Keith Hooper

Knowing “the price of everything and the value of nothing”: accounting for heritage assets

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the conceptual arguments surrounding accounting for heritage assets and the resistance by some New Zealand museums to a mandatory valuing of their holdings.Design/methodology/approach – Evidence was derived from museum annual reports, interviews and personal communications with representatives of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand (ICANZ) and a range of New Zealand museums.Findings – ICANZs requirement that heritage assets be accounted for in a manner similar to other assets is shown as deriving from a managerialist rationality which, in espousing sector neutrality, assumes an unproblematic stance to the particular nature and circumstances of museums and their holdings. Resisting the imposition of the standard, New Zealands regional museums evince an identity tied more strongly to notions of aesthetic, cultural and social value implicit in curatorship, than to a concern with the economic value of their holdings. Museum managers and accountants pref...

Analysis of intellectual capital disclosure – an illustrative example

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of intellectual capital (IC) disclosures in annual reports (mandatory and voluntary) and draw attention to the specific issues related to the methodology used i.e. content analysis. The focus is to incorporate all forms of IC disclosure – narratives, numbers, and visual images – into the analysis as well as highlight the need to study both quantity (extent) and quality of disclosure.Design/methodology/approach – Using content analysis, this paper analyzes 30 of Malaysias largest public‐listed companies from the IC disclosure of 2008 annual reports. The results are used to discuss specific methodological issues such as the usage of an IC index, choice of unit of analysis, quantity versus quality, presence/absence versus multiple disclosures, and the usage of narratives, numbers, and visual images.Findings – This paper proposes that themes are the most appropriate recording and counting unit to analyze IC information combining narratives, number...

Financing New Zealand 1860-1880: Maori land and the wealth tax effect

This paper is the second in a series documenting the financing of colonial New Zealand. It focuses more specifically on an analysis of data for the two decades beginning 1860 (20 years after the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi) through to the end of the 1870s. Drawing on archival sources, the paper reflects on the wealth tax effect of Maori land confiscations introduced under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, followed by requisition of land through the Public Works Land Act 1865. We show how these methods of land requisition were executed through the 1860s and 1870s, and became a major source of Crown revenue. Our central argument in this paper is that these Acts were, in substance, if not in form, a means of taxing away from Maori the only assets in their possession. In that such legislation was targeted at one group in particular, these revenue appropriations have much in common with more recent land appropriations in Zimbabwe and Palestine.

Substance but not form: capital taxation and public finance in New Zealand, 1840-1859

This study focuses on the implementation of capital taxation and public finance in New Zealand during the period 1840-1859, as they affected, and continue to affect Maori, evidenced in part through current day grievances over past land loss. It is argued that taxation by pre-emption - the monopoly purchase of land by the Crown for resale at inflated prices - was in substance if not form, a kind of capital gains tax on Maori land owners. The investigation traces the related problem of taxation without representation that further discriminated against Maori. Through its analysis of official documents and unofficial sources, the study demonstrates a linkage between a discriminatory taxation and disenfranchisement regime with impoverishment and eventual conflict.

Accounting, Auditing and the Business Establishment in Colonial Auckland 1880‐1895

Describes the Auckland, New Zealand, sharemarket of the early 1880s which possessed many features in common with the same sharemarket 100 years later. Creative accounting practices and questionable auditing judgements were some of these shared features. The Auckland sharemarket was dominated by an elite group of businessmen who controlled most of the leading companies. When the market collapsed in 1886 many of these companies experienced grave financial difficulties. Focuses on the accounting and auditing contribution to these difficulties.

Commons and anti‐commons

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Tongan businesses in New Zealand, bearing in mind that they have shared mixed success. Faced with the challenges of competition, compliance, and financial and operational management, these businesses are characterised by a relatively higher failure rate.Design/methodology/approach – A series of open‐ended interview‐type sessions called talanoa were carried out to study their business practices and how these were linked to sustainability. These data were then triangulated with talanoa sessions carried out with business advisers who had worked with many of those Tongan businesses. Further information was collected during individual and group sessions with members of the Tongan community regarding Tongan businesses practices from both a general and a customer perspective.Findings – The results of the talanoa sessions support a theoretical framework that suggests that an entrenched Tongan culture based on a “commons” mentality of sharing is partly responsible ...

Using William the Conqueror's accounting record to assess manorial efficiency: a critical appraisal

Professor McDonald (2005) is to be congratulated on his boldness and the readability of his comparative study based on the limited data available in the Domesday Book. It is, however, argued that the data is not sufficient or reliable enough to justify any conclusions as to postconquest farming efficiency. Furthermore, to draw such conclusions necessitates valiant attempts at generalization and standardization as to land measurements such as “hides”, the value and productivity of slave labour, variable soil qualities, land values and uniform farming practices. To theorize based on “constant returns to scale”, where conscripted labour is employed, is to deny the empirical farming experiences of Cambodia under Pol Pot and the Soviet Union under Stalin. That Professor McDonald concludes from such an analysis that Norman farming practices compare favourably with modern farming practices is both controversial and courageous.

The rise and fall of the Judge and Renouf Corporations: extravagant reporting and publicity

In this paper, we examine the role of financial reporting in the rise and fall of Renouf Corporation and of Judge Corporation. These two New Zealand companies were nominated by The Wall Street Journal as the two worst performing shares on the Australasian sharemarket of 1987. To explain the sudden rise and fall of the Renouf and Judge Corporations, we discuss some significant structural features of the 1980s’ share market. We seek to explain the conditions that made such a dramatic rise and fall possible. In particular, we examine how key directors presented themselves as financial experts and created favourable impressions of profit and growth. Second, we focus on the use of creative accounting strategies and the manipulation of accounting information. Third, we analyse the contribution of financial institutions and regulatory bodies in permitting breaches of financial ratios and market rules. We conclude by noting the recurrence of sharemarket collapses and the concurrent examples of investor beguilemen...

Persistence in Mutual Fund Returns: New Zealand Evidence

Many studies have discussed mutual funds performance, especially about the persistence of excess returns. Regression is the most common method to be used to research the fund persistence. Dutta (2002) proposes a simpler approach – a direct annual examination of whether a fund beats a market proxy or not, to research the persistence in American mutual fund returns. In this study, authors use a similar methodology to analyse New Zealand growth mutual funds. In addition, a statistically robust method is juxtaposed as a comparison. The study finds that the most of the funds sampled during the period 1996‐2003 are unable to better the benchmark of the world index.

Looking for Joan of Arc: Collaboration in the Rise and Fall of Heroes

This article adapts Actor Network Theory to illustrate the construction of heroes and their abandonment. It focuses more specifically on the rise and fall of an iconic New Zealand private training enterprise, Carich, and its founding entrepreneur Caron Taurima. Drawing on media, web sources and interviews, the study reflects on the uncritical way heroes are constructed and makes comparisons with the story of Joan of Arc. It shows how the notion of ‘Carich‐as‐a‐successful‐business’ was encouraged and developed by human and non‐human actors, how revenues were inflated, and how the business founder’s personal charisma superseded hard financial questions. The article problematizes the roles of various actors, particularly hero‐seeking media, politically‐correct Crown agencies, and those supposedly objective umpires of business acumen who offer national awards to ‘outstanding’ entrepreneurs.