PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions of New Zealand high school and tertiary students regarding accounting and accountants, as well as the perceptions of high school accounting educators and career advisers who potentially influence these students.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology used here is qualitative, including semi‐structured interviews and focus groups.FindingsThe paper finds that the majority of the high school students and first‐year tertiary students have little understanding of the tasks accountants perform, and their image of an accountant was the typical “boring” stereotype. However, the final year tertiary students have a good understanding of what accounting entails and do not have a negative image of an accountant. The high school accounting educators have a favourable view of accounting and are positive about a career in accounting, in contrast with the career advisers who view an accounting career as dull and boring or a backstop to other more exciting careers.Practical implicationsRecently, there has been a decline in the number of New Zealand accounting graduates, which may in part be caused by negative stereotyping and limited accurate knowledge about accountants. The challenge for the local professional accounting body is to attempt to change this stereotype and find new ways of promoting accounting careers to the current generation of New Zealand high school and tertiary students.Originality/valueThe paper integrates the study of students' perceptions of accounting in New Zealand with that of the high school accounting educators and career advisers to provide a comprehensive qualitative study of the current New Zealand situation.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions and processes affecting the operation of an audit committee within the context of a New Zealand district health board (DHB). Design/methodology/approach -The methodology used in this paper was exploratory and qualitative, including the analysis of secondary data and semi-structured interviews. Findings -Using the New Zealand Auditor-General's best practice guidelines for a public sector audit committee as a benchmark, the paper finds that the DHB rates moderately well in terms of "effectiveness potential". However, factors are identified concerning the audit committee members' independence, competence, tenure, and remuneration, which impinge upon the overall effectiveness of the audit committee. Despite apparent shortcomings in these areas, the informal networks between audit committee members and management serve to maximise the "realisation" of what potential effectiveness exists. As a result, the audit committee is perceived by its stakeholders (management, auditors, and committee members) as being a valuable tool to assist the DHB board in achieving proper governance. Practical implications -There are no specific regulatory or legislative requirements for establishing audit committees in the New Zealand public sector. The findings from this paper may be useful to public sector entities that are considering establishing an audit committee and to entities, including the one in this paper, that wish to improve the effectiveness of their existing audit committees. Originality/value -Most studies of audit committees to date have focuses on corporate sector entities; this is the first qualitative paper of an audit committee of a public sector entity in New Zealand.
This study investigates the association between the source of funding of New Zealand public‐sector entities (PSEs) and the existence and composition of their audit committees. We examine 134 PSEs in the health, local government and tertiary sectors. Of these PSEs, 81 (60%) have an audit committee. The size of the audit committees are on average larger than recommended by best practice guidelines. However, most of the PSEs comply with guidelines recommended for audit committee independence but not financial expertise. PSEs with higher levels of government funding are more likely to establish audit committees and PSEs that rely on funding from rate payers and debt providers are more likely to have audit committees with a majority of independent members. There is no support for the association between the source of funding and the level of financial expertise on audit committees.
During the 1990s the value to an intending professional accountant of undertaking a period of liberal (general) studies was promoted internationally by a number of individuals and organisations, including the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (the "Institute"). The Institute significantly changed its admissions policy for Chartered Accountants in 1996 and one change was to require four years of degree level study with a compulsory liberal studies component. This study surveys the perceptions of New Zealand accounting practitioners on the impact of this compulsory liberal component.
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