Margaret Lightbody

Storing and shielding: financial management behaviour in a church organization

Financial managers in public entities have been portrayed as acting as “guardians” of the resources of the organization. However, while the private not‐for‐profit literature makes reference to perceptions of such behaviour, it has presented little detailed evidence of these roles. This study utilises a field‐based case study to examine the nature of this behaviour typology within the context of a significant Australian religious organization.

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: Blooming or bloomin' awful? A review of the literature

BACKGROUND Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) is a normal, commonly experienced affliction of early pregnancy. Despite this, its impact on womens lives is not necessarily minimal. For some women, the implications of NVP are substantial with multi-faceted effects, hindering their ability to maintain usual life activities, and particularly their ability to work. In an effort to understand the effect of NVP, several researchers have developed NVP measurement tools, which enable an understanding of NVPs effect on quality of life (QOL). PROBLEM This paper seeks to provide a review of the literature to explore the impact of NVP on womens quality of life, particularly their ability to maintain social and professional commitments. METHOD Medline, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Ebsco, Science Direct, Health Source, Academic Search Premiere, Cochrane databases were extensively searched using Boolean operators with various combinations of relevant terms: nausea, vomiting, pregnancy, emesis, quality of life, QOL, NVPQOL, PUQE, SF-12, SF-36 and limited to those published from 1999 onwards. Papers were scrutinised to include those discussing the impact of normal NVP on womens lives, particularly their QOL with careful exclusion of those addressing hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). FINDINGS NVP has a significant effect on womens QOL and therefore their ability to maintain day-to-day activities as well as work capacity. This has implications for the woman, her partner, her family and her employers. CONCLUSION It is important that all maternity care workers consider the impact of NVP on the womans QOL and that care is given not to minimise this experience. Further research is warranted which considers ways in which women can best manage this experience in relation to social and professional commitments. Given the authors were able to identify only one Australian study in this area, published in 2000 and utilising non-NVP specific QOL measurement tools, there exists scope for additional local studies using NVP-specific QOL tools to determine the impact of QOL for Australian women and therefore Australian society.

Financial auditors and environmental auditing in New Zealand

Despite the many international claims that accountants and auditors are positioned to play a pivotal role in the design and conduct of environmental audits, empirical studies have indicated that in the early 1990s few, if any, accounting professionals in New Zealand were actively involved in the conduct of independent external environmental audits. As the extent of environmental management practices adopted by organisations can be expected to have increased substantially since this time, there is reason to anticipate that the engagement of financial auditors with environmental audits may also have changed over the last decade. In order to examine the nature and extent of such potential changes, this article reviews the involvement of financial auditors in the conduct of environmental audits in New Zealand in 2001.

Successful promotion or segregation from partnership? An examination of the “post-senior manager” position in public accounting and the implications for women's careers

Abstract Historically public accounting careers have been “up or out” with progression from staff though senior, manager, senior manager, and ultimately, partner. Recent AICPA data suggests senior managers are increasingly promoted to non-equity “director/principal” positions rather than to partner (AICPA, 2006). Further, this career path appears to be disproportionately occurring for women. This survey of the membership of the American Women’s Society of Certified Public Accountants (AWSCPA) provides the first descriptive data on the nature and impact of the post-senior manager position from the perspective of senior women accountants and reflects on the gender implications of these findings. Of concern is the early indication that firms may be using such positions to create a ‘reserve force of [partnership-level] labour’. If women are disproportionately appointed to such positions, they may be forming a new source of vertical segregation for women accountants.

Enhancing Students' Understanding of Plagiarism within a Discipline Context

Widespread concern in the academic literature and the general media indicate that universities face an ongoing problem with student plagiarism in assessments. This paper describes and evaluates a unique assignment developed to provide second year accounting students with an understanding of plagiarism within the direct context of their study discipline. The assignment required students to undertake two key tasks: first, to identify and correct deliberate instances of plagiarism in a pre-prepared essay on an accounting topic; and second, to prepare their own correctly referenced short essay answer to a question on the same accounting subject. Detailed feedback from student evaluation questionnaires for two years indicated that students perceived that the assignment had successfully enhanced their understanding of plagiarism and, at the same time, formed an effective way for them to learn about a relevant accounting issue.

The Nature and Significance of Listening Skills in Accounting Practice

While surveys of the employers of accountancy graduates highlight the significance of listening skills, relatively little is known about how such skills are utilised in accounting practice. The present study attempts to address the above lacuna by utilising the findings of in-depth interviews with Australian public accountants about the nature of their communications with their small business owner-manager clients. The small business sector is a significant user of the accounting professions information and services. The resultant insights, informed by media richness theory, demonstrate the importance that practitioners place on listening skills, the types of listening skills used by practitioners and how these skills are incorporated in the communication practices that practitioners adopt with clients. In particular, the study highlights the application of listening skills at the levels of day-to-day technical communication, strategic client service and relationship development. The paper provides important evidence to convince both accounting educators and students of the need to develop listening skills as part of the accounting curriculum.

“No time to stand and stare”: Imagery of flexible work arrangements in Australian professional accounting journals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the imagery of flexible work arrangements in professional accounting employment, as presented in the Australian professional accounting journals from 2004‐2007.Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of a critical analysis of discourse in articles in professional accounting journals.Findings – While talk of “balance” and “flexibility” is widespread in the professional accounting journals in Australia, accountancy is portrayed as an environment dominated by a “work hard, play hard” culture. Flexible work arrangements are presented as acceptable work practices when they provide a means of facilitating this culture, rather than as an alternative method of working.Research limitations/implications – The Australian accounting professional bodies continue to actively portray the long hours culture of professional work (and play) as the foundation of success, despite widespread concern about, first, the long‐term implications of such ...

TEACHING NOTE Playing factory: active-based learning in cost and management accounting

Many students perceive management accounting topics to be difficult and boring. This is often attributed to the students lack of experience with the actual processes underlying management accounting theory. This paper introduces a factory simulation exercise and outlines the experiences of the author and her students with the use of active-based learning. The paper suggests that a factory simulation exercise can offer an effective and entertaining method of teaching management accounting theory and practice in an integrated manner.

Football history off the field: Utilising archived accounting reports to challenge “myths” about the history of an Australian football club

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the largest professional sports competition in Australia. Most AFL clubs began as amateur bodies in the nineteenth century, but to survive they have had to adapt to changes in demand and production costs by adopting a commercial management approach. Because financial management is seen by most club members as secondary to the core business of winning games, accounting data is generally invisible in football histories. We use a range of accounting information from annual reports, committee Minute Books and media commentaries from 1910 to 1917 to demonstrate how financial data can be used to enhance our understanding of the history of one AFL club – Carlton. In particular, we show how previously overlooked accounting records can enrich the history of this sporting club as well as challenge long held “myths”, thus creating new understandings of Australian football history.

Tenure-Track Opt-Outs: Leakages from the Academic Pipeline

Abstract Purpose To understand the reasons that accounting academics leave the tenure-track academic pipeline. Design/methodology/approach Survey study was conducted of PhD graduates who left the tenure-track accounting pipeline over a 22-year period. Findings We located and surveyed accounting PhD graduates who have opted out of the tenure-track. These opt-outs included those who have left academia entirely and those who have moved into non-tenure-track positions. Survey results indicate that dissatisfaction with research expectations is the most significant factor for faculty now employed in non-tenure-track positions. Although there were no gender-related differences in the number of faculty who left the tenure-track but stayed in academia, there were some gender differences in the importance of family-related factors in motivating the move off of the tenure-track. Research limitations/implications The study examines the importance of the “push” and “pull” factors associated with changing career paths in academia that have been identified in the literature. The study finds some differences in influential factors between accounting academia and other fields. Sample size is a potential limitation. Practical implications The study provides recommendations for PhD program directors and for hiring institutions to help reduce the number of opt-outs. Social implications Retention of qualified faculty who are dedicated teachers improves students’ educational outcomes. Originality/value This is the first study to examine factors that drive accounting academics to opt-out of the tenure-track.