Rachel F. Baskerville

Charity Financial Reporting Regulation: A Comparative Study of the UK and New Zealand

Charities are becoming more highly regulated worldwide and yet they are subject to diverse, country-specific, financial reporting standards. New Zealand is a jurisdiction that has treated all sectors alike in its approach to the financial regulation of charities, while the UK has, for some time, separated the regulation of charities from other entities. This article provides a comparison of the histories of the evolution of regulation for charity reporting in the UK and New Zealand. The current process of international harmonization in both jurisdictions is premised on the principle that accounting conceptual frameworks should not be jurisdiction-specific, but charities have proved to be an exception. We suggest in this study that this exception is attributed to different drivers resulting in regulatory distinctions in two otherwise similar jurisdictions. Without persisting in the maintenance of sector-neutrality, the inevitable divergence increases the load on preparers, attesters, and users and may lead to lower levels of accountability and transparency.

A development agenda, the donor dollar and voluntary failure

This paper examines the success and failure of a once pre-eminent New Zealand charity – the Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas (CORSO). Delivering aid for government was a factor in its success in its early years, as was its broad membership base. Voluntary failure occurred when CORSO lost government support. It also lost donor support when international charities established a competitive donor ‘market’. Its supporters’ unwillingness to ‘buy-in’ to its mission change to focus on local poverty was another factor in its collapse. This case study employs a framework which extends Salamons (1987) to consider the influence of competition on voluntary failure.

Not Reporting a Profit: Constructing a Non‐Profit Organisation

Public sector reformers advocate contracting‐out as a means of improving cost‐effectiveness. In the health sector, market‐based contracts with for‐profit organisations can reduce equity of access and divert public funds to private gain. Such issues have prompted policy makers to seek alternative contracting strategies. This paper examines a primary health care policy whereby government contracts with private non‐profit organisations to increase efficiency and meet World Health Organisation ideals. The study found that the policys implementation has not achieved these aims when for‐profit providers masquerade as non‐profit organisations. The implication is that governments may find it more effective to manage for structural diversity than mandate homogenisation.

The Impact of Globalization on Professional Accounting Firms: Evidence from New Zealand

This study examines how the survivors survived the turbulence of affiliations and global mergers among accounting firms in the 1980s. The core data in this project are narratives from an oral history study of partners in large New Zealand accounting firms in the 1980s. The survival of accounting firms and the careers of their partners were substantially affected by their ability to form and maintain affiliations with global firms. The major benefit of Big 8 affiliation was improved auditing technology, and formerly important audit firms without an affiliation to a Big 8 firm disintegrated. Over the same period, accounting firms generally also became more managerial and bureaucratic. This was consistent with trends in other professional organizations.

Professional Closure by Proxy: The Impact of Changing Educational Requirements on Class Mobility for a Cohort of Big 8 Partners

Closure events impacting on class mobility may include mechanisms initiated by bodies other than the professional body. The research examines if the introduction of full-time study requirements at universities for aspiring accountants effectively introduced a closure mechanism in the accounting profession. Data was derived from an Oral History study of partners in large firms. The younger partners (born after the Second World War) completed full-time degree study at university, but did not provide evidence of class mobility into the profession. The older cohort, born between 1928 and 1946, completed part-time studies only, few completed a degree, and, in contrast to the younger cohort, shows a perceptible upward movement from lower socio-economic classes into the professional class. This suggests that changing the preferred educational routes for new accountants entering the large chartered accounting (CA) firms compromised the “stepping stone” function of accounting as a portal into the professional class.

Researching ethnicity in the Pacific region

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the construct of ethnicity can best be determined for empirical analysis in accounting research, particularly in the Pacific region. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews relevant sociological and accounting literature. In addition, it presents the results of a case study where “first language” was used as a proxy for ethnicity. Findings – The results of the literature review present six different research approaches towards determining ethnicity. Furthermore, it is found that “first language” was a justifiable determinant of ethnicity in an accounting education study. Research limitations/implications – The determination of reliable and valid proxies for ethnicity in accounting research is important for researchers, including those whose objective is to associate ethnicity with learning and teaching outcomes, accounting and financial reporting activities or behaviours. Originality/value – In the context of accounting research, the value of ...

The Telling Power of CCA - A New Zealand Oral History

This report presents results of research on the failure of the inflation accounting standard in New Zealand. Presentation of the results in three narratives highlights that any such research is a series of interlocking and overlapping events, and that narrative is a direct and efficient means of communicating both causal and transactional components which contributed towards the outcomes. Isolation of the three narratives was chosen to demonstrate that it is not useful to extol an explanatory or interpretative paradigm for accounting history if it is advocated at the expense of sequential accounts of events.

Entering the accounting profession: the operationalization of ethnicity-based discrimination

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a Bourdieu-oriented study that investigates race discrimination when graduates of diverse ethnicities aspire to enter the accounting profession. This study illustrates the benefits of a careful and fine-grained operationalization of ethnicity for such a research project. Design/methodology/approach The cohort interviewed comprises 45 participants of 20 different ethnicities. Findings From this interview data, it appears that employers mostly favour “Pakeha” New Zealanders (the non-Maori ethnic majority group, mostly of British origin); those who migrated from China and East Asia are the most disfavoured; between them are those of ethnic minorities brought up in New Zealand and those who migrated from the Indian subcontinent and South Asia. Underneath the experience of discrimination is the operationalization of ten subtle factors, and a range of strategies adopted to overcome such factors, as further described in this study. Research limitations/implications The findings may permit stakeholders, including professional bodies, employers, aspirant accountants, vocational counsellors, and those who have interests in promoting equality and meritocracy in the accounting profession, to formulate effective rules and structures to combat discrimination. It may also inform those in other professions seeking to lessen ethnic discrimination, and wider society. Originality/value The study fills a gap in the accounting literature by elaborating on the mechanisms of how ethnic minorities are discriminated against. It confirms that discrimination is suffered not only by the most salient ethnic groups, but by graduates of “Western” universities, of many and diverse ethnicities, all of whom suffer being perceived as “outsiders”.

Accounting historians engaging with scholars inside and outside accounting: Issues, opportunities and obstacles

Originating in a panel presentation at the eighth Accounting History International Conference, this study offers a reflection on the issues, opportunities and obstacles which may arise when accounting historians engage with other accounting scholars and scholars outside of accounting. Supporting the view that accounting scholars need and should make an effort to engage with other scholars inside and outside accounting, various aspects are considered as enhancing the interdisciplinarity of accounting history research. Then, issues such as researchers and the community, research problems, theories, methods and data are addressed. The opportunities arising from interdisciplinary interactions with a wide range of scholars are then developed. Finally, the potential obstacles are addressed. These obstacles can be overcome by the development of robust communication and the invention of a new genre of discourse and research focus and by working with those outside our discipline and embracing the challenge of the new and the different.

Ethnicity as inclusion and exclusion: Drawing on concept and practice in accounting research

Purpose - Accounting research has struggled with how ethnicity is to be understood in relation to concepts such as nation and nationality and how ethnicity may impact on accounting and auditing practices, behaviours, education and professional values. These themes are explored and developed in the papers presented in this special issue. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to explore the contrasting theoretical and methodological approaches reflected by the papers in the issue. Design/methodology/approach - This is a reflective and analytical paper which explores how notions of ethnicity are conceived and operationalised in accounting research. The authors identified two distinctive analytic ordering processes evident within this Findings - The “Grid and Group” Culture Theory with Bourdieu’s theoretical tools evident in the papers provide powerful tools to explore the relationship between ethnicity and accounting both conceptually and empirically, suggesting that ethnicity can be deployed to reveal and challenge institutionalised racism. This paper highlights the potential to integrate elements of the “Grid and Group” Culture Theory and Bourdieu’s theoretical tools. The issue of ethnicity and the relationship between ethnicity and accounting should be more fruitfully explored in future. Research limitations/implications - The authors acknowledge the challenges and limitations of discussing the issue of ethnicity from any particular cultural perspective and recognise the implicit dominance of White Anglo centric perspectives within accounting research. Originality/value - The papers presented in the special issue illustrate that the issue of ethnicity is complex and difficult to operationalise. This paper highlights the potential to move beyond the ad hoc application of theoretical and methodological concepts to operationalise coherent concepts which challenge and extend the authors’ understanding of accounting as a social and contextual practice. But to achieve this it is necessary to more clearly integrate theory, methodology, method and critique.