This paper reports the results of a study designed to explore the inter-rater reliability of annual report social and environmental disclosures content analysis. Using the sentence-based coding instruments and decision rules adopted in Hackston and Milne (1996), this study reports the co-agreement levels reached by three coders over five rounds of testing 49 annual reports. Included amongst the three coders was a complete novice to both content analysis and social and environmental disclosure research. Krippendorff's (1980) reliability scores for the three coders are reported for many of the typical decisions taken by social and environmental disclosures content analysts. The study also provides a commentary on the implications of formal reliability analysis for past and future social and environmental disclosures content analyses, and exposes the complexities of formal reliability measurement. The overall findings suggest that the coded output from inexperienced coders using the Hackston and Milne approach with little or no prior training can be relied upon for aggregate total disclosures analysis. For more detailed sub-category analysis, however, the findings suggest a period of training for the less experienced codes with at least twenty reports appears necessary before their coded output could be relied upon.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the biodiversity and threatened species reporting of the top 150 Fortune Global companies. The paper has two main objectives: to explore the extent to which the top 150 Fortune Global companies disclose information about their biodiversity and species conservation practices, and to explore the effects of biodiversity partners and industry on companies’ biodiversity and threatened species reporting. Design/methodology/approach The study’s sample is the top 150 Fortune Global companies. Each company’s fiscal year ending 2014 annual report, its 2014 sustainability report, and its company website were content analyzed for evidence of biodiversity and threatened species reporting. This content analysis is supplemented by a detailed analysis that focusses on the sample’s top five reporters, including a phone interview with a senior sustainability manager working at one of these companies. Finally, a regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations between companies’ biodiversity and threatened species reporting and the presence/absence of biodiversity partners and a company’s industry F&C Asset Management industry category. Findings The reporting on biodiversity and threatened species by the top 150 Fortune Global companies is quite limited. Few companies (less than 15) are providing any substantial reporting. It was further observed that even among the high scoring companies there is a lack of consistent reporting across all index items. A subsequent empirical examination of these companies’ disclosures on biodiversity and threatened species showed a statistically positive association between the amount of reporting and companies’ holding of biodiversity partnerships. It was also observed that firms categorized as red- and green-zone companies made more disclosures on biodiversity and threatened species than amber-zone companies. Originality/value This is the first study to systematically analyze corporate disclosures related to threatened species and habitats. While some prior studies have included the concept of biodiversity when analyzing organizations’ environmental disclosures, they have done so by examining it as one general category out of many further categories for investigating organizations’ environmental reporting. In the present study, the focus is on the specific contents of biodiversity disclosures. As such, this study has the twin research objectives of seeking to illuminate the current state of biodiversity and threatened species reporting by the world’s largest multinationals and provide an appreciation for how certain organizational and industry variables serve to influence these reporting practices. These multiple insights offer companies, and potentially regulators, understanding about how to include (or extend) disclosures on biodiversity loss and species under threat of extinction.
This paper argues that the basis for change in accounting education to more active student involvement is much broader than the need to supply the accounting professions with graduates who possess wider skills and competencies. Active student engagement, in fact, is seen by several educationalists as an essential ingredient to all student learning and the developing of lifelong learning skills. Drawing from our own experiences, the paper illustrates how problem-based and peer-assisted learning tasks can help promote many of the skills and competencies so desired by educationalists, professions, employers and universities alike. The paper also provides student feedback on the effectiveness of these learning tasks in helping to develop those attitudes, skills, and knowledge. Consistent with much of the evidence in the general education literature, and in comparison with more traditional lecture-tutorial based courses, the student feedback overwhelmingly supports the use of action-oriented learning tasks.
Accounting practices and the role of auditors have been widely implicated in many corporate scandals. Accountants are likely to witness serious wrongdoings at their workplace, presenting them with a difficult choice as to whether or not to whistle‐blow. This study reports online survey results of whistle‐blowing intentions of the members of Certified Practising Accountants of Australia. The study provides data on the effect of threat of retaliation, age and gender on accountants’ propensity to blow the whistle. The results show a complex interaction effect of retaliation, participants’ age, and gender on their propensity to blow the whistle. Among the early career accountants, male accountants are more likely than female accountants to blow the whistle. Accountants in the mid‐age group are not only likely to whistle‐blow when there is retaliation but also tend to be more willing to do so when that retaliation involves a direct personal loss rather than a loss to their associates. Accountants in the age group of 45 years or above respond to retaliation differently depending on their gender. Specifically, female accountants’ propensity to blow the whistle in this age group tends to decline as the retaliation threat increases from weak to strong, yet the change in retaliation threat has little impact on male accountants’ propensity to blow the whistle. These results and their implications are discussed.
Advanced management accounting techniques were developed to provide information appropriate for decision making in changing internal and external environments. However, studies in the US and UK demonstrated that firms are slow to adopt such techniques. To examine whether and why this reluctance exists, manufacturers' adoption and utilization of advanced accounting techniques, plus perceived barriers to adoption, were examined. Data were collected from 165 New Zealand manufacturing sites, selected as representative of organizations facing major structural reform and environmental change, hence likely candidates for accounting system rejuvenation. Adoption, utilization, combinations of techniques, trends, perceived benefits, and barriers to adoption are discussed.
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