Volume 5 No 1 2006
FRRaG: The electronic journal of the Accounting Standards Interest Group of AFAANZ
ISSN 1449-2318
Index
Refereed articles
Dulacha G Barako, Phil Hancock and H Y Izan, "Relationship between corporate governance attributes and voluntary disclosures in annual reports: the Kenyan experience"
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Patrícia Teixeira Lopes and Lúcia Lima Rodrigues, "Accounting practices for financial instruments: How far are portugese companies from IFRS?"
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Ross H. Taplin, "A practical guide to constructing specialised indices of international accounting harmony using the hormoniser software"
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Professional comments
Janice A. Loftus and John A. Purcell, "Corporate social responsibility: concepts, approaches to regulation and public sector application of the GRI"
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Refereed articles
Dulacha Barako, Phil Hancock and H Y Izan, "Relationship between corporate governance attributes and voluntary disclosures in annual reports: the Kenyan experience"
Abstract:
The Kenya Government initiated reforms at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) aimed at transforming the exchange into a vehicle for mobilising domestic savings and attracting foreign capital investment. A key aspect of this reform is related to corporate governance practices. In 2000, the CMA issued draft corporate governance guidelines outlining significant changes to listed companies corporate governance practices – key among them were: establishment of an audit committee, independence of non-executive directors and separation of the roles of the CEO and board chair. Corporate financial reporting is an important part of the process for building investor confidence. Drawing on prior corporate disclosure research, this study using agency theory examines the association of corporate governance practices with the voluntary disclosures of selected information in the annual reports of Kenyan companies. Due to the panel nature of our data, to estimate the determinants of voluntary disclosure of various types of information, we use pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) with Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSEs). Our results indicate that the presence of an audit committee is a significant factor associated with the level of voluntary disclosure, and the proportion of non-executive directors on the board is found to be significantly negatively associated with the extent of voluntary disclosure. In contrast, board leadership structure did not appear to have a significant influence on the level of voluntary disclosure by companies.
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Patrícia Teixeira Lopes and Lúcia Lima Rodrigues, "Accounting practices for financial instruments: How far are portugese companies from IFRS?"
Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to analyze the current accounting practices for financial instruments by Portuguese companies and compare them with the measurement, recognition and disclosure requirements stipulated in IAS 32 and IAS 39. In order to attain our objective, we draw up a list of 120 categories of inquiry and 370 possible responses that we are interested in analyzing. We apply content analysis technique to listed companies’ 2001 annual reports. Our results show that applying IAS 32 and IAS 39 will have its greatest impact on the categories of financial instruments for which the adoption of fair value is required and on hedging accounting practices. These findings throw light on the challenges of adopting IAS 32 and IAS 39, particularly with respect to fair value measurement.
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Ross H. Taplin, "A practical guide to constructing specialised indices of international accounting harmony using the hormoniser software"
Abstract:
This paper shows how the free Harmoniser software can easily be used to construct specialised indices of harmony. This enables researchers in International Accounting Harmony to carefully consider and put into practice more appropriate measures of harmony than simplistic H, I and C indices. This has significant policy implications as any debate on convergence and harmonisation should have precise and clearly articulated definitions of international harmony (comparability of accounts). These implications are discussed together with a practical guide on how to collect data, select an appropriate index, and how to use the Harmoniser software to calculate the index from data.
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Professional comments
Janice A. Loftus and John A. Purcell, "Corporate social responsibility: concepts, approaches to regulation and public sector application of the GRI"
Abstract
This paper considers the debate on the role of corporate social responsibility in decision making and challenges the view that corporate social responsibility and profits are mutually exclusive objectives. Voluntary and mandatory approaches to reporting on performance in relation to a broader set of stakeholders are compared. Respective corporate and public sector environmental disclosure requirements provide contrasting sources of development in mandated and voluntary disclosure. While there is evident gap and pressing need for development of a more comprehensive level of stakeholder disclosure, substantial progress has been made in the development of reporting models and frameworks such as that contained in the GRI which has emerged as the preferred framework amongst many adopters both in Australia and overseas. This paper outlines the GRI framework and illustrates its application by public sector entities in Australia and New Zealand.
FRRaG: The electronic journal of the Accounting Standards Interest Group of AFAANZ, hosted by the School of Accounting, Curtin Business School.