Greg Stoner

IT is part of youth culture, but are accounting undergraduates confident in IT?

This paper presents an analysis of the IT skills reported by UK students on entry to their first year of study for an accounting degree together with preliminary analysis on their perceived changes in IT skills and usage over their first year of study. Despite the folklore that ‘our juniors’ are all IT literate and highly skilled, the results indicate that we are not yet at the stage where we can assume that all students are comfortable and familiar with the aspects of IT which are important for their accounting studies. However, the data also indicates that students IT skills on entry to university are rising and that at least some of our students may no longer be in need of baseline IT training.

Using case studies in finance research

The chapter discusses case studies in finance research, and explains how qualitative case research can make an important contribution to finance and accounting research. The methodologies to conduct two related research projects and the reasons for them to be used are also described in the chapter. The problems while investigating a set of issues arising at the boundary between companies and their suppliers of capital are enumerated in the chapter Interview data from contacts within various companies and financial institutions are gathered to develop insights into particular issues. The chapter discusses how a number of social and professional barriers were overcome for the use of grounded theory and other qualitative research methods in finance.

In defense of Pacioli

ABSTRACT This paper responds to Basil Yameys paper in the December 2010 issue of this journal. In that paper, Professor Yamey contradicts some of the points made in our 2008 paper, also in this journal, in which we conclude that Paciolis Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (1494) was written primarily for merchants and their sons. He does so by attempting to explain why Paciolis exposition of double-entry bookkeeping, De Computis et Scripturis, was neither an effective reference text for merchants nor a satisfactory school text for their sons. We are unconvinced by Professor Yameys argument and counter it in this paper by demonstrating that, if anything, Pacolis bookkeeping treatise was even more fit-for-purpose than we previously indicated.

The perseverance of Pacioli’s goods inventory accounting system:

This paper details sources of the “undoubtedly strange” (Yamey, 1994a, p.119) system of goods inventory records described in Pacioli’s 1494 bookkeeping treatise and traces the longevity and widespread use of this early perpetual inventory recording (EPIR) system in English language texts. By doing so and contrasting this system with the bookkeeping treatment of modern texts, it is shown that the EPIR system persisted as the dominant form of goods inventory accounting for between 400 and 500 years and that the reasons for its demise are worthy of further consideration and research.

Pacioli's forgotten book: The Merchant's Ricordanze

ABSTRACT Double entry bookkeeping emerged by the end of the 13th century and was adopted by, for example, the Datini of Prato during the 1380s. In the transition from single to double entry evident in the Datini Archives, initially accounting records were kept in an account book called a Ricordanze. Record books of this name were typical of Tuscany and, when such books were first used in Tuscany, businessmen began to use them also as a form of personal diary and autobiographical record. Others not in business followed suit and maintained purely personal biographical diaries of the same name. For those in business, the Ricordanze thus developed into a hybrid: partly autobiography and personal and, partly, a place to record matters relating to his business, including details of transactions and of other matters he did not wish to forget, such as promises, obligations, and conditional agreements. As revealed in the Datini archives for the 14th and 15th centuries, use of a Ricordanze for this purpose was disc...

Mutual calculations in creating accounting models: a demonstration of the power of matrix mathematics in accounting education

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to describe the innovative teaching approach used in the Southern Federal University, Russia, to teach accounting via a form of matrix mathematics. It thereby contributes to disseminating the technique of teaching to solve accounting cases using mutual calculations to a worldwide audience. The approach taken in this course provides useful insights for both accounting educators and accounting students by providing an alternative explanation and understanding of the main principles of accounting, and does so using a simple game simulation. This paper provides readers with an awareness of the broader international environment of accounting education and of the techniques that can be adopted in the teaching of accounting. The paper also demonstrates that any accounting operation can be represented by matrix equations, and, as a result, adds to the understanding of alternative processes of recording transactions and the mathematical generation of essential accounting reports. The paper thereby reveals the potential value of matrix-based approaches to accounting within the accounting educational environment.

Strategic manoeuvres and impression management: communication approaches in the case of a crisis event

Abstract This historical study examines the actions of the Australian former asbestos company, James Hardie, when faced with a potentially ruinous corporate scandal between 2001 and 2007. The company became vilified as public awareness grew of the damage to public health its use of asbestos had caused. In response, it set-up a knowingly underfunded compensation fund supported by a strategy of misinformation and denial. Its actions are analysed using Oliver’s typology of strategic responses and theories of crisis management and crisis communications, providing insights into the company’s motivations for adopting strategies that took it to the brink of financial collapse.

The Impact of Accounting Education Research

Abstract This paper presents an exploratory study into the nature and patterns of usage of accounting education research. The study adopts the most accessible metric, Google Advanced Scholar citations, to analyse the impact of research published in the six principal English-language accounting education journals. The analysis reveals a global readership for these journals but evidence of relatively low citation levels. However, papers tended to be cited more than expected in cross-disciplinary education journals, discipline-specific education journals, and non-education journals. Guidance is offered to authors seeking to maximise the impact of their research, and issues of concern are identified for editors and publishers. This is the first paper to look beyond content at the usefulness of research in accounting education as indicated by citations. In doing so, it contributes to the current debate on the quality of this research, and of research in accounting and finance in general.

Thoughts from the IAAER’s 12th World Congress of Accounting Educators and Researchers

This dedicated issue of Accounting Education contains papers that were accepted at the 12th World Congress of Accounting Educators and Researchers (hereafter the ‘12th World Congress’) of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER), held in Florence, Italy, November 2014. Accounting Education is an official journal of the IAAER, and we are honoured to serve as guest editors to this special issue. The World Congress has a long history and is currently held every four years in conjunction with IFAC’s (International Federation of Accountants) similarly titled World Congress of Accountants. The last two IAAER World Congresses were held in Singapore (2010) and Istanbul (2006). The 12th World Congress saw a total of 83 papers in concurrent parallel sessions and 55 interactive forum or poster presentations. Table 1 below sets out the number of education papers in the last three World Congresses and the total number of authors and countries. As a proportion, accounting education-related papers represented 22% of the papers at the 12th World Congress. This compares favourably with the proportion in Singapore (16%), but is a little below the proportion in Istanbul (24%). In terms of geographical affiliation, authors from Australian universities dominated accounting education authorship at the 12th World Congress, representing more than 20% of the total authorship of 71 accounting education authors. This dominance of academics from Australia is not new, and is, in fact, a lower proportion than at the two previous World Congresses. Table 2 provides the author and countries breakdown of educationrelated paper in the last three World Congresses. The data also indicated the breadth of the geographical spread of authorship, with 21 countries represented over the three events. Clearly, the geographic affiliation of authors varies, and this may be in part due to the location of the congress. Overall, Singapore attracted fewer papers (both in accounting education papers and in total) than the conferences held in Istanbul and Florence, and there the proportion of Australian authors (50%) was understandably high. It is, however, notable that the proportion of USA-based authors dwindled from 16% in 2006 to 6% in 2014, and over the same period the proportion of Brazilian and South African affiliated accounting education authors have increased substantially, from 7% and 5% respectively to 15% and 14%. At the same time, representatives from Malaysia and Spain have dropped significantly, and a greater number of authors are represented from countries with a less ingrained tradition of teaching and publishing in English, especially Italy and France, though clearly this is likely to be in part due to a location effect. Of the 30 accounting education-related papers presented at the 12th World Congress, 16 were submitted for consideration for publication in this special issue. Of these, seven papers have successfully passed through the normal journal double blind review process, and are included in this special issue. The seven papers presented here involve 17 authors from seven countries: four from South Africa, three from each of the UK and Portugal, two from each of Italy, Russia and France, and one from Canada.