This study examines the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and financial distress and additionally the moderating impact of firm life cycle stages on that association. Based on a sample of 651 publicly listed Australian firm‐years’ data covering the 2007–2013 period, our regression results show that positive CSR activity significantly reduces financial distress of the firm. In addition, the negative association between positive CSR performance and financial distress is more pronounced for firms in mature life cycle stages. Our results are robust to alternative proxy measures of financial distress, CSR performance and life cycle stages.
Purpose Practical accountving skills such as the ability to use commercial computerised accounting programmes (CCAP) is increasingly becoming expected of accounting graduates. To understand the impact of CCAP on learning, this paper aims to examine students’ motivations for and perceptions about learning CCAP in two accounting subjects trialled in an Australian university. Design/methodology/approach A survey of students who completed the course was conducted twice, before training and assessment using CCAP and after completing the CCAP-based learning activity and the associated assessment task. Findings The results show that students demonstrate strong positive attitudes towards learning CCAP, and using CCAP elicits active student engagement in the learning processes. The findings also show room for further enhancement of student engagement by integrating CCAP learning tasks with teamwork and developing CCAP-based learning and assessment tasks suitable for higher-order learning outcomes. Research limitations/implications The survey respondents in this study are drawn from only one higher education institution in Australia and are predominantly an international cohort. This makes the conclusions of the study exploratory in nature and thus further studies are needed before generalising the conclusions. Originality/value By providing insights into student motivations to and perceptions about the use of CCAP in accounting curricula, the study sheds light on the potential of CCAP to enhance learning and aspects of consolidating the role of CCAP as a learning tool.
Publicly available information indicates that the collapse of the high-profile corporations during the recent past were due to the unethical actions of a number of major players, including high level managers in those corporations. These examples of the ethical misdeeds of corporate actors have influenced accounting professional bodies and academic institutions around the globe to revisit the issue of ethical training of business and accounting students-the corporate managers of tomorrow. However, little is known about the ethical perceptions of business and accounting students, and business academics are finding it challenging to develop and promote ethics-based accounting and business curricula. This study addresses the research gap. It explores the ethical perceptions of accounting and business students in two Australian universities using three paradigms, that is, whether there are differences between regional and metropolitan, male and female, older and younger accounting students with respect to their ethical perceptions. Empirical evidence provided in this study suggests that while there are no differences in ethical perceptions of the regional and metropolitan accounting and business students, female and older students are found to be more ethical compared to male and younger students.
Purpose This study aims to explain the driving forces behind the development of accounting regulatory institutions in post-colonial Libya. Design/methodology/approach The historical method is used to interpret relevant documentary evidence in the development of accounting in Libya vis-à-vis developments in the country’s post-colonial political-economic history. Findings The development of accounting regulation in Libya is traced to post-colonial political-economic history that occurred independent of the country’s colonial past. The immediate aftermath of colonialism (1951-1968) showed that Western accounting practices used by Western businesses operating in Libya were imbued by pro-Western ideology. Basic legislative requirements for accounting and auditing emerged during this period through legislation. Two distinct epochs surfaced during Muammar Gaddafi’s rule: initially, the state advocated a centrally planned economy, but in the 1980s, an ideological shift occurred, which opened the Libyan economy to the global market. The first epoch saw the formation of accounting regulatory agencies consistent with the state-centred organisation of society, and the second epoch engendered the development of accounting standards consistent with the developments in market-centred societies during the era of globalisation. Originality/value The study offers unique historical evidence on the development of accounting regulation in a developing country independent of its colonial history. The study enhances our understanding of how the interplay between the political economy and the ideological basis of the state determines the historical path of accounting as a basis for predicting the possible future direction of accounting development.
Recent corporate collapses around the world show that there are no national boundaries for these occurrences. Australian corporate collapses including HIH Insurance, One.Tel, Ansett Australia and Harris Scarfe have raised public expectations of investigation of the causes of collapses (Mirshekary et al., 2005). The main reason for the collapse of HIH was mismanagement with an emphasis more on the directors' personal qualities such as integrity, honesty and morality rather than tougher legislation and rules. Accounting students are our future business leaders. The teaching of ethics in the classroom to multicultural groups of students provides an opportunity to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and to increase interaction and debate around different approaches to ethics among students from different countries.This study uses previous literature to explain the attitudes of accounting students towards academic and business/accounting ethics at an Australian university which is a multi-campus institution undertaking programs and activities at regional, national, international levels and by distance education.The study reports the results of cross-cultural investigations of students' ethical perceptions on moral values, academic and accounting/business vignettes, given that all students share the same learning opportunities, knowledge of ethics and interaction with their peers and lecturers. The results indicate no significant differences in responses between the students from Australia, South Asia and East Asia.
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