Aims to contribute to the understanding of the Australian standard‐setting due process. Analyses submissions made on Exposure Draft 49 Accounting for Identifiable Intangible Assets (ED49) as a case study of the strategies employed by lobbyists in their attempt to influence the accounting standard setters. Previous studies on respondents′ submissions have ignored the possibility that, in responding to exposure drafts, lobbyists are provided with a means of persuasion in excess of casting votes. Employs a form of content analysis to study the political process of standard setting. The results suggest that respondents on ED49 attempted to weight their lobby positions with the use of supporting arguments that utilized conceptual and/or economic consequences rationale and presented positions of differing strengths.

In this paper, we review scholarly accounting research published within the Asia Pacific Region by analysing nine of the main accounting journals within the region along five dimensions. The nine journals we focus on are: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Australian Accounting Review; Abacus; Accounting and Finance; Australian Journal of Management; Accounting Research Journal; Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics; Managerial Auditing Journal; and Pacific Accounting Review. The five dimensions we consider are: the most frequently cited papers; topical coverage; impact on practice; research method; and noted authors. Our review leads us to conclude that the accounting journals published within the Asia Pacific region make a significant contribution to research and practice both within the region and internationally.

This paper examines how managers elect to use their discretion over the amount of unrecognised tax assets from carry-forward losses that is available under the income statement method specified in "AASB1020" 'Accounting for Income Taxes'. Specifically, we consider whether changes in the amount of unrecognised deferred tax assets from carry-forward losses, reflect managers' incentives to opportunistically manage earnings, or communicate private information about future profitability (i.e., signalling). Using data from firms listed on the Australian Stock Exchange during the period 1999 to 2005, we find evidence consistent with income-increasing earnings management when pre-tax earnings are below the median analyst forecast. Interestingly, we find that the potential existence of earnings management does not reduce the capacity of changes in unrecognised deferred tax assets from carry-forward losses to predict one-year-ahead performance, and to a much lesser extent, three-year ahead performance. This result highlights the complexity of managers' incentives in trading-off between managing earnings toward a desired target and communicating useful information to market participants. Copyright (c) 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.