the number of PBS medicines listed and their conditions of listing on the demand for PBS medicines by different categories of patients. Elasticities with respect to patient price are in the range -1.1 to -1.4 for General Non-Safety Net patients and in the range -0.5 to -0.9 for Concessional Non-Safety Net patients.

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22

Linke, Simon, and n/a. "River conservation planning: accounting for condition, vulnerability and connected systems." University of Canberra. Resource, Environmental & Heritage Sciences, 2006. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20070716.155500.

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Conservation science in rivers is still lagging behind its terrestrial and marine counterparts, despite increasing threats to freshwater biodiversity and extinction rates being estimated as five times higher than in terrestrial ecosystems. Internationally, most protected rivers have been assigned reserve status in the framework of terrestrial conservation plans, neglecting catchment effects of disturbance. While freshwater conservation tools are mainly index based (e.g. richness, rarity), modern terrestrial and marine conservation planning methods use complementarity-based algorithms - proven to be most efficient at protecting a large number of taxa for the least cost. The few complementarity-based lotic conservation efforts all use broad river classifications instead of biota as targets, a method heavily disputed in the literature. They also ignore current condition and future vulnerability. It was the aim of this thesis to develop a framework for conservation planning that: a) accounts for the connected nature of rivers b) is complementarity based and uses biota as targets c) integrates current status and future vulnerability I developed two different approaches using macroinvertebrate datasets from Australia, Canada and the USA. The first new method was a site/based two-tiered approach integrating condition and conservation value, based on RIVPACS/AUSRIVAS � a modelling technique that predicts macroinvertebrate composition. The condition stage assesses biodiversity loss by estimating a site-specific expected assemblage and comparing it to the actual observed assemblage. Sites with significant biodiversity loss are flagged for restoration, or other management actions. All other sites progress to the conservation stage, in which an index of site-specific taxonomic rarity is calculated. This second index (O/E BIODIV) assesses the number of rare taxa (as defined by <50% probability of occurrence). Using this approach on a dataset near Sydney, NSW, Australia, I was able to identify three regions: 1) an area in need of restoration; 2) a region of high conservation value and 3) an area that had high conservation potential if protection and restoration measures could counteract present disturbance. However, a second trial run with three datasets from the USA and Canada highlighted problems with O/E (BIODIV). If common taxa are predicted at lower probabilities of occurrence (p<50%) because of model error, they enter the index and change O/E (BIODIV). Therefore, despite an attractive theoretical grounding, the application of O/E (BIODIV) will be restricted to datasets where strong environmental gradients explain a large quantity of variation in the data and permit accurate predictions of rare taxa. It also requires extensive knowledge of regional species pools to ensure that introduced organisms are not counted in the index. The second approach was a proper adaptation of terrestrial complementarity algorithms and an extension to the Irreplaceability-Vulnerability framework by Margules and Pressey (2000). For this large-scale method, distributions for 400 invertebrate taxa were modeled across 1854 subcatchments in Victoria, Australia using Generalised Additive Models (GAMs). The best heuristic algorithm to estimate conservation value was determined by calculating the minimum area needed to cover all 400 taxa. Solutions were restricted to include rules for the protection of whole catchments upstream of a subcatchment that contained the target taxon. A summed rarity algorithm proved to be most efficient, beating the second best solution by 100 000 hectares. To protect 90% of the taxa, only 2% of the study area need to be protected. This increases to 10% of the study area when full representation of the targets is required. Irreplaceability was calculated by running the heuristic algorithm 1000 times with 90% of the catchments randomly removed. Two statistics were then estimated: f (the frequency of selection across 1000 runs) and average c (contribution to conservation targets). Four groups of catchments were identified: a) catchments that have high contributions and are always selected; b) catchments that have high contributions and are not always selected; c) catchments that are always chosen but do not contribute many taxa; d) catchments that are rarely chosen and did not contribute many taxa. Summed c, the sum of contributions over 1000 runs was chosen as an indicator of irreplaceability, integrating the frequency of selection and the number of taxa protected. Irreplaceability (I) was then linked to condition (C) and vulnerability (V) to create the ICVframework for river conservation planning. Condition was estimated using a stressor gradient approach (SGA), in which GIS layers of disturbance were summarised to three principal axes using principal components analysis (PCA). The main stressor gradient � agriculture � classified 75% of the study area as disturbed, a value consistent with existing assessments of river condition. Vulnerability was defined as the likelihood that land use in a catchment would intensify in the future. Hereby current tenure was compared to land capability. If a catchment would support a land use that would have a stronger effect on the rivers than its current tenure, it was classified as vulnerable. 79% of catchments contained more than 50% vulnerable land. When integrating the three estimators in the ICV-framework, seven percent of catchments were identified as highly irreplaceable but in degraded condition. These were flagged for urgent restoration. Unprotected, but highly irreplaceable and highly vulnerable catchments that were still in good condition made up 2.5% of the total area. These catchments are prime candidates for river reserves. The ICV framework developed here is the first method for systematic conservation planning in rivers that is complementarity-based, biota-driven but flexible to other conservation targets and accounts for catchment effects, thus fulfilling all the gaps outlined in the aims.

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23

Lignier, Philip Andre Cyberspace Law &amp Policy Centre Faculty of Law UNSW. "Identification and evaluation of the managerial benefits derived by small businesses as a result of complying with the Australian tax system." Publisher:University of New South Wales. Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre, 2008. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/41018.

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This thesis explores the managerial benefits derived by small business entities as a result of complying with their tax obligations. This is the first study on managerial benefits that considers all federal taxes in the Australian context. While the managerial benefits of tax compliance were first identified by Sandford in the 1980s, there is only limited evidence to date about their perception by business taxpayers and no evidence at all about their actual occurrence. The work undertaken by Sandford together with the findings of empirical research on accounting in small businesses, provide the framework for the development of research hypotheses. With the purpose of testing these hypotheses, the research examines concurrently a sample of small businesses located in a regional area of Australia, and a sample of similar entities located in an external territory of Australia exempt from federal taxes and with minimal tax compliance obligations. The thesis adopts a mixed research method which combines a survey and a case study component from which a number of convergent results emerge. Results show that bookkeeping requirements imposed by tax compliance compel small businesses to upgrade their accounting systems, typically in the form of computerisation. The increased sophistication of the accounting system following this upgrade allows small businesses to derive managerial benefits in the form of a better knowledge of their financial affairs. The study also demonstrates that when small businesses seek the assistance of an accountant to comply with their tax compliance obligations, managerial benefits may be derived in the form of informal business advice and other services that come as a spin-off from tax compliance work. The findings of the research also indicate that a majority of small businesses value positively the accounting information generated as a result of tax imposed record keeping requirements, however further studies are required to establish the extent to which the additional information has a positive effect on decision making. Finally, the study identifies various possible approaches to quantify managerial benefits including a method based on the costs of alternative resources, and a valuation based on what owner-managers would be prepared to pay for the information.

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24

Martin-Sardesai, Ann Veena. "An investigation of the impacts of Excellence in Research for Australia : a case study on accounting for research." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2014. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/69960/1/Ann_Sardesai_Thesis.pdf.

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This is the first study to explore the way Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), a research assessment exercise introduced in the Australian higher education sector in 2010, fostered the development of strategically oriented Management Accounting technologies in the form of Performance Management Systems (PMS) to achieve research excellence within an Australian university. It identifies ERA's intended and unintended consequences. While ERA enabled the creation of tighter controls in the PMS of faculties, departments and individual academics within the university, enhancing its reported research performance, the impact on academics was low job satisfaction, increased workload and a higher focus on research than teaching.

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25

Wang, Shiheng. "Timing equity issuance in response to mandatory accounting standards change in Australia and the European Union." Thesis, Kingston, Ont. : [s.n.], 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1974/1308.

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26

Gao, Boshi. "Does board gender diversity influence the adoption of conservative accounting policies?" Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2021. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209801/1/Boshi_Gao_Thesis.pdf.

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The thesis examines whether corporate board gender diversity affects corporate accounting conservatism. This study finds that board gender diversity is positively associated with corporate accounting conservatism and that the voluntary board gender requirements in Australia from 2010 to 2014 (‘post’ recommendation period) did not significantly influence the strength of the association between board gender diversity and corporate accounting conservatism. These findings serve as a good reference point for policy makers and further studies investigating gender quota recommendations in the future.

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Hurst, Gavin. "The due process of accounting standard setting in Australia : the case of AAS27 : financial reporting by local governments." University of Ballarat, 2003. http://archimedes.ballarat.edu.au:8080/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/14636.

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"This study enquires into the accounting standard system in Australia and questions the appropriateness of its core democratic participatory vehicle, the due process. In doing so it highlights issues associated with self-regulating authorities and their policy making practices. The study is pertinent to the extent it reviews a major paradigm shift within the Australian public sector and more specifically local government financial reporting. Spanning the course of three decades it examines the reasons for such a paradigm shift, the major actors involved, the actual changes made and the effectiveness of those changes."
Doctor of Business Administration

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28

Sweeny, Kim. "Accounting for growth in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme." Thesis, full-text, 2008. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/1960/.

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This thesis investigates the contribution to the growth in expenditure on medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from three inter-related sources: (i) the addition of new medicines offering an expanding range of treatments for disease, (ii) PBS processes for determining the prices of medicines and their conditions of listing and (iii) the demand by patients for PBS medicines. In doing so it uses trend analysis presented in both tabular and graphic form, expenditure decomposition techniques based on index and indicator numbers, and econometric analysis. Using novel techniques and interpretations, it addresses some key aspects of decomposition analysis including the treatment of new and disappearing goods and the potential bias arising from changing market shares among substitutable medicines. The analysis is undertaken for the period from 1991-92 to 2005-06. An important consequence of the cost-effectiveness and reference pricing techniques used by the PBS, is that the quantity index calculated within the decomposition of PBS expenditure can be interpreted as a measure of the quality-adjusted amount of medicines consumed by patients. This is virtually equivalent to the growth in expenditure of about 12% per annum. On average prices of medicines fell over time, modestly in nominal terms and to a greater extent in real terms. Based on the results of econometric analysis, new evidence is presented on the relative influences of copayments, safety net limits, the number of PBS medicines listed and their conditions of listing on the demand for PBS medicines by different categories of patients. Elasticities with respect to patient price are in the range -1.1 to -1.4 for General Non-Safety Net patients and in the range -0.5 to -0.9 for Concessional Non-Safety Net patients.

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29

Christopher, Theo. "Corporate social disclosure in the timber industry in Western Australia 1989-1998 : A test of legitimacy theory." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2002. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/760.

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In recent years, accounting researchers have turned their attention to media agenda setting theory in addition to legitimacy theory as the theoretical framework for researching voluntary social disclosure in the annual report of a company. Their research has tended to show a significant relationship between the extent and change in the number of press media social reports and the extent and level of social disclosure in the annual report of a company based on the same classification of Social items. They have also explored the existence of a time lag between the number of press media reports and disclosure in the annual report. A critical review of this literature suggested a number of gaps, some of which were acknowledged, present in this research. The purpose of this study is to replicate, refine and/or extend this recent research in a number of important directions.

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30

Sellens, Claire, and n/a. "The Reference Condition Approach in Disturbed Landscapes: Accounting for Natural Disturbance and a Reference Condition defined by Good Management Practices for River Protection." University of Canberra. School of Resource, Environmental and Heritage Sciences, 2007. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20081029.131335.

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This study has contributed to the development of the reference condition approach in disturbed landscapes. The reference condition approach has been an important development for the bioassessment of aquatic ecosystems by providing a practical tool for the accurate assessment of river condition. The selection of appropriate reference sites is critical to the success of the predictive model in terms of being able to distinguish between natural variation in biota and the effects of human disturbance. Capturing natural variability and explaining it is a key difference between the reference condition approach and other study designs (e.g. before/after/control/impact). Natural disturbances such as drought or bushfire can significantly alter the ecological condition of streams, and although the ecological condition of streams affected by natural drought or bushfire is part of the natural cycle, this natural variation of the ecological condition is rarely incorporated into many study designs because of a mismatch in time scales. Human disturbance has also significantly altered the condition of landscapes through the development of agriculture and urbanisation. In urban or agricultural landscapes it can be impossible to locate streams that have not been modified by human activity for use as a reference condition. This study looked at the effects of natural disturbance on the reference condition, in terms of the way natural disturbance affects the prediction of stream condition and also the incorporation of the condition of streams experiencing natural disturbance into a predictive model. Additionally this study identified an alternative benchmark for modified landscapes based on the presence of good management practices for river protection, and tested this benchmark for the assessment of streams impacted by urbanisation. Drought and bushfire regularly disturb aquatic ecosystems in Australia, and affected reference sites in the ACT and South Coast region of New South Wales in 2002 and 2003. Drought and bushfire conditions affected macroinvertebrates and environmental variables across these streams, and the majority of sites were assessed as significantly impaired using regional AUSRIVAS (AUstralian RIVers Assessment System) models. This indicated the existing reference conditions for these regions had not incorporated the ecological conditions of reference sites suffering these natural disturbances. Many of the environmental variables used to predict the condition of streams were also affected by drought or bushfire. The changes to environmental variables affected how sites were assessed in models, but the overall assessment was not significantly changed from the initial assessment that drought or bushfire had significantly impaired the ecological condition. To reduce potential assessment errors associated with changes to predictor variables an attempt was made to construct new models with changeable variables excluded. However, it was not possible to completely exclude these types of variables, and subsequent models were no better than the original models in terms of changes to predictor variables affecting the generation of expected taxa lists. The changes to environmental variables did not affect the actual assessment of site condition because although group membership probabilities were changed the probabilities of taxon occurrence did not change significantly. The different reference site groups all contained some common taxa that occurred at most sites and even when group probabilities changed this did not change the probability of these taxa occurring at a test site. For regional models, such as the ACT or NSW South Coast, changes to predictor variables may not significantly affect the assessment of site condition. Incorporating reference sites under drought conditions into a predictive model was an effective way of discriminating the effects of drought from human disturbance. The model only provided two different ecological conditions, a single drought measurement and a single non-drought measurement, so the model did not fully encompass the potential natural variability. The model has value as a starting point and was effective in distinguishing sites affected by human disturbance from sites affected by drought. Good Management Practice (GMP) for river protection is any intervention that minimises human impact on stream condition. Urban sites protected by GMP were used as an alternative benchmark to a minimally impacted reference condition. The criteria used to select reference sites were not sufficiently robust to detect a significant benefit of GMP on physical or chemical characteristics of protected sites, compared to sites without GMP. In general however, the physical and chemical condition of GMP sites was better than sites without GMP and there were significant differences in macroinvertebrate assemblages of GMP and non-GMP sites. A refinement to the site selection process is proposed to include a specific assessment of GMP effectiveness for the protection it is designed to provide. This will substantially improve the robustness of a GMP benchmark and provide a clearer picture of the factors controlling biota in urban streams protected by GMP. The GMP benchmark was developed into a predictive model for the assessment of urban stream health, and in terms of the assessment of test site condition, it did not differ significantly from a model using minimally impacted sites. The purpose of the GMP benchmark was to provide an alternative reference condition for the assessment of stream health in modified landscapes when minimally impacted sites are unavailable or provide an unattainable benchmark. The GMP reference condition as an alternative can provide an attainable and realistic benchmark. The development and application of the suggested site selection protocol will improve the robustness of the GMP benchmark and better account for natural variation in the biota and physical characteristics of the sites used to determine the reference condition.

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Ong, Siew Hoon. "Measuring the quality and identifying influencing factors of sustainability reporting: Evidence from the resources industry in Australia." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2016. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1922.

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The lack of a standardised reporting framework in sustainability reporting has resulted in companies producing unaudited generic sustainability information that are not reflective of companies’ actual sustainability performance. The disclosures also differ in quality and hinder comparison. This study addresses these problems with the development of a new scoring index that integrates the hard and soft principles in Clarkson, Li, Richardson and Vasvari’s (2008) environmental index with performance indicators of the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) framework. The newly developed index comprises all three aspects of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) and adopts a standardised scoring scale that is reflective of companies’ sustainability performance. The new index was applied to evaluate annual reports and stand-alone sustainability reports of listed companies in the resources industry of Australia. This study investigates whether significant correlations existed between the extent of sustainability disclosures (economic, environmental and social) and company characteristics (company size, financial performance, board composition and type of resources extracted). This study found that companies generally produced minimal sustainability information with vast diversity in their disclosure items. Significant positive correlations were found between sustainability disclosures and company size, company financial performance, proportion of independent directors, multiple directorships and women directors on the board. Companies without CEO duality and those with a sustainability committee disclosed more sustainability information. However, no significant differences in sustainability disclosures were identified between companies operating in the metals and mining sector and the energy and utilities sector. Companies disclosed more soft than hard disclosure items and significantly more information on the economic aspect than the environmental and social aspects. This industry-specific study suggests that improvements identified by the new index is essential to enhance the current sustainability reporting practices and performance and to promote a benchmark for quality sustainability reporting.

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32

Low, Liang C. "Interaction of budget emphasis, budgeting participation and task characteristics : a cross-cultural study." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1993. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1153.

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This thesis is an empirical examination which links two important areas of management accounting research. The first area relates to the relation between superiors' evaluative styles and the two dependent variables of job related tension and managerial performance. The second area relates to the impact of culture on management accounting system. Two of Hofstede's (1980) dimensions of culture were used in this study. They were power distance and individualism. Two studies, Brownell and Hirst (1986) and Brownell and Dunk (1991), both of which were conducted with samples from a low power distance/high individualism nation were re-examined within the framework suggested by Harrison (1992) that research results related to budgetary participation can be generalized between high power distance/low individualism and low power distance/high individualism nations. Multiple linear regressions were used to test the three-way interaction between budget emphasis, budgetary participation and task characteristics (task uncertainty, task variability or task difficulty), affecting each of the two dependent variables of managerial performance and job related tension. A four-way interaction between budget emphasis, budgetary participation, task difficulty and culture was also tested. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 410 functional heads from 142 manufacturing companies located in Singapore and Western Australia. Singapore was selected as a surrogate for a high power distance/low individualism culture and Western Australia as a surrogate for a low power distance/high individualism culture. The results of the study lend support to the existence of a three-way interaction affecting managerial performance in the case of task difficulty (Van de Ven & Delbecq,1974) but not in the results of Brownell and Hirst (1986) and Brownell and Dunk (1991). No significant three-way interaction between the independent variables affecting job related tension was found. Furthermore, the absence of any four-way significant interaction between budget emphasis, budgetary participation, task difficulty and culture affecting managerial performance provide strong support for Harrison's (1992) hypotheses that research results on budgetary participation can be generalized between nations with high power distance/low individualism culture and nations with low power distance/high individualism culture.

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33

Limkriangkrai, Manapon. "An empirical investigation of asset-pricing models in Australia." University of Western Australia. Faculty of Business, 2007. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2007.0197.

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[Truncated abstract] This thesis examines competing asset-pricing models in Australia with the goal of establishing the model which best explains cross-sectional stock returns. The research employs Australian equity data over the period 1980-2001, with the major analyses covering the more recent period 1990-2001. The study first documents that existing asset-pricing models namely the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and domestic Fama-French three-factor model fail to meet the widely applied Merton?s zero-intercept criterion for a well-specified pricing model. This study instead documents that the US three-factor model provides the best description of Australian stock returns. The three US Fama-French factors are statistically significant for the majority of portfolios consisting of large stocks. However, no significant coefficients are found for portfolios in the smallest size quintile. This result initially suggests that the largest firms in the Australian market are globally integrated with the US market while the smallest firms are not. Therefore, the evidence at this point implies domestic segmentation in the Australian market. This is an unsatisfying outcome, considering that the goal of this research is to establish the pricing model that best describes portfolio returns. Given pervasive evidence that liquidity is strongly related to stock returns, the second part of the major analyses derives and incorporates this potentially priced factor to the specified pricing models ... This study also introduces a methodology for individual security analysis, which implements the portfolio analysis, in this part of analyses. The technique makes use of visual impressions conveyed by the histogram plots of coefficients' p-values. A statistically significant coefficient will have its p-values concentrated at below a 5% level of significance; a histogram of p-values will not have a uniform distribution ... The final stage of this study employs daily return data as an examination of what is indeed the best pricing model as well as to provide a robustness check on monthly return results. The daily result indicates that all three US Fama-French factors, namely the US market, size and book-to-market factors as well as LIQT are statistically significant, while the Australian three-factor model only exhibits one significant market factor. This study has discovered that it is in fact the US three-factor model with LIQT and not the domestic model, which qualifies for the criterion of a well-specified asset-pricing model and that it best describes Australian stock returns.

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Hoyte, Catherine, and n/a. "An Australian Mirage." Griffith University. School of Arts, Media and Culture, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20040719.103628.

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This thesis contains a detailed academic analysis of the complete rise and fall of Christopher Skase and his Qintex group mirage. It uses David Harvey's 'Condition of Postmodernity' to locate the collapse within the Australian political economic context of the period (1974-1989). It does so in order to answer questions about why and how the mirage developed, why and how it failed, and why Skase became the scapegoat for the Australian corporate excesses of the 1980s. I take a multi-disciplinary approach and consider corporate collapse, corporate regulation and the role of accounting, and corporate deviance.

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35

Dahmash, Firas Naim. "An examination of the value relevance and bias in the accounting treatment of intangible assets in Australia and the US over the period 1994-2003 using the Feltham and Ohlson (1995) framework." University of Western Australia. Financial Studies Discipline Group, 2007. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2007.0145.

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[Truncated abstract] The primary aim of this study was to examine, and compare, the value relevance and any bias associated with the reporting of intangible assets in Australia and the US over the ten-year period 1994 to 2003. The study adopts a disaggregated form of the Feltham and Ohlson (1995) valuation model and associated linear information models (LIMs) to allow goodwill and identifiable intangible assets to be separately examined using unbalanced panel regression analysis. The results for the Australian sample suggest that the adaptation of the Feltham and Ohlson (1995) valuation model used in this study is particularly useful in examining Australian equity securities. For example, the pooled sample analysis results in an adjusted R2 of 71%, which is consistent with similar US studies by Ahmed, Morton and Schaefer (2000) and Amir, Kirscenheiter and Willard (1997). Further, the results from the disaggregated Feltham and Ohlson (1995) valuation models suggest that the information presented with respect to intangible assets (both goodwill and identifiable intangible assets) under Australian GAAP is value relevant. However, the results from the valuation models also suggest that (for the average Australian company) the market believes goodwill is reported conservatively and identifiable intangible assets aggressively. ... As noted earlier, the increasing importance of intangible assets in the `new-economy’ suggests that (wherever possible having regard to the measurement difficulties) all intangible assets should be recognised in financial statements to maximise the value relevance of those statements. It should be noted, however, that there was some evidence to suggest that certain Australian companies (that is, those not consistently reporting positive abnormal operating earnings) might be reporting goodwill and/or identifiable intangible assets aggressively and this is an area that standard setters might need to carefully consider in future. I trust that the findings presented in this study will prove helpful to both researchers and those involved with formulating international accounting standards in this particularly difficult area of intangible assets. I also hope the results will help to allay any fears regulators (and others) might have that providing managers with accounting discretion will (necessarily) lead to biased reporting practices; based on the findings of this study for the majority of Australian and US companies, any such fears appear unwarranted.

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36

Lukmanjaya, Billy. "The role of corporate culture as a contributor to fraud and corruption in Australia: Perceptions of forensic accountants and industry professionals." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2019. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127052/1/Billy_Lukmanjaya_Thesis.pdf.

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The role organisational culture plays as a contributor to incidents of fraud and corruption is examined through semi-structured interviews with forensic accountants and senior management who have worked in multiple fraud and corruption investigations. Based on the findings, common characteristics around firm culture that impact incident rates are identified. Findings lend support to prior literature evidencing shared values within an organisation can influence employees' perceptions of what is acceptable, that employee conduct will mirror that of management, and that a combination of ethical culture, ethical education and ethical climate can serve as preventative measures with proactive risk assessments minimising risk of event occurrence.

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Fukofuka, Peni. "The practice of accountability, accounting and everyday resistance." Phd thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/212011.

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My aim in this thesis is to investigate the practice of accountability and accounting in Australian Indigenous corporations. Furthermore, I investigate resistance to control, an issue that is inseparable from accountability and accounting practices. My focus on practice is primarily motivated by one of the most important arguments in some of the essays compiled by Ahrens et al. (2009) in honor of Anthony Hopwood. In a nutshell, the argument is that there is much to unearth about accountability and accounting if efforts are given to reinvigorate current conceptualization of the social context within which accountability and accounting operates. Accordingly, my focus on practice bolsters the current notion of social context and thereby revealing novel insights into accountability, accounting and resistance. The social context is often conceptualized in the literature as specific organizational locales. To enhance that conceptualization, I consider the social context as multifaceted spaces that include the organization but are also beyond the organization. What this means is that accountability and accounting is not only practiced within organizations, they are also simultaneously practiced in the various spaces where the organization is nested. Furthermore, these various other spaces have spatial norms which are expected to influence how accountability and accounting are practiced. Individuals who are involved in accountability and accounting practice are an integral component of the social context and the literature oversimplifies the nature of these individuals by predominantly considering them as organizational members. To enrich the current notion of individuals, I conceptualize them as not only organizational members but as individuals who have memberships in other spaces and who embody the spatial norms of these other spaces. By enriching the social context, I found out how accountability and accounting practice are not only influenced by organizational norms but also by the norms of the society within which the organization is nested. That finding sheds light on accountability issues such as the question of "To whom is one accountable to?", the processes involved in managing multiple accountability relationships and the practical means by which accountability is achieved through accountability mechanisms. By conceptualizing individuals as beings who have memberships in spaces beyond the organization, I found that an individual's accounting work is colored by the norms of these extra-organizational spaces that he/she embodies. The reinvigorating of the social context also enhances understanding of resistance to control. Specifically, the realization that the social context is made up of various spaces gives individuals the means with which to enact resistance in a manner that is not seen as resistance but nevertheless effective. I mobilize Bourdieu's (1977; 1990b) theory of practice, especially his concepts of field, habitus and capital to make sense of the practice of accountability, accounting and enactment of resistance. I also implemented a qualitative field study design. I collected data mostly from Fairwind an Indigenous corporation in a very remote Australian community. To collect data, I did interviews, participant observations, conversations and document reviews.

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Holmes, Kevin Scott. "The practising accountant, accounting information and the small business sector." Phd thesis, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/129409.

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Australian small business research has developed in an ad hoc fashion over the past two decades. The primary impetus having been provided by the Wiltshire Report and it's British counterpart the Bolton Report. A burgeoning area of research relates to the relationship between small business owner/managers and professional sections of the business community, and the fulfillment of the information needs of small businesses by such professionals. Studies in various Australian locations have indicated that pratising accountants are an important source of advice and information to the small business sector. However, prior research has been largely exploratory and descriptive, with a tendency to focus on small samples of businesses operating in regional locations. Particular emphasis has been given to establishing the existence of a professional relationship between the two parties and the extent of services provided. In the existing literature, limited attention however, has been placed on determining the variables which influence and assist in explaining the nature of the emergent relationship. This thesis addresses the perceived deficiencies of Australian research relevant to the relationship between practising accountants, accounting information and small business owner/managers. This was facilitated by two large-scale surveys conducted during 1986. The results identified certain variables which influence the acquisition or preparation of accounting information. These variables are then applied to the estimation of explanatory models employing logistic regression modelling techniques.

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Chan, Hock Thye. "The employment paradox of international accounting graduates in Australia." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1421009.

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Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The employment paradox among international accounting graduates is characterised by an official shortage of accountancy positions alongside a surplus of qualified accountants, mainly international graduates from Australian higher education institutions. The paradox arises from a policy nexus between skilled migration and higher education created to meet skilled labour shortages through international graduates. Despite evidence that accountants are no longer in short supply, accountancy continues to be listed as a profession in need of labour for skilled migration purposes. Employing Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice as the theoretical framework, the thesis addresses the treatment of accountancy in immigration policy through the question: How does policy problematisation contribute to the employment paradox for international accounting graduates? A post-structuralist ‘policy as discourse’ approach is employed within Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to be? methodology to interrogate the roles of various actors in sustaining the employment paradox. Policy related texts from 1997 to 2018 are analysed to indicate the creation of two profiles for international students and graduates. The ‘consumer of education export’ profile is unproblematic due to its commercial value as an international export industry. However, the profile of ‘domestically trained skilled migrants’ is problematised through the intruder metaphor, based on racial and language discourses reflecting the history of Australian immigration policies. Despite the failure of the first profile to transition into the second as originally intended, the policy nexus continues to be defended by institutions with financial and economic interests in its continuation. The practices of these actors discursively entrench problematisations for the graduates while at the same time silencing problems created by the actors themselves. Poor labour market outcomes are positioned as deficits in the graduates rather than in the nexus, higher educational institutions, or discriminatory labour market practices. To avoid subjectification, graduates seek refuge in secondary and ethnic labour markets. Using the treatment of accountancy in immigration policy, the thesis demonstrates how policy is used to further the interests of institutions at the expense of policy subjects.

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McCrae, Michael Stirling. "Financial accountability for public sector bodies : an information system approach and empirical study of Commonwealth statutory authorities." Phd thesis, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/128732.

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In Australia, grave doubts have been raised about the ability of the annual fmancial reports of Commonwealth statutory authorities to provide adequate financial accountability to Parliament and other interested parties. The issue is particularly important since these authorities and similar bodies are often used as instruments of government's welfare and economic policies, and have a significant impact upon the economy in distributive as well as allocative terms. This thesis examines issues surrounding the setting of minimum accounting and financial reporting standards as a contribution to solving these problems. A conceptual approach to standard setting is offered which stresses that the information systems which are the subject of these standards have a positive role to play in accountability for management performance as well as the establishment of legal and fiscal compliance. It is suggested that an objective of such regulation is information control as well as absolute prescription. The accountant's information choice problem is addressed through the vehicle of choice from among available capital maintenance and cost measurement concepts. The analysis suggests appropriate measurement and reporting objectives, explores public sector financial accountability structures and develops an accountability spectrum as a means of associating measurement models with categories of economic purpose given to statutory authorities. An empirical study provides a data bank of operating and enivronmental characteristics relevant to such standard setting, and explores the feasibility of a categorisation that is specific to this purpose and less subjective than those so far offered. In conclusion, several recommendations for the process of developing such standards are derived from the analysis.

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Welch, Stephen. "An examination of the role for environmental accounting in Commonwealth environmental impact assessment." Master's thesis, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/145353.

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Soo-Tho, Sophia Ying Ying. "Cultural influences on financial reporting and propensity to use the extraordinary items adjustments to smooth reported profits : a comparative study of Australian and Singaporean practice." Master's thesis, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/128804.

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Accounting practices are observed to vary from country to country. It has become increasingly important that a standard accounting "language" be developed so that financial reports convey the same message to users from different countries and cultures. It is proposed that observed differences in accounting practice are due to underlying cultural differences and that these must be understood in order to harmonize accounting practice. Hofstede's (1980) definition of and framework for the analysis of culture have been used to assist in identifying the predominant national cultures of Australia and Singapore - two countries with similar British colonial roots but with distinctly different national cultures. Gray's accounting values model, which extends Hofstede's analytical framework into the accounting "sub-culture" arena, and the Harrison and McKinnon model, which seeks to analyze the responses of an accounting regulatory system to historical events, both point to there being a link between the accounting regulation practices and the national cultural values of Australia and Singapore. Singaporean's Confucianistic values (deference to authority, valuing of traditions, collectivism, strong work ethic, etc.) result in a greater acceptance of government intervention in accounting regulation than is the case for Australia where individualism, independence and suspicion of authority are key cultural elements. The implication drawn from this analysis is the expectation that manipulative profit smoothing in financial reporting would be practised to a greater degree by corporate directors in Australia than in Singapore, because societal norms influence their discretionary choice of accounting policies and compliance attitudes. This expectation was confirmed by empirical analysis of reported company financial information in both countries covering the period 1972 to 1989, providing supportive evidence for the view that cultural differences do affect the propensity to indulge in profit smoothing manipulation (using extraordinary items adjustments). The usefulness of the Co V (i.e. the coefficient of vanatIon of the relative change in reported net profit figures) as an adequate indicator for detecting the practice of profit smoothing manipulation and as an unbiased cross-cultural comparative tool was affirmed. The analytical framework developed for the analysis of cultural influences on accounting practice should have useful application in other spheres of accounting and management practice.

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Wise, Victoria Jane. "Consolidation accounting issues in the Australian public sector." Thesis, 2004. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15283/.

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The aim in this study was to examine issues surrounding the cross-sector transfer of a private sector financial reporting practice, known as consolidated financial reporting, to the Australian public sector. The study was conducted using the theoretical frameworks of commandership, accountability and usefulness of financial information. Commander theory was chosen as it is ideally suited to the hierarchical system of control over resources that exists within the public sector; accountability because it is a fundamental requirement where public resources are involved; and usefullness because it is a rational basis for the production of financial information.

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Hayes, Nyuk S. "Outsourcing of typical accounting functions: impact on the accounting services industry." Thesis, 1999. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/18170/.

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Since the Australian recession which began in the 1990s, outsourcing has received considerable attention. Amongst the many benefits that outsourcing is believed to offer, a key benefit is that it allows organisations to focus on their competitive strengths while contracting out non-core activities. While there is currently a considerable amount of studies and evidence on the costs and benefits of outsourcing, much of this is centred on Information Technology. There are predictions and some anecdotal evidence indicating that the outsourcing of typical accounting functions will increase as we approach the second millennium. The questions left unanswered are many: • are the trends in the outsourcing of typical accounting functions really on the increase? • what are the rationales and perceived benefits associated with the outsourcing of typical accounting functions? • does the outsourcing of typical accounting functions raise any concerns? • what impact will outsourcing have on the service providers in the accounting services industry? This study has been designed to answer the above questions. The methodology undertaken necessitated two separate surveys which were conducted over a period of 6 months within 1997 and 1998. Both surveys were based on mailed questionnaires which were forwarded to 300 service-user organisations and 300 service-provider organisations. Several key findings have emerged from this study: • the increasing trend to outsource in between 1992 and the period beyond 1997 had only applied to two out of nine accounting functions. • the outsourcing of typical accounting functions were not undertaken by at least 75% of responding firms in 1997. • there were differences between service-buyers' and service-providers' perception of outsourcing benefits. • the outstanding number of concerns associated with the management and control of outsourced functions as well as humans resource, technological and financial issues was a factor which appear to have deterred firms from outsourcing typical accounting functions. The recommendations arising from this study are summarised, as follows: First, in order to minimise undesired outcomes as a result of outsourcing, service-user firms need to consider several issues before the decision to outsource is made. These issues include the strategic importance of, and existing problems associated with their accounting functions, as well as the risks and benefits of outsourcing those functions. Second, service providers' ability to deliver services at pre-determined levels are more likely to be successful if they are prepared to specialise in the types of client industries where risks can be measured. Third, the identification of human resource problems warrants some research into how organisations can achieve a win-win situation with in-house staff whose positions are jeopardised as a result of outsourcing arrangements. Fourth, service-provider firms need to be aware and perhaps become familiar with the capabilities of commercially available software for the processing of basic accounting functions.

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Birt, Jacqueline Louise. "Consequences of changing Australian segment reporting requirements." Phd thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/149667.

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Thorne, Helen. "The financial statement data of failed companies : the role of the Australian accounting profession / by Helen Thorne." Thesis, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/20908.

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Al-Lehaidan, Ibrahim. "Audit committee effectiveness: Australia and Saudi Arabia." Thesis, 2006. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/1438/.

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The mere presence of the audit committee does not necessarily translate into an effective monitoring body. As a result, the search for mechanisms to enhance corporate governance and increase the quality of financial reports has mostly focused on the structure of audit committees. This thesis empirically investigates whether there is an association between audit committee effectiveness (ACE) and the selection of a high quality auditor for both Australian and Saudi listed companies using their local guidelines to enhance ACE as benchmarks. In addition, the association between ACE and non-audit services (NAS) purchases is examined only for Australian listed company as providing such services by the incumbent auditors is not allowed for Saudi listed companies. Moreover, this thesis also empirically examine the relationships between six audit committee characteristics, namely, independence, size, activity, charter, expertise and literacy and the selection of a high quality auditor for both Australian and Saudi listed companies. Also the relationships between the six audit committee characteristics and NAS purchases are empirically tested only for Australian listed companies. While there was a positive (negative) association between ACE and the selection of a specialist auditor (the magnitude of NAS purchases) for the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies, there was no association between ACE and the selection of a specialist auditor for the Saudi Stock Market listed companies. Because both countries have very similar recommendations regarding enhancing audit committee effectiveness, the findings of this thesis indicate that there are other factors such as different audit committee framework, different market development and cultural factors that might affect ACE. In addition, the findings indicate that audit committee independence is the most important determinant of both audit quality and NAS purchases for the ASX listed companies. Because complying with audit committee recommendations is costly especially for small companies, which have limited resources, audit committee independence should have the priority when locating the limited resources.

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Christensen, Mark. "NSW public sector accrual accounting: Why did it happen and has it mattered?" 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/57900.

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In 1988 the New South Wales (NSW) Government was the first in Australia, and amongst the first in the world, to commit to implement accrual accounting for its General Government Sector. Subsequently, accrual accounting has been implemented by numerous governments, including all Australian governments. This thesis examines why the NSW Government decided to implement accrual accounting and the impact of this accounting change on decision making within a General Government Sector organisation. The historical account is derived from a combination of archival and oral data sources whilst an organisational learning theoretical frame is used in a single-site case study to understand the impact of accrual accounting on managerial decision making. The history of the NSW Government adoption of accrual accounting is characterised by five notable features. First, the whole-of-government initiative was implemented with remarkable speed. Second, the change was aided by the actions of an epistemic community, in which private sector consultants were most active. Third, the change was justified through expected improvements in accountability and management. Fourth, a period of resistance to the change was followed by an absence of critical discussion on the implications of the change as forces supportive of the change synergistically combined. Fifth, the change is explained by mimetic forces that initially coalesced around phantom images, presented by consultants, and subsequently recognised self-interest as an integral part of the change to accrual accounting. The impact of accrual accounting on management decision-making at an organisational level from has been mixed. Information acquisition has expanded in that new sets of accounting data are collected. However, information distribution has been unchanged by accrual accounting whilst information interpretation only marginally changed at a top management level with no discernible change at operational levels. Organisational memory has been altered by accrual accounting in that additional accounting skills and information are now held. However, use of that organisational memory is severely impeded by organisational objectives and constraints that effectively render accrual accounting information irrelevant to public sector managers’ concerns. Policy implications arising from this project are that an alternative model of accrual accounting is required together with the dual recognition that centrally imposed change may produce unpredicted change at an operational agency level and that accounting change needs to be matched to organisational characteristics. Additionally, improvements in asset management, as sought by advocates of accrual accounting, could have been delivered by non-accounting means and there is little prospect for improved managerial decision-making from the current model of accrual accounting.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

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Chua, Yi Lin. "Determinants and effect of accounting comparability: insights from mandatory IFRS adoption In Australia and the EU." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/123656.

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This thesis examines the determinants and associations of accounting comparability in the context of the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as of 2005 in Australia and the European Union (EU). Comparability is an important attribute of financial reporting that is desirable because it enhances the usefulness of financial accounting information. This thesis examines the relative importance of accounting standards, firms’ reporting incentives and institutional features in determining cross-country accounting comparability. As capital market participants are expected to benefit from enhanced comparability, this thesis also investigates the role of cross-country accounting comparability in influencing a firm’s information environment in the capital market. The first empirical study examines the impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on cross-country accounting comparability. Using a sample of matched firm-pairs from Australia and the EU, the results show that mandatory IFRS adoption improves cross-country accounting comparability. This is evidenced by the extent to which economically similar events and transactions are reflected similarly without any discernible impact on economically dissimilar events and transactions. The results also reveal that the comparability benefit of mandatory IFRS adoption is more pronounced for matched firm-pairs with different legal origins. The findings of this empirical study suggest that adopting a uniform set of accounting standards is crucial in achieving comparability. The second empirical study explores the interaction of firms’ reporting incentives, country-level institutional factors and mandatory IFRS adoption on cross-country accounting comparability. The results show that the improvement in cross-country accounting comparability resulting from mandatory IFRS adoption persists even after controlling for the dissimilarity of firms’ reporting incentives and institutional differences between similar firms. This is despite findings demonstrating that cross-country accounting comparability is diminished by greater dissimilarity in reporting incentives and institutional differences between similar firms and after mandatory adoption of IFRS. Nevertheless, the results further show that the comparability improvement following mandatory IFRS adoption for similar firms when some EU countries concurrently made substantive enforcement changes is pronounced only after the dissimilarity of firms’ reporting incentives is considered. The findings suggest that cross-country accounting comparability is partly determined by the alignment of firm-specific and country-level factors even when a common set of accounting standards is in place. The third study examines the impact of accounting comparability on the information content of stock prices. Using stock return synchronicity as a proxy, the results reveal that accounting comparability decreases stock return synchronicity and that this relation is weakened by mandatory IFRS adoption. The findings suggest that the usefulness of accounting comparability in facilitating the incorporation of firm-specific information into stock prices is reduced by a greater amount of marketwide information becoming available via mandatory IFRS adoption. The study finds that this is likely because of increased analyst coverage encouraging the production of marketwide information for firms with greater comparability after adopting IFRS.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2020

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Hansnata, Mayada. "The impact of digital innovation on the social structure of professional public accounting practice in Australia." Phd thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/108867.

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The Impact of Digital Innovation on the Social Structure of Professional Public Accounting Practice in Australia Abstract: This thesis investigates the impact of digital innovation, associated with Standard Business Reporting (SBR) and cloud accounting, on the social structure of professional public accounting practice in Australia. Social structure in public accounting practice refers to the social arrangement of internally diverse groups of professionals and is hierarchical due to disparity in intra-professional status. At issue here is the commodification of traditional accounting work in serving small-medium enterprises (SMEs), the primary work of small-medium practitioners (SMPs). The innovation poses both jurisdictional threats and opportunities for SMPs but has ramifications for public accounting practice as a whole, due to the nature of the innovation impacting professional work. The impact on professional work, creates a ripple effect, altering the boundaries between different sub-groups within the social structure of professional public accounting practice, namely location of work, firm size, firm structure, client base and in the end professional values. The impact of the digital innovation on the social structure of public accounting practice is examined through the lens of the emergence of an organisation field centring on the commodification of traditional accounting work in servicing SMEs (i.e., an issue-based approach). From the perspective of organisational and institutional theory, the innovation represents a form of exogenous shock to the institutional environment of professional public accounting practice in Australia, which disrupts the existing institutional arrangement and leads to intra-professional competition (i.e., institutional war). A mixed methods research approach is carried out in examining the issues involved. The study finds that the boundaries associated with professional work, location of work, firm structure, client base and professional values have become less distinct. This is attributable to SMPs increasingly becoming multidisciplinary practices and having a tendency towards a commercial logic; and larger sub-groups such as the Big 4 and Next Big 8 expanding their share of the market for servicing small businesses, including reclaiming bookkeeping as part of their portfolio of services. Overall, the results indicate that the professional identities of public accountants in Australia are less fragmented as professional values converge towards commercialism. Firm size and the combinations of capitals that each sub-group possesses are, on the other hand, becoming more relevant in differentiating between them.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Accounting Australia'

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