Paul Andon

Accounting‐related research in PPPs/PFIs: present contributions and future opportunities

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review research investigating the implications of public private partnership (PPP) schemes for public investment, focusing on the role and effects of accounting as it relates to the assessment, management, control, reporting, accountability and policy direction of these arrangements. Based on this review, it aims to offer reflections on future directions for this research agenda. Design/methodology/approach - This paper derives five research themes adapted from the PPP research agenda outlined by Broadbent and Laughlin as a framework to guide a literature-based analysis and critique of the relevant PPP literature published up to December 2010. Findings - The review highlights the range of interesting contributions that extant accounting-related research has made to current knowledge about PPP policy and procedure. From this, concentrations of research effort are identified (its largely technical, critical, procurement-oriented and Anglo-centric focus), and opportunities for future research are proposed. With regard to the latter, the opportunities proffered have in common a need to question the nature and functioning of PPPs, consider the complexities of PPPs in action, and explore connections between research and practice. Originality/value - The main contributions this paper makes relate to understanding the “state of the art” of accounting-related PPP research, the progress this research agenda has made in line with Broadbent and Laughlins agenda, as well as insights into fruitful directions future research could take.

Annexing New Audit Spaces: Challenges and Adaptations

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine attempts at jurisdictional expansion in the audit field. Specifically, the authors critically analyse the professional implications of “new audit spaces”, that is, novel auditing and assurance services that have emerged at intersections between audit and other fields such as the environment, the public sector, sport and education. The purpose is two-fold. First, to better understand the dynamics of new audit spaces, and second, to highlight the major challenges and adaptations prompted by these dynamics. Design/methodology/approach - – Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the authors highlight and problematise four issues central to the construction of new audit spaces: independence; reporting; professional accreditation; and the nature of the audit role. Findings - – The audit profession has experienced mixed success in seeking to annex new audit spaces; in some instances, practices initially located at the margins of auditing have moved towards its centre, while elsewhere projects have been abandoned, colonised by others or remain in flux. In these ventures, the accounting profession is brought into competition with other bodies of expertise and modes of practice. In new audit spaces, core elements of auditing, as conventionally conceived, are transmogrified as they travel. Originality/value - – This analysis calls into question some of the “sacred cows” of auditing and challenges the transferability of the capitals and habitus of the accounting profession in other domains. Future research avenues are suggested.

Pathways to accountant fraud: Australian evidence and analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore pathways to fraud perpetrated in accounting-related roles, focusing both on situationally driven attitudes and contextual elements. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on an anomie-based criminological taxonomy developed by Waring et al. (1995) and Weisburd and Waring (2001), which highlights individual attitudes and situational elements and their connection to illegitimate behaviour, the authors perform a qualitative content analysis of available media and court-reported information on a hand-collected database of 192 accountant frauds in Australia during the period 2001-2011. Findings – The analysis highlights four distinct pathways to accountant fraud – crisis responders, opportunity takers, opportunity seekers and deviance seekers – and the relative distribution of identified cases among these pathways. It also identifies the prevalence of gambling, female offenders, small and medium enterprises as victims, as factors in fraud, as well as the relativ...

Media coverage of accounting: the NRL salary cap crisis

Purpose - – Arguing that the print media act as a claims-making forum for the social construction and contestation of crises, the aim of this paper is to explore how the print media mediated two audits commissioned following a high-profile salary cap breach in the National Rugby League (NRL) in Australia. Design/methodology/approach - – This paper draws upon critical discourse analysis to examine the media coverage of the two audits by the two major Australian media organisations, News Limited and Fairfax Media Limited. The analysis is based on a qualitative study complemented by quantitative techniques that explore critical incidents and representations in the daily press. Findings - – The paper illustrates the way in which News Limited, the owner of the infringing club, mobilised its media platform to promote favourable viewpoints and interpretations and how these were challenged in the Fairfax press. Evidence of both coverage bias and statement bias in the treatment of the two audits is produced. Originality/value - – This paper provides evidence that commercial interests of owner/publishers coloured media coverage of the two audits, which were central pillars of the crisis management strategy of News Limited and the NRL. Implications for the medias contribution to public accountability, accounting outputs and impression management, and the growing commercial diversification and reach of media outlets are considered.

Calculating Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Theory and Practice

This paper examines the calculation of customer lifetime value (CLV). Two case studies from Australasian practice are used to describe how CLV is calculated. These case studies reveal that customer retention rates, customer acquisition costs and the present value of future expected base profits are incorporated into the calculation of CLV. Other drivers of CLV, such as revenue growth, cost savings, referrals and price premiums, were not significant in this examination of practice. Practitioners indicated that these other drivers were not used for two reasons: first, they were unable to readily quantify them; and second, they expressed doubts as to their significance. In brief, it appears that practitioners are developing simple and feasible representations of CLV to use in business decision-making.

Accounting for Stakeholders and Making Accounting Useful: Accounting for Stakeholders

A belief in the importance of available and relevant information to managers and stakeholders has propelled significant accounting change, motivating the development of new forms of reporting argued to provide more useful accounting information. However, accounting is not inherently useful. Accounting information is a heterogeneous agglomeration that is made useful in practice. We overview research, illustrating the experimental, emotional, imaginative and complementation stratagems that practitioners adopt in making accounting information useful. This research shows that diverse stakeholder interests are mobilised in processes making accounting information useful. The ethical implications of accounting for stakeholders are then considered, particularly the problematic consequences of greater transparency. The critical possibilities of accounting for stakeholders are outlined next. We conclude by arguing that further research problematizing the usefulness of accounting information, including the networks of interests accomplishing this, is vital to advance debate on accounting for stakeholders.