Draft 23 November 2012
A retrospective analysis of the publication of accounting research about
New Zealand consequent on distant performance measurement of the
academic person
Keith Dixon
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Contact details:
Keith Dixon
Department of Accounting and Information Systems
Faculty of Commerce
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch 8040
New Zealand
Tel: +64-(0)3-3582666
Email: Keith.Dixon@canterbury.ac.nz
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges a travel grant of $2,000 from New Zealand Institute of
Chartered Accountants that enabled him to present an earlier version of this paper to the 6th
Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia
in July, 2010. He also acknowledges comments from participants at that conference and from
reviewers of papers for the New Zealand Management Accounting Conference at Palmerston
North in November 2012.
1
Abstract
Purpose – University academics are important to the discovery and dissemination of
knowledge about accounting practice and accounting learning. This paper explores the
consequences for the Pacific society of New Zealand of performance of these discovery and
dissemination activities being measured at the individual level using criteria directly linked to
lists of periodicals compiled in Australia and that are decidedly Atlantocentric.
Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal approach is taken to how knowledge about
accounting practice and accounting learning in New Zealand has been disseminated, and
whether trends in this dissemination are suited to New Zealand audiences, including New
Zealand students, New Zealand accountants, New Zealand policymakers, Aotearoa New
Zealand’s indigenous people and its diverse recent-settler populations, and Pacific New
Zealand Society. Over 100 accounting journals, magazines and similar periodicals are
analysed, over the past quarter century and more, for articles based on empirical data from
New Zealand. The findings relate to not only the topics of articles and which journals they
have been published in, and what trends are arising. They also are interpreted in the broader
context of university development and activities, and tertiary education policy and funding.
Findings –Of the three activities associated with accounting in New Zealand universities,
research has been the last to develop, starting with occasional articles from a small band of
professors in the Chartered Accountants’ Journal (CAJ). Now, it is often accorded the highest
priority, as reflected in formal individual academic performance management systems, and
related incentives and penalties (exemplified by Performance Based Research Fund 2012).
Publication patterns are changing. The CAJ has been deserted in favour of academic journals,
virtually all published outside New Zealand. Academics have modified the way they report to
suit the foreign editors and readerships. To publish about New Zealand in these journals,
there is some advantage in studying areas in which New Zealand is seen as a “world leader”
(e.g., Structural Adjustment, New Public Management, environmental accounting) but not in
areas about which the outside world is oblivious (e.g., New Zealand’s multicultural array of
people and organisations, including the Maori people) or in areas in which New Zealand
lacks differences of “world” interest (e.g., financial collapses and director impropriety, what
can be learnt by utilising stock exchange data).
There do seem to be strong incentives for New Zealand-based academics to set their research
in jurisdictions of more interest to journal publishers, if they want to score highly in
individual performance management systems. How fit does that then make them to teach
students about practices, concepts and issues in New Zealand?
Research limitations/implications – The research is still in progress.
Originality/value – Most studies of this ilk attempt to rank journals or are about researcher
productivity and author placement. This study is concerned with whether knowledge about
accounting practice and accounting learning in New Zealand is being disseminated in a way
that suits those likely to be most interested and affected.
Keywords University accountability, academic performance measurement, distant control
Paper type Research paper
2
Introduction
Where are all the academic articles going?
Published remotely many of them.
So how will New Zealand practitioners and Society ever learn?
(with apologies to Pete Seeger)
This study explores whether knowledge about accounting practice and learning in New
Zealand is being disseminated in ways suited to New Zealand audiences, including New
Zealand students, New Zealand accountants, New Zealand policymakers, Aotearoa New
Zealand’s indigenous peoples and its diverse recent-settler populations, and New Zealand
Society. Notwithstanding the nationalistic, “fortress New Zealand” tone of this research
question, the paper should be of world-wide interest, for raising issues about incentives for
accounting researchers to constitute and reinforce the cultural hegemony represented by the
Accounting Review, Accounting, Organizations and Society and similar, and to neglect most
of the world geographically, culturally and philosophically. The paper is also written without
assuming the reader is particularly familiar with New Zealand (lat. 41°17′ S long. 174°27′ E).
Accounting Research
An inclusive rationale for accounting research might be phrased as follows: That it has
become more apparent that accounting has pervaded the workings of societies (Burchell,
Clubb, Hopwood, Hughes and Nahapiet, 1980), and so knowing about theories, practices, and
other paraphernalia associated with accounting has grown in importance. Taking a more
partial view, and recognising the significance of accounting as a professional area of activity,
a not dissimilar rationale might be phrased as a Professor Flint did 30 years ago on a visit to
New Zealand from the University of Glasgow:
. . . a dynamic, progressive, responsible profession must be continually reviewing and
striving to improve its practice and . . . the future of our profession is critically
dependent on the quality of the research which is undertaken. (Flint, 1982, p. 73 –
included in an address to Wellington branch of New Zealand Society of Accountants)
It is also apparent that societies devote significant resources to accounting research. Along
with those for research generally (i.e., in the administrative, natural and social sciences,
technology, culture, etc.), the more visible of these resources derive from taxes that
governments and multilateral organisations redistribute to universities and other research and
development organisations. The quantities of research resources circulating within and
3
among governmental and private business organisations are also significant. A corollary is
that the canon of transparency and accountability has pervaded wealthier jurisdictions, as
part of ascendant neo-liberal political philosophies. Researchers entrusted with tax-funded
resources are expected to demonstrate performance with hard data; and, increasingly, it is on
these data that funding distributions are calculated (e.g., Australian Government, 2008;
Expert Group on Assessment of University-Based Research, 2010). Often these data include
the quantities of quality-assured research outputs individuals deliver during specified periods.
From the perspectives of research funders, and learners and practitioners of the knowledge it
generates (some of whom may have participated as respondents, informants, guinea pigs,
etc.), considerations of whence research findings derive is important, for such reasons as
familiarity with settings breeding relevance and acceptance. However, in the accounting
academy, categorising research studies according to geographical settings seems relatively
subservient, at least in theoretical terms, to other types of categorisation (e.g., quantitative,
qualitative, positive, empirical, critical, pure, applied, case-based); apart, that is, from the
ambiguous and exaggerated rhetoric “international” (see Ellis & Zhan, 2011). Indeed, the
lack of concern about geographical setting seems to reflect many researchers having come to
believe that “generalisability” of results and/or grand theorising is an important characteristic
for studies to have, if they are to be refereed as being of a quality high enough to gain
“international” recognition through publication in “international”, refereed journals.
While the concept of generalisability implies results and theories being independent of
geographical setting (unless specifically stated), one wonders if researchers perceive that an
unwritten condition in the criteria for evaluating their manuscripts for publication is that all
geographical settings of studies are equally “international” and “generalisable” but some
geographical settings are more equal than others (with apologies to Eric Blair).
Concomitantly, this playing down of geographical setting can be disconcerting, because with
geographical differences one usually finds other characteristic differences, including of
climate, topography and demography, the latter extending to the ethnic, cultural and other
social distinguishing features of populations. However, equally possible is that part and
parcel of the aforementioned cultural hegemony is that accounting research should neglect
most of the world geographically, culturally and philosophically, as in some ways culturally
inferior or potentially threatening the status quo (e.g., if the inadequate behaviours of
transnational corporations and imperial powers were to be illuminated).
4
The implications of the above might be better appreciated if one considers an aphorism
familiar in management accounting, performance measurement and performance
management: that is, what gets measured gets done (see Otley, 2003). And if one considers
basic concepts that comprise a research study (see Ahrens and Chapman, 2006) and how they
are interdependent. Methods are particularly relevant here. Those that might be most suitable
for delving into particular questions and topics can constrain researchers in their choice of
geographical setting. For example, for studies that are best performed using field work,
researchers are often constrained to geographical domains in the vicinity of their home bases
by logistical and economic factors (e.g., time, money, spoken language, issues of access).
Where does this leave those accounting researchers for whom (for various reasons) it is
vitally important to obtain the high quality assurance attaching to particular journals (e.g.,
Journal of Accounting Research; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal) and to
refereed journals in general?
Researchers living within jurisdictions dominated by performance funding regimes reflecting
the aforementioned cultural hegemony but who are remote from geographical settings
favoured by journals could respond to this disadvantage by relocating to a more favoured
location. Those researchers unwilling or unable to relocate are left with various alternatives.
These involve some backwards engineering from aiming to publish in the higher ranked
journals and thence tapering studies in suitable ways. Two stratagems suggest themselves.
Either, they could find issues, questions and topics that can be researched in their present
location and that, for idiosyncratic reasons, there is a niche in the aforementioned journals.
Or, they could set their research in geographical settings that are more prominent in these
journals by devising questions about topics that could be researched at a distance using
methods employed from a distance. Either way, it is unlikely they would attempt potential
research that would be set in geographical settings adjacent to their location but that they
perceive as unlikely to be published in the aforementioned journals.
While moves by individual researchers in these directions might not precipitate, directly or
indirectly, an entire dearth of research in non-prominent geographical settings, despite the
vital or important nature of that research to the Societies paying taxes to fund researchers
located adjacent to these settings, the circumstances they do precipitate are bound to be suboptimal from a societal point of view. Similarly, if researchers relocate, their loss could be
significant not only to research in the geographical settings they leave but also to the overall
quality of universities in those settings.
5
New Zealand (Lat. 41°17′S Long. 174°27′E)
In this exploratory paper, New Zealand is used as an example geographical setting whence to
delve into the whys and wherefores of research to know more about how accounting
functions in a setting and with what consequences. As this paper is meant for an international
audience, that puts this writer under some obligation to provide contextual information as
basic as where New Zealand is located, hence providing the coordinates above. As this study
takes a wholistic approach, of analysing and interpreting data in the context from which they
arise, most of this information is included in the data analysis and interpretation sections.
However, it is vital at this juncture to demonstrate to the international readership the quality
of New Zealand as an example in which geography and related characteristics are significant
to carrying out and reporting accounting research.
The Government of New Zealand (hereafter, the Government) was an early adopter of neoliberal ideas about performance funding of public services, including tertiary education (see
Coy, Dixon and Tower, 1991). Over the past two decades, the incidence of performance
assessment has increased in the eight universities and those polytechnics that also have
degree conferring status. This includes assessment of the research in which their academics
engage, including as a condition of them being authorised to confer degrees. A mechanism
known as the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) (Tertiary Education Commission
(TEC), 2012) has been the primary vehicle for this research performance assessment since
1997 (see Adler & Liyanarachchi, 2011). Over the past decade, the considerable amount of
annual public funding of general research activities (NZ$250m in 2012-13 – see Government
of New Zealand, 2012) has been distributed on the basis of the results of this assessment.
A related neo-liberal idea in which all bodies comprising the Government (including
autonomous ones such as universities) are statutorily obliged to indulge is to publish
strategies. Thus, there is a current strategy for tertiary education, and among its contents is a
statement about research, as follows:
We [the Government] expect the tertiary education system to . . . produce high quality
research to build on New Zealand’s knowledge base, respond to the needs of the
economy and address environmental and social challenges. (Office of the Minister for
Tertiary Education, 2009, p. 6)
Here then is a statement of expectations compiled by a government that also distributes funds
for the research referred to in this statement. Moreover, the statement has been authorised by
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a majority in an elected legislature, the House of Representatives, which in accordance with
New Zealand’s parliamentary democratic process also voted authority for the Government to
appropriate taxes for this very purpose (see Government of New Zealand, 2012).
These expectations can be juxtaposed with the PBRF mechanism of assessing and funding
research. When this is done, greater significance attaches to the question of whether the
knowledge accumulated through research can be applied to New Zealand as a geographical
setting, not only in performing the assessment but also in the process of political cum
managerial cum professional accountability running from individual academics to Parliament.
Moreover, if knowledge gained through research is distinctive to the geographical setting of
the research, including because distinctions of climate, topography and demography arise
geographically, then also significant are the geographical consequences of how the
assessment is conducted, especially as what gets measured gets done is likely to apply1.
The initial impetus for this paper is useful for elaborating these arguments at the basic unit
level of universities. The researcher embarked on this study in 2009. Based at his present
university, which he had joined in 2007, he was acutely aware of an increased prominence in
managerial rhetoric and actions associated with “the PBRF” and “AACSB accreditation”2. In
particular, he was feeling under the undue influence of official activities around research
objectives, measurement and accountability. Some colleagues had similar feelings, and others
had other feelings, more positive, more negative or more apathetic (and for many, there were
other pressures as well, including pressures similar to those analysed by James, 2008).
The undue influence hit home for many when in 2009 a particularly insidious innovation was
implemented by the chief academic and administrator in the business school. This chief sent
to each academic who was employed to research (and usually to teach and to administer as
well) a personal and confidential letter, in which they were advised of his heightened
1
Researchers have incentives other than PBRF (and Association to Advance College Schools of Business
(AACSB) qualification – see note 2) to consider how prestigious the journals are in which they should aim to
publish, and for making research their highest priority. These can range from ego, through promotion, career
advancement and peer recognition, to the Everest question response (i.e., because they are there!)
2
That is, accreditation by the Florida-based AACSB, which involves, among other things, assessing each
academic and labelling them as academically qualified (AQ), or not. The assessment is annual and based largely
on the research outputs of the academic over the previous five years, in a similar manner to but not exactly the
same as PBRF (e.g., PBRF uses six years, which are fixed, such as from 2006 to 2011 for the 2012 assessment).
7
expectations for the production of research outputs. The letters were sent in hard copy3. They
made particular reference to outputs published in refereed journals (e.g., Contemporary
Accounting Research) and professional magazines (e.g., Chartered Accountants’ Journal)
that appear on a list of periodicals that the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) had
then recently published for consultation (see ABDC, 2009).
Each letter included what in many cases turned out to be an inaccurate count of the number of
outputs produced by the recipient, as recorded in a somewhat clunky university information
system. They informed the recipients whether or not the author believed they were
performing above or below the AQ standard; and, if above, whether they were in danger of
falling below the standard. For those below the standard, or in danger of same, there was also
an indication of what was to happen, in an effort to take them above the standard. A further
circumstance, which caused many recipients some private disconcertion at first, was that it
took several days for many recipients to realise that everyone had received a letter, rather
than only those identified as under-performing.
The first letters also indicated that the author intended sending the letters would be a halfyearly event. In subsequent letters, the counts were more accurate but still disputable; and
they referred to a second list of Australian origin, that published by the Excellence in
Research for Australia (ERA) Initiative (ERA, 2010).
It transpired that three cycles of these letters were dispatched, and then the university went
into disaster recovery mode after the September 2010 earthquake and the letters stopped.
Since the last of the letters, the lists have been revised (see ABDC, 2010; ERA, 2012); and
academics have compiled their data from 2006 to 2011 in the university information system
for the 2012 PBRF exercise. These data have been submitted to TEC and are being assessed
by expert panels it has established.
It is argued that the circumstances, arrangements and events set out above demonstrate the
quality of New Zealand as a domain in which to explore how measurements and assessments
of, and funding methods for, accounting research can have various consequences, some of
which may be at odds with statements of expectations proclaimed by the elected Government
with the authorisation of Parliament. These claims are reinforced in the rest of the paper,
3
Hardcopy letters and memoranda had by then become a rarity at the institution, so this form of communication
took on an added significance.
8
which is structured in five sections, as follows. First, the methods used are outlined, including
why and how data were collected and analysed. Second, a preliminary analysis of the data on
periodicals is provided and explained as to format and other characteristics, and some other
particulars are provided about the ABDC and ERA lists. Third, further analysis of the data on
periodicals is reported, including the extent to which accounting periodicals have been
carrying research about New Zealand over the past few decades, and how this coverage
varies among sub-discipline and topic areas. In the fourth section, an interpretation is
provided of the analysis, particularly in terms of how the findings in the analysis are linked to
universities having been caught up in New Higher Education changes, with particular
emphasis on performance measurement and management; and the consequences the findings
seem to have for accounting knowledge and those identified in the paper’s opening paragraph
as being interested in that knowledge or affected by its application. Finally, conclusions are
related and suggestions for further research are made.
Method
Continuing the story of events started above, the researcher began this study a few days after
receiving his initial letter from the chief academic and administrator in the business school at
his university. Being aware that New Zealand is not (yet) a state of the Commonwealth of
Australia and on examining the draft ABDC list of 2009, the researcher began to ponder the
possible consequences of this particular provision in the letter, especially in light of the
aphorism mentioned above of “what gets measured generally gets done. And what is not
measured may suffer in comparison” (Otley 2003, p. 319). He considered that more light
could be shed on the consequences in question by exploring various questions to do with
accounting researchers based throughout New Zealand, and with accounting research about
New Zealand, including where the listed periodicals have figured in this, using some form of
retrospective analysis. Indeed, as by the summer of 2009-10 both the ABDC and ERA lists
had become so prominent in his own work environment, he took a closer interest in them.
Thus, this study began to take shape.
The researcher also had substantial grounds for believing that the letters and related
circumstances, arrangements and events of 2009 carried on a pattern tracing back to at least
the 1980s. From research he did then (see Coy et al., 1991), it was becoming clear that
relationships between New Zealand’s universities and the Society they are part of were
affected by changes now widely referred to as Structural Adjustment and New Public
Management (see Boston, 1988, 1996; Boston, Martin, Pallot and Walsh, 1996; Broadbent
9
and Guthrie, 2008). Trends since then include: the universities having become part of the
strategy of the Government in a managerial sense (e.g., see Office of the Minister for Tertiary
Education, 2009); greater individualisation of accountability, of the kinds discussed by
Broadbent, Jacobs and Laughlin (1999) and that Pettersen and Solstad (2007) show applies to
universities; and elaboration of control from a distance, as discussed by Rose and Miller
(1992) and that Huber (2009) shows applies to universities.
It is with these ideas in mind that the study has been conducted by taking a longitudinal
approach to data collection and analysis. Thus, the researcher identified all periodicals that
were listed on either the ABDC or ERA list or both, and that were labelled accounting. He
added others that were listed but were labelled otherwise, and some that neither listed. These
additions were based on his knowledge of periodicals acquired as a journeyman academic for
over 25 years, the majority of them in New Zealand, which included research activities and
library-support activities4. This choice of limiting the periodicals studied to those that
specialised in accounting was made notwithstanding that many accounting researchers
(including the author) publish accounting articles about New Zealand in periodicals
associated with other disciplines, sectors and industries. Data about these were not sought for
this study, even though the numbers of such articles are probably not insignificant, and so this
might be an avenue of further research to see if, as the researcher believes, they follow a
similar pattern to the articles and periodicals covered by this study. One exception that has
been made is to include in this study the New Zealand Journal of Applied Business because it
is based in New Zealand and a high proportion of the articles published in it were known to
relate to accounting (see next section).
Having identified these periodicals, he visited the web site of each one, if there was one,
and/or the listing of issues for each periodical in the electronic collection of the library at his
present university5. He searched these using the word “Zealand”6, and so for almost every
journal was able to generate a list of articles and similar containing that word. Using these
4
The author has from time to time been on the library committee or been the discipline library representative at
four of the institutions he has worked.
5
One “benefit” of the earthquake was that publishers and similar donated relief in the form of free access to
electronic subscriptions not already in the library catalogue.
6
The choice by Dutch cartographers of “Nieuw Zeeland”, and then Cook’s Anglicisation of it to “New
Zealand”, as the name of the country, is extremely fortunate.
10
lists, the researcher accessed HyperText Markup Language (html) files or portable document
files (pdf), mostly with the full text of each listed item, and evaluated their contents for New
Zealand coverage and New Zealand associations. The two significant exceptions were the
New Zealand Journal of Applied Business and the Chartered Accountants’ Journal, which
were not suitable for searching in this way and so were examined manually.
In keeping with the study being longitudinal, articles were searched for as far back as
possible, and so the data captured pre-dates the early signs, certainly in New Zealand and
most everywhere else, of Structural Adjustment and New Public Management, being the
policy shift out of which PBRF and other reforms to universities arose. Of historical note,
also, is that of the three activities associated with accounting in New Zealand universities
(i.e., professional accounting education and assessment, undergraduate and postgraduate
accounting learning and teaching, accounting research), research has been the last to develop.
However, it began to emerge between the 1950s and 1980s, hence going back that far.
In carrying out the searching, some hits of Zealand arose that are omitted from the study data.
A significant number of articles included “New Zealand” in acknowledgements (e.g.,
acknowledging comments from participants at annual conferences of the Accounting and
Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand). In addition to articles and book reviews,
searches of periodical contents yielded hits of Zealand in editorial board listings, calls for
papers and similar extraneous items. There were also one or two hits that related to “Old”
Zealand (as distinct from Zeeland).
Article searching was carried out over the first nine months of the study, and so many data
reported below were available by winter 20107. However, the intent had been to use the data
in conjunction with the 2012 PBRF exercise, and so the researcher has waited until after the
2012 PBRF census period had ended (i.e., on 31 December 2011) and then has done some
further data collection. Although that focused on 2010 and 2011, he was aware that back files
of periodicals have been accumulating at a significant rate recently, and so has been careful to
look for older items that might have been missed in the first data collection period, for
example, by consulting reports published by universities of research undertaken and the
7
Analyses of the data collected in 2009-10 were included in Dixon (2010a; 2010b). These prompted some
feedback on the accuracy of the data (e.g., Are you sure you’ve included my article in [Name of Journal] in
[Year] or about [Topic]?), which showed that the way the data were collected was reasonably reliable.
11
publication lists of older academics. A further source of earlier articles is Trow and Zeff
(2010).
This method proved extremely fruitful, with articles being identified as far back as the 1960s.
These and other data have been analysed and interpreted, as elaborated in the next three
sections, thus revealing, among other things, whether each of the accounting periodicals on
the ABDC and ERA lists has ever published articles that referred to New Zealand, let alone
articles based on empirical data or materials about New Zealand. Trends in the latter articles,
by journal, journal origin, and topic and sub-discipline are also revealed; along with various
matters to do with the lists and with journals and types of journals.
This study has much originality. Although the method of searching periodical contents to
identify articles and similar associated with a location (including New Zealand) has been
used in a few studies, most of these, and ones using surveys of academics and publication
lists of academics and their universities, have been attempting to rank journals (e.g., Lowe
and Locke, 2006) or are about researcher productivity and author placement (e.g., Brown,
Jones and Steele, 2007; Chan, Chang, Tong and Zhang, 2012;Wilkinson and Durden, 1998;
Wise and Fisher, 2005). None has been concerned with the questions similar to those posed
in the present study.
In making choices of questions and methods, the researcher was keen for the research to be
positive, by providing ideas to overcome inadequacies in knowledge about accounting in
New Zealand based on trends in research on accounting in New Zealand. In the Introduction
section, alternative questions were alluded to that might have been chosen but were not.
These could have included whether researchers are leaving New Zealand for (or not coming
there from) countries that as geographical settings for research studies are favoured by
journals; and whether New Zealand-based researchers are doing research about other
geographical settings, using methods suitable for research at a distance (e.g., performing
capital markets research using databases derived from movements on the New York Stock
Exchanges). These sorts of questions were considered as being somewhat negative but they
might be a basis for further research. One would have to bear in mind that it might not be a
bad thing that, for example, New Zealand-based researchers are studying other places,
including because many doctor of philosophy students are from other countries and intend
returning there after they complete; and because New Zealand is a very open economy and
what goes on in the Pacific-Asia Region and on money, stock and commodity markets in
New York, Tokyo, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc. can be significant.
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Preliminary Data Analysis
As signalled in the previous sections, this section contains a preliminary analysis of the data
generated by searching the contents of periodicals from as far back as possible up until the
PBRF 2012 census date. The data were derived from 138 accounting periodicals. Most (85)
were on both the ABDC (2009) and ERA (2010) lists, many (45) were one or the other list,
and some (8) were on neither list but were known to the researcher. These eight included
three titles that in 2010 were still in the forthcoming stage of publication. The section also
includes further information about lists that ABDC and ERA have promulgated, including
how they have been revised since those just cited8.
The data are in a tabulated form. Fifteen columns are used, as follows:
Column 1
The 138 titles in alphabetical order, except “The” is ignored in the ordering
(i.e., The Accounting Review is listed under “A”). This order is to permit the
reader to ascertain quickly whether particular titles are present or absent; and to
satisfy any curiosity about any particular title.
Column 2
The list that ERA published in 2010 gave most journals a ranking, from A*
downwards. This is retained in the table, even though it proved so controversial
that by the time ERA (2012) was published, a conscious decision was made to
drop the rankings.
Column 3
The list that ABDC published in 2009 also included a recommended ranking
for most journals that proved controversial.
Column 4
This and the next two columns relate to characteristics of those involved in
editing the periodicals. This column indicates the country(ies) in which the
editor(s) are located.
Column 5
The number of persons on editorial boards who are located in Australia. This is
analysed because of whence the ABDC and ERA lists originate.
Column 6
The number of persons on the editorial board or similar who are located in New
Zealand, because it is the domain of this study.
8
This study probably made a minor but useful contribution to this revising by the researcher finding several
anomalies in the lists in 2009-10 and coming across additional information that seemed relevant for improving
them administratively. One set of compilers seemed grateful when these matters were forwarded.
13
Column 7
This and the next seven columns relate to hits returned from the searches for
Zealand. This column indicates the year to which the earliest search hit relates.
One reason for reporting this item is to signal that if the journal existed before
the year shown and if it included items in earlier issues, they have not been
picked up, probably because of the lack of electronic back files.
Column 8
This and the next two columns relate to articles that contain empirical data
about New Zealand. This column indicates the number of studies based on
empirical data entirely from New Zealand.
Column 9
The number of studies based on empirical data drawn from a small number (2
to 10) of countries, including New Zealand.
Column 10
The number of studies based on empirical data drawn from New Zealand
among 11 or more countries (e.g., the entire membership of a multilateral
organisation, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development or International Monetary Fund).
Column 11
The number of studies with only a passing reference to New Zealand, for
example, including a New Zealand study in the literature review.
Column 12
The number of studies in which the only connection with New Zealand is
because an author has a New Zealand affiliation.
Column 13
The number of book reviews with some connection to New Zealand, through
the book content, the review content, the affiliation of the book author and/or
the affiliation of the review author.
The issue is raised in the previous section of excluding data relating to articles about
accounting in New Zealand published in journals associated with other disciplines, sectors
and industries. The only exception is the New Zealand Journal of Applied Business. The
researcher identified 39 articles from it that use New Zealand empirical data but which he
adjudged as not being about “accounting”. They are excluded from the data for that journal.
One further qualification about the data reported next is that difficulties were encountered in
trying to access searchable copies of eight titles, and so these are as yet incomplete. The eight
are designated as “Not searchable” in Column 7. It is anticipated that these difficulties can be
overcome in due course.
So, Table 1 can be viewed now. The titles are in alphabetical order to make it easy to refer to
data for particular titles. In the next section, a similar table with all the titles included is
provided. It is in descending order of frequency of articles and other matters, for readers more
interested in that. [Table 1 is also incomplete for articles published electronically since
January 2010 and in print up to December 2011]
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Table 1 Accounting Periodicals (N = 138) and Analysis of Articles with a New Zealand Connection (this table is to be updated for 2010 and 2011)
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
NZ in book
review
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Publication Title
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
1
2
Abacus: a Journal of Accounting and Business Studies
A
A
AUS
23
3
1966
10
3
0
1
3
0
Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal
C
Not listed
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Accountability in Research
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
1999
1
1
0
1
0
0
Accountancy Business and the Public Interest
C
C
UKGBNI
3
1
2005
3
0
0
1
1
0
20
1
2002
0
0
1
15
0
0
4
2
1982
10
4
0
12
0
5
32
3
1979
37
2
0
60
3
1
Accounting Accountability and Performance
C
C
AUS
Accounting and Business Research
A
A
UKGBNI
Accounting and Finance
B
A
NZ
0
0
2004
3
0
0
0
0
0
19
4
1989
25
6
2
112
7
1
Accounting and the Public Interest
Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal
Accounting Business and Financial History
Accounting Commerce and Finance: The Islamic Perspective
Journal
B
B
USA
A*
A
AUS
A
C
UKGBNI
4
0
1995
3
1
2
14
0
1
C
Malaysia
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
C
Accounting Education: An International Journal
B
B
UKGBNI
10
4
1992
22
6
0
39
0
0
Accounting Educators' Journal
C
C
USA
1
0
1989
1
0
0
6
0
0
Accounting Forum
B
B
AUS
10
1
2005
4
2
3
37
1
0
Accounting Historians Journal
B
B
USA
?
?
1981
3
1
0
14
1
5
Accounting History
A
B
AUS
7
2
1998
8
2
2
32
2
1
Accounting Horizons
A
A
USA
2
1
1991
2
2
1
19
1
1
Accounting in Europe
B
Not listed
UKGBNI
0
0
2004
0
0
0
4
1
0
A*
A*
UKGBNI
5
0
1979
4
0
8
56
5
0
C
Not listed
CAN
0
0
2002
0
1
0
1
0
0
Accounting Organizations and Society
Accounting Perspectives
Accounting Research Journal
Accounting Review
Advances in Accounting : a Research Annual10
9
Country of
Eds9
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
ERA
2010
Rank
B
B
AUS
15
1
2006
6
0
0
3
1
0
A*
A*
USA
1
0
1985
3
1
0
1
0
0
A
A
USA
0
0
2001
4
2
6
28
0
0
Key: AUS = Australia; CAN = Canada; Eur = two or more European Union countries; HK = Hong Kong; IRE = Republic of Ireland; NZ = New Zealand; RSA = South Africa; Sing = Singapore; Tai = Taiwan; UKGBNI =
Great Britain and Northern Ireland; USA = United States of America.
10
Advances in International Accounting has been merged in Advances in Accounting: a Research Annual, and data for the two journals have been combined in this row.
15
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of
Eds9
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
NZ in book
review
8
9
10
11
2
3
4
5
6
7
12
13
Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research
B
B
USA
1
0
2001
0
1
0
3
0
0
Advances in Accounting Education: teaching and curriculum
innovations
C
B
USA
0
0
2007
0
0
0
2
0
0
Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
2000
0
0
0
6
0
0
Advances in Management Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
2001
0
0
0
5
0
0
Advances in Public Interest Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
1998
2
0
1
2
0
0
Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
2000
0
0
0
4
0
0
Not listed
Not listed
RSA
1
1
1999
1
1
0
3
0
0
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
not searchable
Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting
Not
ranked
Not listed
USA
6
3
not searchable
American Journal of Finance and Accounting
Not
ranked
Not listed
USA
1
0
not searchable
Art Law and Accounting Reporter
C
Not listed
Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and
Finance
C
C
Malaysia
2006
0
1
0
3
0
0
Asian Review of Accounting
7
3
3
59
1
0
African Finance Journal
African Journal of Accounting, Economics, Finance and
Banking Research
not searchable
5
1
C
C
AUS
17
0
1992
Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability Journal
C
Not listed
AUS
12
2
not searchable
Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics
B
B
Tai/USA/China
(HK)
1
0
2007
0
0
0
4
0
0
Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal
C
Not listed
Malaysia/NZ
2
2
2006
1
0
0
4
1
0
Auditing: a Journal of Practice and Theory
A
A
USA
4
0
1985
4
0
1
18
0
0
Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal
B
Not listed
AUS
36
0
2007
3
1
1
10
0
0
Australasian Journal of Business and Behavioural Sciences
C
Not listed
USA
7
2
2008
0
0
0
1
0
0
Australian Accounting Review
B
B
AUS
35
3
1998
10
10
1
92
1
0
Australian Journal of Accounting Education
C
C
AUS
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Behavioral Research in Accounting
A
A
USA
0
0
1999
1
0
0
4
0
0
British Accounting Review
A
A
UKGBNI
4
2
1988
16
1
3
54
3
7
CA Magazine
Not listed
Not listed
CAN
0
0
1977
1
3
0
35
1
0
Chartered Accountants’ Journal (New Zealand)
Not listed
C
NZ
0
6
Searched
manually 1973-
1390
6
0
0
0
0
China Accounting and Finance Review
C
C
China/ China(HK)
2
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
China Journal of Accounting Research
Not
ranked
Not listed
China/HK
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
A*
A*
CAN
3
0
1997
2
0
3
6
0
0
B
B
Ukraine
1
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Contemporary Accounting Research
Corporate Board: role, duties and composition
16
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of
Eds9
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
NZ in book
review
8
9
10
11
2
3
4
5
6
7
12
13
Corporate Ownership and Control
B
B
Ukraine
2
0
2004
3
0
0
1
0
0
Cost Management (ex Journal of Cost Management)
C
B
USA
0
0
2001
0
1
0
3
0
0
Critical Perspectives on Accounting
A
A
CAN/UKGBNI
5
0
1990
17
9
1
72
18
0
European Accounting Review
A
A
SPAIN
1
0
1993
1
3
6
17
0
4
Financial Accountability and Management
A
A
UKGBNI
6
1
1990
24
3
0
3
0
0
Not listed
C
UKGBNI
0
0
2001
3
0
0
8
0
0
Financial Management (ex Management Accounting (UK))
Financial Reporting, Regulation and Governance
C
C
AUS
16
5
2005
1
0
0
3
0
0
Geneva Risk and Insurance Review
B
C
USA/Ger
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Global Perspectives on Accounting Education
C
Not listed
USA
3
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
IMA Educational Case Journal (Institute of Management
Accountants)
C
Not listed
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Indonesian Management and Accounting Research
C
C
Indonesia
?
?
not searchable
Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management
C
B
USA
1
0
2001
0
2
0
3
0
0
0
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems
B
A
USA
4
0
2000
0
1
0
12
0
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
1992
1
1
0
4
0
1
A
A
USA
7
1
1996
2
8
16
46
5
20
Not
ranked
Not listed
CAN
3
2
2008
0
0
0
4
0
0
International Journal of Accounting and Information
Management
B
Not listed
USA
6
0
2009
0
1
0
1
0
0
International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance
Evaluation
B
B
Bahrain/USA
6
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Internal Auditing
International Journal of Accounting
International Journal of Accounting and Finance
International Journal of Auditing
B
B
AUS/Eur/Sing
3
1
1998
2
3
1
2
1
0
International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance
Not
ranked
Not listed
UK/It/Gre
1
0
2008
0
0
1
0
0
0
International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and Finance
Not
ranked
Not listed
UK
0
1
2008
0
0
0
5
0
0
Not listed
Not listed
USA
5
0
2009
0
0
0
0
1
0
C
Not listed
Spain/USA
1
0
2001
1
0
1
0
0
0
Not
ranked
Not listed
Malaysia
2
1
2008
0
0
0
7
0
0
Not listed
C
IRE
0
0
2004
0
0
0
13
0
0
International Journal of Critical Accounting
International Journal of Digital Accounting Research
International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting
Irish Accounting Review
Issues in Accounting Education
A
A
USA
0
0
1997
1
1
0
1
0
1
JAAF - Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance
A
A
USA
0
0
1997
0
0
0
2
1
0
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
1991
0
3
4
7
0
0
A*
A*
USA
0
0
1988
2
0
7
10
1
0
Journal of Accountancy
Journal of Accounting and Economics
17
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of
Eds9
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
NZ in book
review
8
9
10
11
2
3
4
5
6
7
12
13
Not listed
Not listed
discontinued
discontinued
discontinued
1999
0
0
0
3
0
0
Journal of Accounting and Organisational Change
B
C
AUS
17
7
2005
2
0
0
19
1
6
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
A
A
USA
2
1
1983
7
0
9
26
1
0
Journal of Accounting and Finance Research
Journal of Accounting Case Research
C
C
discontinued
2000
6
0
0
0
1
0
Journal of Accounting Education
A
B
USA
1
0
1983
5
2
2
21
4
0
Not listed
Not listed
UKGBNI
2
1
2011 first pub
Journal of Accounting Literature
A
A
USA
0
0
1992
0
0
1
15
0
0
Journal of Accounting Research
A*
A*
USA
1
0
1967
2
0
5
8
3
1
C
C
Indonesia
6
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2005
0
1
0
11
1
0
Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies
Journal of Accounting, Business and Management
discontinued
discontinued
Journal of Accounting, Ethics and Public Policy
C
C
USA
Journal of Applied Accounting Research
B
B
UKGBNI
Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research
C
B
AUS
28
1
2004
0
0
0
10
0
0
Journal of Applied Research in Accounting and Finance
B
Not listed
AUS
5
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Banking and Finance - Law and Practice
C
Not listed
AUS
2
0
1999
1
0
0
1
0
0
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting
A
A
UKGBNI
3
0
1977
17
1
0
2
5
0
Journal of Construction Accounting and Taxation
B
Not listed
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics
B
B
China (HK)/CAN
1
1
2009
1
0
3
4
0
0
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
C
USA
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance
Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics (ex Journal of Cost
Analysis and Management)
C
Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting
C
C
USA
0
0
2008
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services
C
Not listed
UKGBNI
0
3
2002
1
1
0
1
0
0
Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting
C
Not listed
Malaysia
3
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Not listed
C
discontinued
1998
1
0
0
1
0
0
Journal of Forensic Accounting: auditing, fraud, and taxation
B
B
USA
0
0
2004
0
0
0
1
0
0
Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting
C
C
UKGBNI
6
0
1998
1
0
1
13
1
0
Journal of Financial Statement Analysis
discontinued
discontinued
Journal of Intellectual Capital
B
B
UKGBNI/CAN
3
0
2001
3
3
1
22
2
0
Journal of International Accounting Research
B
B
USA
3
1
2002
1
0
4
11
0
5
Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation
B
B
USA
3
0
1992
2
4
12
45
1
0
3
0
1990
7
2
0
6
0
0
1
0
0
4
0
0
Journal of International Financial Management and
Accounting
B
B
USA
Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research
Not listed
Not listed
UKGBNI
3
1
2010 first pub
A*
A
USA
2
0
1995
Journal of Management Accounting Research
18
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of
Eds9
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
NZ in book
review
8
9
10
11
2
3
4
5
6
7
12
13
Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing
C
Not listed
China
?
?
2009
0
0
0
2
0
0
Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial
Management
B
B
USA
1
0
1996
1
1
7
24
0
0
Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice
0
0
2001
0
0
2
0
0
0
C
Not listed
Italy
Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research
C
Not listed
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Wealth Management
C
C
USA
0
0
2000
0
0
6
0
0
0
Malaysian Accounting Review
C
C
Malaysia
4
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Management Accounting Quarterly
Not listed
C
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Management Accounting Research
A
A
UKGBNI
4
0
1990
13
3
0
26
4
0
Managerial Auditing Journal
B
B
AUS
8
1
1986
15
9
10
87
4
2
National Accountant
C
Not listed
AUS
?
?
not searchable
New Zealand Journal of Applied Business Research
C
C
NZ
10
1
2002
36
0
0
0
0
0
Pacific Accounting Review
B
B
NZ
9
22
1988
53
4
0
25
5
9
Petroleum Accounting and Financial Management Journal
C
C
USA
0
0
1998
0
0
0
8
0
0
Public Budgeting and Finance
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
1991
2
1
1
1
0
0
Public Finance and Management
B
Not listed
USA
0
0
2002
2
0
0
0
0
0
Public Money and Management
B
A
UKGBNI
1
1
1989
2
6
1
13
0
0
Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management
B
B
NZ
7
8
2005
7
0
0
8
5
1
Research in Accounting in Emerging Economies
C
Not listed
UKGBNI
0
0
2008
0
0
0
2
0
0
Research in Accounting Regulation
B
B
USA
1
0
2004
1
0
0
5
1
0
Research in Governmental and Non-Profit Accounting
B
B
USA/UKGBNI
0
0
1996
1
0
0
1
0
0
Review of Accounting and Finance
C
C
USA
2
0
2002
0
0
10
9
2
0
Review of Accounting Studies
A
A*
USA
0
0
2002
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
1997
2
0
8
14
4
0
1
0
0
10
1
0
135
160
1456
106
72
Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting
B
B
USA
Social and Environmental Accountability Journal
Not listed
Not listed
UKGBNI
Strategic Finance (ex Management Accounting (US))
Not listed
C
USA
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
Not listed
Not listed
AUS
Total of 138 Periodicals
not searchable
0
0
1991
3
1
2010 first pub
520
111
19
1,839
As the final row of Table 1 shows, in the 138 periodicals listed, 1,839 articles were found
based entirely on empirical data from New Zealand (Column 8). A further 135 articles were
found based on empirical data from New Zealand and at least one other country, but not more
than nine others (Column 9); and a further 160 articles were found that included data from
New Zealand and at least 10 other countries (Column 10). Further analyses of these data are
reported in the next section.
A few other matters that Table 1 supports can be reported here. Five of the 135 periodicals
still functioning (three titles are known to have been discontinued) are edited in New
Zealand. In four cases, namely, the Chartered Accountants’ Journal, the Pacific Accounting
Review, Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management and the New Zealand Journal
of Applied Business, this status is longstanding. This does not apply to the fifth case, namely,
Accounting and Finance, with the editorship alternating between New Zealand and Australia,
as explained in the next section. The Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal is jointedited in New Zealand, but has only ever included one New Zealand study. Seemingly, it
focuses its contents on Malaysia, where it is jointly-edited from, and neighbouring south-east
Asian domain studies. To describe it as a New Zealand journal seems inaccurate. Thus,
references in the rest of the paper to “the four New Zealand-edited journals” are to the first
four cases.
Although the vast majority of the periodicals in Table 1 are on the two lists originating from
Australia, of the other 129 titles still current and not referred to in the previous paragraph,
only just over 20 are edited or joint-edited in Australia. This contrasts with over 60 being
edited or joint edited in USA, predominantly on the Atlantic side, and over 20 in UK, with
the rest spread over 13 other countries. Thus, on the basis of editor locations, it would be
inaccurate to describe the ABDC and ERA lists as Australian or even Asia-Pacific-oriented.
That inference changes slightly when one takes account of the composition of the editorial
boards that most periodicals were found to have and that might be a method of diversifying
editorial involvement. Of the 123 periodicals edited wholly, partially or intermittently outside
New Zealand for which editorial board or similar data were available, 41 have at least one
board member who is affiliated to a New Zealand university or similar. Indeed, as the total of
Column 6 shows, the number of people with a New Zealand affiliation on these 41 boards
and of the 4 boards of the New Zealand-edited journals is 111. This compares with 520
Australia-based persons in similar positions, spread over 79 boards.
20
That countries from outside USA, Australia and UK are barely represented as editor locations
of periodicals in Table 1 may be surprising in the case of Canada, a similar mainly-Englishspeaking country, except Contemporary Accounting Research is edited there. However, the
absence of the rest is consistent with the peculiarity that the Australian lists, at least as far as
accounting is concerned, lack for any Pacific or World language other than English. Indeed,
from a perusal of the two lists, this appears consistent across the other “business” disciplines
in the ABDC list and all the academic disciplines in the ERA list. Why this is so and whether
it is inadequate (e.g., for reasons of cultural hegemony) could be a useful avenue of further
research in Australia.
For the present study, because the periodicals on the two lists and the rankings they are
accorded are increasingly significant to evaluate performance and behaviour of (and in) New
Zealand universities, the matter of linguistic and cultural partiality is significant on two
fronts. First, given the official status of New Zealand as bi-cultural (i.e., recognising the
social distinctiveness between Maori and non-Maori), the virtual monopoly of periodicals
published only in the language of English (which is allied with a proportion only of the nonMaori cultural group) raises issues of adequacy of the two lists culturally. Second, the cohort
of accounting academics and postgraduate research students in New Zealand seems to be
increasingly multicultural, and its members speak an increasing number of Eurasian, North
Asian and Pacific Rim languages. Being obliged to regard the two lists as signals of which
periodicals they should publish in, and so of which periodicals they should not to publish in,
must be galling, offensive, infuriating and demotivating for an increasing number of members
of this cohort.
Considering the question of the USA titles from a USA point of view, although they number
60 in Table 1, it is worth noting that this numbers represents barely more than one per state,
and that the two lists are not missing significant quantities of journals hiding in the Dakotas,
Alaska or Wyoming, etc. How sparse publishing opportunities are for USA-based academics
is even clearer when one realises how disproportionate the situation is on a population basis.
The populations of New Zealand and Australia are 1.5% and 7% of the USA population
respectively, and they have 4 and 20 titles in Table 1, which would suggest the USA should
have 280 accounting titles. A further analysis of journal editor locations by USA state is
planned, with similar for the Commonwealth of Australia. Incidentally, if New Zealand was a
state of the USA, it would be 26th in order of population, in between Louisiana and Kentucky.
21
Australia would be 3rd, after California and Texas, and its biggest state, New South Wales,
13th.
Columns 2 and 3 show how each periodical in Table 1 was ranked in the ERA (2010) and
ABDC (2009) lists. A summary of these is provided in Table 2.
Table 2 Distribution of Journals by Rankings
Frequency of Ranking
Ranking
ERA
ABDC
No.
%
No.
%
A*
7
6
6
6
A
21
17
22
23
B
40
33
35
37
C
46
38
33
34
7
6
0
0
121
100
96
100
Not ranked
Total on list
Not listed
Total in study
17
42
138
138
As alluded to above, controversy has surrounded these rankings and it is not going away (see
Moosa, 2011). The controversy over the ERA list was a multidisciplinary one. It led to the
ERA organisation being instructed by the responsible minister in the Commonwealth of
Australia Government to dispense with rankings, and so the ERA (2012) list has no rankings.
The argument was that:
There is clear and consistent evidence that the rankings were being deployed
inappropriately within some quarters of the [Australian tertiary education] sector, in
ways that could produce harmful outcomes, and based on a poor understanding of the
actual role of the rankings. One common example was the setting of targets for
publication in A and A* journals by institutional research managers.
In light of these two factors – that ERA could work perfectly well without the rankings,
and that their existence was focussing ill-informed, undesirable behaviour in the
management of research – I have made the decision to remove the rankings, based on
the ARC’s expert advice. (Minister Carr, quoted by National Tertiary Education Union,
2012)
22
This move has generated disquiet among members on the ABDC, who have decided not only
to continue their list (it appeared that they were going to do otherwise in the light of the ERA
(2010) list being published) but also seem likely to retain rankings in the next iteration.
Should this happen, there seems no reason that the four New Zealand-edited journals,
presently ranked B, B, C and C, will improve their ABDC rankings, with what implications is
an issue for later in this paper.
Further Analysis of Data
Picking up a theme alluded to in describing Table 1, the distribution of the 1,839 articles
(Column 8), 135 articles (Column 9) and 160 articles (Column 10), being 2,134 in all, is of
significance. Below, this distribution is analysed in several ways, beginning with by journal.
By Journal
By taking Table 1 and adding a new column, being the total of Columns 8, 9 and 10, and
sorting the rows by the new column (Column 11), a new table emerges, Table 311. The order
in which the periodicals appear in Column 1 of Table 3 is now based on the number of
articles that have been found in each periodical. The 11 periodicals for which no data is
available have been sectioned off at the bottom of the table. [Table 3 is incomplete for
articles published electronically since January 2010 and in print up to December 2011]
The New Zealand-edited Chartered Accountants’ Journal tops Table 3, with 1,396 articles
since 1973, written by academics in academic roles. That leaves 738 articles spread around
the other 137 periodicals, most of these being refereed journals, unlike the Chartered
Accountants’ Journal.
Probably a slight majority of the articles that have been published in the three other New
Zealand-edited journals feature New Zealand data. This is reflected in them accounting for a
further 100 of the remaining 738 articles. The highest place on Table 3 (2nd on the list, in fact)
is the Pacific Accounting Review. It is also the oldest of the three, and like the Chartered
Accountants’ Journal was founded by the body now known as the New Zealand Institute of
Chartered Accountants (NZICA), in conjunction with accounting academics based in New
Zealand’s universities. However, in its 25 years in existence, and despite the proportion of its
New Zealand content being high, only 57 articles about New Zealand have been published in
11
Note that the data about book reviews included in Table 1 has been dropped from Table 3.
23
it, which is less than 10% of the academic authored content of the Chartered Accountants’
Journal in the same period. The other two are also either high on Table 3 (4th) or rising up it
quickly (35th), despite being comparative newcomers (in 2002 and 2005 respectively).
24
Table 3 Accounting Periodicals (N = 138) and Analysis of Articles with a New Zealand Connection sorted by Quantity of New Zealand
Content (table to be updated for 2010 and 2011)
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
5
6
0
6
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
7
8
9
10
Searched
manually 1973-
1390
6
0
1396
0
0
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
2
3
4
Not listed
C
NZ
Pacific Accounting Review
B
B
NZ
9
22
1988
53
4
0
57
25
5
Accounting and Finance
B
A
NZ
32
3
1979
37
2
0
39
60
3
New Zealand Journal of Applied Business Research
C
C
NZ
10
1
2002
36
0
0
36
0
0
Managerial Auditing Journal
B
B
AUS
8
1
1986
15
9
10
34
87
4
19
4
1989
25
6
2
33
112
7
10
4
1992
22
6
0
28
39
0
1
27
72
18
Chartered Accountants’ Journal (New Zealand)
Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal
A*
A
AUS
Accounting Education: An International Journal
B
B
UKGBNI
Critical Perspectives on Accounting
A
A
CAN/UKGBNI
5
0
1990
17
9
Financial Accountability and Management
A
A
UKGBNI
6
1
1990
24
3
0
27
3
0
International Journal of Accounting
A
A
USA
7
1
1996
2
8
16
26
46
5
Australian Accounting Review
B
B
AUS
35
3
1998
10
10
1
21
92
1
British Accounting Review
A
A
UKGBNI
4
2
1988
16
1
3
20
54
3
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting
A
A
UKGBNI
3
0
1977
17
1
0
18
2
5
Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation
B
B
USA
3
0
1992
2
4
12
18
45
1
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
A
A
USA
2
1
1983
7
0
9
16
26
1
Management Accounting Research
A
A
UKGBNI
4
0
1990
13
3
0
16
26
4
Accounting and Business Research
A
A
UKGBNI
4
2
1982
10
4
0
14
12
0
Abacus: a Journal of Accounting and Business Studies
A
A
AUS
23
3
1966
10
3
0
13
1
3
Asian Review of Accounting
C
C
AUS
17
0
1992
7
3
3
13
59
1
Accounting History
A
B
AUS
7
2
1998
8
2
2
12
32
2
A*
A*
UKGBNI
5
0
1979
4
0
8
12
56
5
Accounting Organizations and Society
Advances in Accounting : a Research Annual
A
A
USA
0
0
2001
4
2
6
12
28
0
European Accounting Review
A
A
SPAIN
1
0
1993
1
3
6
10
17
0
Review of Accounting and Finance
C
C
USA
2
0
2002
0
0
10
10
9
2
Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
1997
2
0
8
10
14
4
Accounting Forum
B
B
AUS
10
1
2005
4
2
3
9
37
1
A*
A*
USA
0
0
1988
2
0
7
9
10
1
Journal of Accounting and Economics
25
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
8
9
10
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
2
3
4
5
6
7
Journal of Accounting Education
A
B
USA
1
0
1983
5
2
2
9
21
4
Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting
B
B
USA
3
0
1990
7
2
0
9
6
0
Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management
B
B
USA
1
0
1996
1
1
7
9
24
0
Public Money and Management
Journal of Accountancy
Journal of Accounting Research
B
A
UKGBNI
1
1
1989
2
6
1
9
13
0
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
1991
0
3
4
7
7
0
A*
A*
USA
1
0
1967
2
0
5
7
8
3
Journal of Intellectual Capital
B
B
UKGBNI/CAN
3
0
2001
3
3
1
7
22
2
Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management
B
B
NZ
7
8
2005
7
0
0
7
8
5
Accounting Business and Financial History
A
C
UKGBNI
4
0
1995
3
1
2
6
14
0
15
1
2006
6
0
0
6
3
1
3
1
1998
2
3
1
6
2
1
2000
6
0
0
6
0
1
Accounting Research Journal
B
B
AUS
International Journal of Auditing
B
B
AUS/Eur/Sing
Journal of Accounting Case Research
C
C
discontinued
discontinued
discontinued
Journal of Wealth Management
C
C
USA
0
0
2000
0
0
6
6
0
0
Accounting Horizons
A
A
USA
2
1
1991
2
2
1
5
19
1
Auditing: a Journal of Practice and Theory
A
A
USA
4
0
1985
4
0
1
5
18
0
B
Not listed
AUS
36
0
2007
3
1
1
5
10
0
A*
A*
CAN
3
0
1997
2
0
3
5
6
0
Journal of International Accounting Research
B
B
USA
3
1
2002
1
0
4
5
11
0
Accounting Historians Journal
B
B
USA
?
?
1981
3
1
0
4
14
1
Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal
Contemporary Accounting Research
Accounting Review
A*
A*
USA
1
0
1985
3
1
0
4
1
0
Not listed
Not listed
CAN
0
0
1977
1
3
0
4
35
1
B
B
China (HK)/CAN
1
1
2009
1
0
3
4
4
0
Public Budgeting and Finance
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
1991
2
1
1
4
1
0
Accountancy Business and the Public Interest
C
C
UKGBNI
3
1
2005
3
0
0
3
1
1
Accounting and the Public Interest
B
B
USA
0
0
2004
3
0
0
3
0
0
CA Magazine
Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics
Advances in Public Interest Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
1998
2
0
1
3
2
0
Corporate Ownership and Control
B
B
Ukraine
2
0
2004
3
0
0
3
1
0
Not listed
C
UKGBNI
0
0
2001
3
0
0
3
8
0
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
1999
1
1
0
2
1
0
Financial Management (ex Management Accounting (UK))
Accountability in Research
26
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
8
9
10
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
2
3
4
5
6
7
Not listed
Not listed
RSA
1
1
1999
1
1
0
2
3
0
C
B
USA
1
0
2001
0
2
0
2
3
0
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
1992
1
1
0
2
4
0
International Journal of Digital Accounting Research
C
Not listed
Spain/USA
1
0
2001
1
0
1
2
0
0
Issues in Accounting Education
A
A
USA
0
0
1997
1
1
0
2
1
0
Journal of Accounting and Organisational Change
B
C
AUS
17
7
2005
2
0
0
2
19
1
Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services
C
Not listed
UKGBNI
0
3
2002
1
1
0
2
1
0
Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting
C
C
UKGBNI
6
0
1998
1
0
1
2
13
1
Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice
C
Not listed
Italy
0
0
2001
0
0
2
2
0
0
Public Finance and Management
B
Not listed
USA
0
0
2002
2
0
0
2
0
0
Review of Accounting Studies
A
A*
USA
0
0
2002
0
0
2
2
2
0
Accounting Accountability and Performance
C
C
AUS
20
1
2002
0
0
1
1
15
0
African Finance Journal
Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management
Internal Auditing
Accounting Educators' Journal
C
C
USA
1
0
1989
1
0
0
1
6
0
Accounting Perspectives
C
Not listed
CAN
0
0
2002
0
1
0
1
1
0
Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research
B
B
USA
1
0
2001
0
1
0
1
3
0
Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance
C
C
Malaysia
5
1
2006
0
1
0
1
3
0
Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal
C
Not listed
Malaysia/NZ
2
2
2006
1
0
0
1
4
1
Behavioral Research in Accounting
A
A
USA
0
0
1999
1
0
0
1
4
0
Cost Management (ex Journal of Cost Management)
C
B
USA
0
0
2001
0
1
0
1
3
0
Financial Reporting, Regulation and Governance
C
C
AUS
16
5
2005
1
0
0
1
3
0
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems
B
A
USA
4
0
2000
0
1
0
1
12
0
International Journal of Accounting and Information Management
B
Not listed
USA
6
0
2009
0
1
0
1
1
0
Not
ranked
Not listed
UK/It/Gre
1
0
2008
0
0
1
1
0
0
Journal of Accounting Literature
A
A
USA
0
0
1992
0
0
1
1
15
0
Journal of Applied Accounting Research
B
B
UKGBNI
0
0
2005
0
1
0
1
11
1
C
Not listed
AUS
0
1999
1
0
0
1
1
0
Not listed
C
discontinued
1998
1
0
0
1
1
0
A*
A
USA
2
0
1995
1
0
0
1
4
0
B
USA
1
0
2004
1
0
0
1
5
1
International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance
Journal of Banking and Finance - Law and Practice
Journal of Financial Statement Analysis
Journal of Management Accounting Research
Research in Accounting Regulation
B
2
discontinued
discontinued
27
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
8
9
10
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
2
3
4
5
6
7
B
B
USA/UKGBNI
0
0
1996
1
0
0
1
1
0
Strategic Finance (ex Management Accounting (US))
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
1991
1
0
0
1
10
1
Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal
C
Not listed
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Research in Governmental and Non-Profit Accounting
Accounting Commerce and Finance: The Islamic Perspective Journal
C
C
Malaysia
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Accounting in Europe
B
Not listed
UKGBNI
0
0
2004
0
0
0
0
4
1
Advances in Accounting Education: teaching and curriculum innovations
C
B
USA
0
0
2007
0
0
0
0
2
0
Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management
C
Not listed
USA
0
0
2000
0
0
0
0
6
0
Advances in Management Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
2001
0
0
0
0
5
0
Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting
B
B
USA
0
0
2000
0
0
0
0
4
0
2007
0
0
0
0
4
0
Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics
B
B
Tai/USA/China
(HK)
1
0
Australasian Journal of Business and Behavioural Sciences
C
Not listed
USA
7
2
2008
0
0
0
0
1
0
Australian Journal of Accounting Education
C
C
AUS
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
China Accounting and Finance Review
C
C
China/ China(HK)
2
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
China Journal of Accounting Research
Not
ranked
Not listed
China/HK
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Corporate Board: role, duties and composition
B
B
Ukraine
1
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Geneva Risk and Insurance Review
B
C
USA/Ger
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Global Perspectives on Accounting Education
C
Not listed
USA
3
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
IMA Educational Case Journal (Institute of Management Accountants)
C
Not listed
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Not
ranked
Not listed
CAN
3
2
2008
0
0
0
0
4
0
B
B
Bahrain/USA
6
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Not
ranked
Not listed
UK
0
1
2008
0
0
0
0
5
0
Not listed
Not listed
USA
5
0
2009
0
0
0
0
0
1
Not
ranked
Not listed
Malaysia
2
1
2008
0
0
0
0
7
0
Not listed
C
IRE
0
0
2004
0
0
0
0
13
0
A
A
USA
0
0
1997
0
0
0
0
2
1
Not listed
Not listed
discontinued
1999
0
0
0
0
3
0
Journal of Accounting, Business and Management
C
C
Indonesia
6
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Accounting, Ethics and Public Policy
C
C
USA
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
International Journal of Accounting and Finance
International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation
International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and Finance
International Journal of Critical Accounting
International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting
Irish Accounting Review
JAAF - Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance
Journal of Accounting and Finance Research
discontinued
discontinued
28
Publication Title
1
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
8
9
10
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
2
3
4
5
6
7
Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research
C
B
AUS
28
1
2004
0
0
0
0
10
0
Journal of Applied Research in Accounting and Finance
B
Not listed
AUS
5
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Construction Accounting and Taxation
B
Not listed
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance
Not listed
C
USA
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics (ex Journal of Cost Analysis and
Management)
C
C
USA
0
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting
C
C
USA
0
0
2008
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting
C
Not listed
Malaysia
3
1
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Journal of Forensic Accounting: auditing, fraud, and taxation
B
B
USA
0
0
2004
0
0
0
0
1
0
Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing
C
Not listed
China
?
?
2009
0
0
0
0
2
0
Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research
C
Not listed
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Malaysian Accounting Review
C
C
Malaysia
4
0
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
Not listed
C
USA
?
?
No hits
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1998
0
0
0
0
8
0
0
0
2008
0
0
0
0
2
0
493
103
135
160
Management Accounting Quarterly
Petroleum Accounting and Financial Management Journal
C
C
USA
Research in Accounting in Emerging Economies
C
Not listed
UKGBNI
USA
Sub-Total
African Journal of Accounting, Economics, Finance and Banking Research
1,839
C
Not listed
0
0
not searchable
Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting
Not
ranked
Not listed
USA
6
3
not searchable
American Journal of Finance and Accounting
Not
ranked
Not listed
USA
1
0
not searchable
Art Law and Accounting Reporter
C
Not listed
Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability Journal
C
Not listed
AUS
Indonesian Management and Accounting Research
C
C
National Accountant
not searchable
12
2
not searchable
Indonesia
?
?
not searchable
AUS
?
?
not searchable
C
Not listed
Social and Environmental Accountability Journal
Not listed
Not listed
UKGBNI
Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies
Not listed
Not listed
UKGBNI
2
1
2011 first pub
Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research
Not listed
Not listed
UKGBNI
3
1
2010 first pub
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
Not listed
Not listed
AUS
3
1
2010 first pub
520
111
Total
not searchable
29
2,134
1456
106
An interesting 3rd placed in Table 3 is Accounting and Finance, which is the journal of the
Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. Although it is presently
edited in New Zealand, and has been occasionally so in the past, it has been edited in
Australia for most of its 50 year history. Indeed, apart from three New Zealand-edited
journals, the rest of the top 15% (i.e., 20 periodicals) of Table 3 is dominated by Australianedited journals and by British-edited journals. This reflects that a significant quantity of work
about New Zealand (over 350 of the 738 studies) is published in the 40 or so journals edited
in these two countries, and so echoes an earlier finding by Wise and Fisher (2005) about the
publishing habits of New Zealand accounting and finance academics up to 2004.
Notwithstanding some sharing of Anglo Norman and Saxon, and Celtic cultures among these
three monarchies (i.e., Australia, New Zealand and UK), the knowledge about New Zealand
has to be reported in ways to suit the home audiences of these titles, and other non-New
Zealand audiences. This is in part because common knowledge about New Zealand and its
current affairs are not widely disseminated outside New Zealand in popular ways (e.g., TV
news). Reporting knowledge of New Zealand to suit foreign audiences is likely to differ from
how New Zealand’s multicultural and locally-informed audience would prefer to receive
knowledge for learning and to apply. For example, an Appendix is included to this article
outlining matters about new Zealand and New Zealand universities that a foreign audience
may find useful but which contains much material that for a New Zealand audience might be
taken for granted. Moreover, New Zealand knowledge outside the confines of Anglo-Celtic
institutions is likely to get less of an airing, with a few honourable exceptions (e.g., critical
studies of the consequences of British colonialism and imperialism for indigenous peoples
and institutions, including dispossession of land from Maori iwi).
Despite the high number of editor locations in the USA, one has to drop some way down
Table 3 before journals edited there appear. Indeed, there is only 1 such journal in the top 10
and only 3 in the top 20. Furthermore, two of these are the International Journal of
Accounting and the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, which share
an interest in international or cross-country studies. Hence, 28 studies in them are ones in
which New Zealand data are among those for 11 or more countries; and a further 12 studies
are ones in which New Zealand data are among those for between 2 and 10 countries. The
third title is the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, and 9 of the 16 articles it has
published contain New Zealand data along with data for other countries (all of the 11 or more
countries type, as it happens). The low presence of New Zealand data in the other USA30
edited journals probably reflects difficulties that researchers have in publishing knowledge
about New Zealand in that country, difficulties that they may well share with researchers
from many other countries. Given that it seems unlikely for ways to be found for this to
change, one wonders why such USA titles dominate these supposedly Australian lists in
quantity (that they also dominate journals ranked A* and A is dealt with below); and why
people in managerial and collegial positions who set priorities outside and inside New
Zealand universities persist with these lists, unless it is to exert authority and domination over
their academic colleagues by branding them as failing to achieve unachievable targets
(Armstrong, 1989).
Two other observations associated with Table 3 are as follows. First, a much higher
proportion (70%) of the 17 higher listed titles not edited in New Zealand have at least one
New Zealand-based member on their editorial boards than the proportion (24%) of the 100
lower listed ones for which article data are available.
Second, sitting at the top of Table 3 is the Chartered Accountants’ Journal, which is C
ranked by ABDC and not listed by ERA. Notwithstanding this, of the periodicals in the top
30 of Table 3, half are ranked A* or A by both ERA and ABDC, and three-quarters of the
rest are ranked B; whereas, as shown in Table 2, only 23% (or 29%) of all the periodicals
listed by ERA (2010) (or ABDC, 2009) are A* or A ranked, and 33% (and 36%) are B
ranked. This is revisited in the section titled The A List.
By Time
By taking the total of 2,134 articles shown in Column 11 of Table 3 and analysing them by
time, a decidedly upward trend can be discerned. This accords with the researcher’s
knowledge gained through participant-observation and findings by Chan et al. (2012) about
research productivity among New Zealand-based accounting academics; and is
notwithstanding the note of caution sounded in the Method section about the way that the
article searches were conducted electronically, giving rise to a possible bias towards finding
later research over earlier research.
The time series data are graphed in Figure 1, in which it should be noted that the time scale of
the x-axis is in 3-year intervals, proceeding back from the PBRF 2012 census date, and so
ends with the three years 2009, 2010 and 2011, and goes back through 2006-2008, 20032005, 2000-2002, etc. to 1973-1975. Three-year periods and the years combined into threes
are based on the history of the PBRF. The first quality evaluation period (TEC, 2004) was
31
from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2002. The second such period, overlapping with the
first, notice, was from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005 (TEC, 2006); and the third has
turned out to be 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2011 (TEC, 2008). These quality evaluation
periods are of six years each but the second overlaps with the first for three years, hence the
choice of three-year periods for the analysis.
Figure 1: Number of Academic-Authored Articles about NZ, as
Published Worlwide, for 3-year intervals 1973 to 2011 (est)
300
250
200
150
Worldwide
100
50
0
The upward trend is consistent not only with research activity having been given increasingly
higher priority over the past 25 years within and among universities (e.g., in the strategic
plans, etc. of ministers, public officials and university administrators; in academic
recruitment and promotion processes; and in the allocation of resources and the availability of
money for activities) (see Liyanarachchi, 2012). But it is also consistent with academics in
the accounting area over that time having generally become more amenable to research and
research-inspired teaching, in place of professional accounting work and technical-oriented
teaching; and being better qualified to do research (e.g., by having completed PhDs) and
enjoying better research facilities.
In working manually through the Chartered Accountants’ Journal to obtain data reported in
Table 3, the researcher noticed that the above trend has not applied in that periodical. Indeed,
this monthly magazine that is distributed to every NZICA member has shifted in style in
32
various ways over four decades, with shorter articles written by a widening range of authors
and columnists, and having a definitely “popular” look and feel to it (e.g., the wine, travel
and fashion sections have attracted criticisms from various quarters). Indeed, it may have
become less accepting of academic-authored articles for various reasons, although
contraction of the magazine’s size is not among those reasons. While 1,396 articles have been
contributed by academics in academic roles since 1973, the number of articles contributed by
NZICA staffers, Chartered Accountants’ Journal correspondents and columnists, and various
consultants and practitioners has been about 3,600. Taking the time series data for the
Chartered Accountants’ Journal and graphing it annually produces Figure 2. It shows that the
academics contribution waxed up to the mid-1990s and then waned. Meanwhile, from other
article counts, the researcher estimates that the annual contributions of non-academic authors
rose from under 30 in the 1970s to often well over 150 from the mid 1990s.
Figure 2: Annual Number of Academic Authored Articles
about NZ in Ch Acc Jnl 1973 to 2010
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
As well as a change in the Chartered Accountants’ Journal, the drop in academic
representation in its contents would seem to derive from academics turning away from it in
favour of peer reviewed outlets, sometimes as pressed by their peers12. Given this move, and
the pattern of publishing in the Chartered Accountants’ Journal shown in Figure 2 and the
12
When the article Dixon (2010) appeared, a few colleagues remarked on the unsuitability of the magazine as a
publishing venue, seemingly caring more about “Brownie points” than matching relevance and readership.
33
overall pattern in Figure 1, the pattern shown in Figure 3 for all articles in all periodicals in
Table 3 except the Chartered Accountants’ Journal should not be surprising. Like Figure 1,
the scale of the x-axis is in 3-year intervals, whereas that in Figure 2 was in annual intervals.
What may be surprising is the low base only 25 years ago and how steep and constant the rise
has been, without, and then with, PBRF, journal lists, researcher managers, etc.
Figure 3: Number of Articles about NZ in Refereed Accounting
Journals in 3-year intervals 1973 to 2011 (est)
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
By Geography
Much has been made of the location of editors of the periodicals listed in Table 1 and Table
3. The data for all these periodicals have been used to construct Figure 3 to show trends in
where articles about New Zealand, including with other countries, are being published. The
three trend lines derive, respectively, from the four New Zealand-edited journals; 32
periodicals that are edited outside New Zealand but in the Asia-Pacific, the majority in
Australia; and 93 periodicals edited either side of the north Atlantic.
Bearing in mind the worldwide trend in articles about accounting in New Zealand is
significantly upward, as shown in Figure 1, the lines in Figure 3 shed more light on what has
been happening. The fall in articles authored by academics and published by the Chartered
Accountants’ Journal has clearly affected the New Zealand line. Take that effect out,
however, and one does see a gradual rise in home-based, home-produced, home-published
articles, since the Pacific Accounting Review, the first of today’s three New Zealand-edited
refereed journals, began publication 25 years ago.
34
Figure 4: Number of Academic-Authored Articles about NZ,by editor
location, in 3-yr intervals 1973 to 2011 (est)
200
180
160
140
120
100
New Zealand
80
Rest of Asia-Pacific
60
Atlantic
40
20
0
As is reflected in the Atlantic line, the worldwide upward trend was fuelled initially by
publishing in UK-edited journals and, to a far lesser extent, North American-edited journals,
along with some Australian-edited journals (included in the “Rest of the Pacific” category). It
was then boosted by increased publishing opportunities arising in journals edited in Australia
and various other Asia-Pacific countries. A related matter to appreciate is that since the late
1980s many new journals have started and flourished in all three geographical areas
distinguished in Figure 3. The newer ones based in Britain to publish articles about New
Zealand in particular are Accounting Education: An International Journal, Critical
Perspectives on Accounting, and Financial Accountability and Management. These have
quickly gained parity with (or exceeded) the longer established the British Accounting Review
and Accounting and Business Research. Meanwhile, the equivalents in Australia are
Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal, Australian Accounting Review, and
Managerial Auditing Journal, which have more than gained parity with the longer
established Accounting and Finance and Abacus.
The A List
In the speech by Minister Carr quoted above, he refers to journals being ranked A* and A
being given undue importance in setting targets and, presumably, evaluating performance.
From his participant-observations, the researcher can corroborate the existence of an attitude
that “A Journals” are not only regarded by some researcher managers as the best targets to
35
aim at but also as the only publications that really count. Thus, they deserve closer
examination.
There are 28 refereed journals ranked A or A* on the respective lists (see Table 2). However,
although the two are highly correlated, it transpires that 31 periodicals have at least one A or
A* ranking. They are listed in Table 4, which is sorted first by their two rankings, with two
A*s at the top, and an A and C at the bottom; and then by the total articles appearing in
Column 11. Otherwise the data are the same as those in Table 3.
A few matters are noteworthy about the periodicals in Table 4. Over 55% (17.5) are edited in
North America, compared with about 45% of all the periodicals still current; and over 25%
(8.5) are edited in the UK, compared with about 15%. The greater proportions of A rankings
in these two locations are at the expense of the rest of the world. However, Australia and
New Zealand lose out only marginally, through being represented in Table 4 by four journals,
although two are there only by virtue of one A and one B ranking. The only other country
represented is Spain, whence the recently (compared with most of the A list) established
European Accounting Review; and Spain is the only country in which English is not the
dominant language.
For all that, New Zealand-based research is remarkably well represented on Table 4. A total
of 2,134 articles are reported in Column 11 of Table 2. However, if those in the Chartered
Accountants’ Journal are excluded, that total is 738. No fewer than 362 (49%) of these appear
in the journals in Table 4. Indeed, if the articles in all four New Zealand-edited journals are
excluded, then the proportion of the rest that have been published in A or A* journals is a
remarkable 57%, echoing observations at the end of the section By Journal.
36
Table 4 A and A* Ranked Accounting Periodicals (N = 31) and Analysis of Articles with a New Zealand Connection (table to be updated
for 2010 and 2011)
Publication Title
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
Accounting Organizations and Society
A*
A*
UKGBNI
5
0
1979
4
0
8
12
56
5
Journal of Accounting and Economics
A*
A*
USA
0
0
1988
2
0
7
9
10
1
Journal of Accounting Research
A*
A*
USA
1
0
1967
2
0
5
7
8
3
Contemporary Accounting Research
A*
A*
CAN
3
0
1997
2
0
3
5
6
0
Accounting Review
A*
A*
USA
1
0
1985
3
1
0
4
1
0
Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal
A*
A
AUS
19
4
1989
25
6
2
33
112
7
Review of Accounting Studies
Journal of Management Accounting Research
Financial Accountability and Management
A
A*
USA
0
0
2002
0
0
2
2
2
0
A*
A
USA
2
0
1995
1
0
0
1
4
0
A
A
UKGBNI
6
1
1990
24
3
0
27
3
0
Critical Perspectives on Accounting
A
A
CAN/UKGBNI
5
0
1990
17
9
1
27
72
18
International Journal of Accounting
A
A
USA
7
1
1996
2
8
16
26
46
5
British Accounting Review
A
A
UKGBNI
4
2
1988
16
1
3
20
54
3
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting
A
A
UKGBNI
3
0
1977
17
1
0
18
2
5
4
0
1990
13
3
0
16
26
4
2
1
1983
7
0
9
16
26
1
Management Accounting Research
A
A
UKGBNI
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
A
A
USA
Accounting and Business Research
A
A
UKGBNI
4
2
1982
10
4
0
14
12
0
Abacus: a Journal of Accounting and Business Studies
A
A
AUS
23
3
1966
10
3
0
13
1
3
Advances in Accounting : a Research Annual
A
A
USA
0
0
2001
4
2
6
12
28
0
European Accounting Review
A
A
SPAIN
1
0
1993
1
3
6
10
17
0
Auditing: a Journal of Practice and Theory
A
A
USA
4
0
1985
4
0
1
5
18
0
Accounting Horizons
A
A
USA
2
1
1991
2
2
1
5
19
1
Issues in Accounting Education
A
A
USA
0
0
1997
1
1
0
2
1
0
Behavioral Research in Accounting
A
A
USA
0
0
1999
1
0
0
1
4
0
Journal of Accounting Literature
A
A
USA
0
0
1992
0
0
1
1
15
0
JAAF - Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance
A
A
USA
0
0
1997
0
0
0
0
2
1
37
Publication Title
ERA
2010
Rank
ABDC
Recom
mended
Ranking
1
2
3
B
Accounting and Finance
Total Cols 8,
9 and 10
NZ in lit rev
or other
mention in
text
Author with
NZ
affiliation
but no
other NZ
mention
11
12
13
Country of Eds
No. of Aus
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
No. of NZ
affiliates on
Editorial
Board 2009
First NZ hit in
searchable
pdf coverage
All NZ
Empirical
Data
NZ In small
sample (<
10)
countries
NZ in large
sample of
countries
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
A
NZ
32
3
1979
37
2
0
39
60
3
Accounting History
A
B
AUS
7
2
1998
8
2
2
12
32
2
Journal of Accounting Education
A
B
USA
1
0
1983
5
2
2
9
21
4
Public Money and Management
B
A
UKGBNI
1
1
1989
2
6
1
9
13
0
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems
B
A
USA
4
0
2000
0
1
0
1
12
0
Accounting Business and Financial History
A
C
UKGBNI
4
0
1995
3
1
2
6
14
0
145
21
223
61
78
362
705
66
Total
38
Knowledge by Sub-discipline and Topic Areas
This stage of the analysis is based on the 738 refereed articles in Column 11 of Table 3 – the
1,396 articles in the Chartered Accountants’ Journal are excluded as non-refereed – and
when they were published, as reported in Figure 3. The articles are classified as to significant
category (e.g., topic, sub-discipline of accounting), as shown in Table 5. [Table 5 is
incomplete for articles published electronically since January 2010 and in print up to
December 2011]
Regarding the principles behind Table 5, categories were induced by the researcher having
regard to sub-disciplines and subjects of courses into which New Zealand university
accounting departments and programmes are often separated. It is acknowledged that the
categories are not discrete, and so some judgment was exercised by the researcher not only in
inducing the categories but also in articles to one category or another.
By the way, although most of the 738 articles included in Table 5 were written by New
Zealand-based academics, some were written by authors based elsewhere and were mostly
about New Zealand and other countries.
39
Table 5 Analysis by Three-Year Periods of Articles (N = 738) that include Empirical Data from New Zealand (this table is to be updated for 2010 and 2011)
Auditing
Tax
Commercial
Law
Accounting
Profession
Accounting
Standards
Period
Other Private
Sector Financial
Accounting
Capital
Markets
Finance
Private Sector
Management
Accounting
Corporate
Governance
Small, Medium
and
Agricultural
Enterprises
Structural
Adjustment
and New
Public
Management
Other
Public and
Third
Sector
Social and
Environ-mental
Accounting
and Reporting
Accounting
and New
Zealand
Maori
Accounting
Education
Accountability
Accounting
History
Accounting
Research
Economics
Total
2009201113
10
2
0
2
1
5
7
5
1
4
2
4
9
5
1
8
0
0
7
0
73
20062008
17
8
3
8
7
19
20
9
7
7
4
11
12
7
1
16
1
5
5
1
168
20032005
11
2
1
8
7
15
10
11
9
6
5
20
8
5
2
13
0
3
9
1
146
20002002
8
5
2
4
7
9
8
8
12
2
0
19
6
0
2
8
1
0
4
3
108
19971999
8
3
0
1
5
13
1
4
4
0
0
19
5
5
1
12
1
1
4
0
87
19941996
7
2
0
2
3
7
5
2
4
0
0
10
4
5
1
5
0
2
2
0
61
19911993
9
3
0
1
1
2
5
2
1
0
0
5
4
1
0
3
1
2
0
0
40
19881990
3
1
2
2
0
7
5
0
4
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
28
19851987
1
0
0
1
0
2
1
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
10
19821984
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
5
19791981
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
8
19761978
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
19661975
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
Total
74
27
8
29
31
84
64
47
44
19
11
90
49
29
8
70
4
13
32
5
738
Note that the data in this Table total 738, equating to the total of Column 11 in Table 3, but with the Chartered Accountants’ Journal excluded (for the time being).
13
Articles published in print and on-line during 2010 and 2011 are not fully included in this row yet.
40
Trying not to lose sight of the analysis by sub-discipline and topic in Table 5 being open to
criticism, the analysis shows that certain areas may be surprisingly over- or under-represented
in the article counts. Accounting education is among those well represented, with 70 articles.
As pointed out earlier, there does seem to have been a trend over recent decades of
accounting teachers being more amenable to research and research-inspired teaching, in place
of professional accounting work and technical-oriented teaching. This move may well have
inspired research into curricular matters. Many studies in this category focus on studentcentred learning and generic skills development among students, which include students
learning from research and learning through doing research or at least making inquiries.
An even bigger represented category, with 90 articles, reflects another occurrence already
referred to in this paper, being the amount of research published about Structural Adjustment
and New Public Management, including accrual accounting, annual reporting, performance
budgeting, performance measurement and management and privatisation. This has had wide
appeal among foreign-edited journals, probably because of the advantage researchers have
had in being able to report about New Zealand as a “world leader” in the field. The present
study is limited to accounting periodicals but the researcher is aware that many of the
Structural Adjustment and New Public Management studies have resulted in publications in
periodicals outside this limit, including in politics, and health, education and similar sector
periodicals. Other public and third sector research is a significant and growing category, with
nearly 50 articles mostly in the past several years. This is probably a spin off from the
research on accrual accounting, annual reporting, performance budgeting, and performance
measurement and management, the “New” in New Public Management having become
somewhat dated, as well as possibly inaccurate following changes to the policy outlooks of
successive governments since the late 1990s, and so the topicality and opportunity for studies
having tailed off in the past few years.
An area going in the opposite direction as far as articles published are concerned, and in
which much research is known to be underway, is social and environment accounting and
reporting, in particular in matters of sustainability, carbon emissions and climate change (29
articles, 17 of them since 2003). The international interest in this area coincides with
perceptions in other parts of the world of New Zealand being “green”, for example, as
depicted on brands of dairy, meat, fruit and viticulture produce.
Just as the sizes of the public and third sector categories may be surprising for how much
research there has been, then the small number of studies of small, medium and agricultural
enterprises (11 articles) may be surprising, given their preponderance in the New Zealand
economy. Perhaps this is a case of the research appearing in journals outside the accounting
list, as happens with finance, commercial law and tax research. However, it could well be a
case of research not being attractive to foreign journals, and so the area being left alone by
potential researchers not only for lack of reward but also for the risk of non-performance
leading to retribution by those measuring and managing their performance using PBRF
criteria based on publishing in journals on foreign lists and the lack of suitable New Zealand
outlets. Similar may apply to research about accounting and Maori, of which there is a
paucity save for a few critical, historical studies (8 articles in Table 5 plus a handful more
crossing over into other categories, in which they appear in the table). On accounting history
of New Zealand generally, this also seems neglected, despite a bit of a bubble in the past few
years.
Other significant categories seem predictable and resilient. This applies to capital markets (64
articles), a much bigger category now than a decade ago; and the same applies to private
sector financial accounting, with 115 articles, including 31 articles attesting to the growth in
importance of accounting standards. Auditing too is prospering as a category (74 articles), as
are other categories one associates with the accounting professional activity in New Zealand,
including tax, the aforementioned accounting standards, and studies of the profession itself
and professional practice (29 articles). Far more tax (27 articles), commercial law (8 articles)
and finance (47 articles) studies are known to be appearing in periodicals specialising in these
areas than in the accounting journals analysed in this study.
As for the remaining categories, the private sector management accounting category being
relatively small (44 articles) probably reflects New Zealand’s lack of large, private, for-profit
organisations, and the lack of involvement in the accounting profession with management
accounting. The public sector is significantly better off in terms of such organisations, and
many of the studies in the Structural Adjustment, etc. and public and third sector categories
are of management accounting questions. In regard to private sector organisations, there has
been a bit of a bubble in corporate governance studies recently (19 articles, 17 of them since
2003). Another recent bubble of activity is in the area of accounting research, including
theory and method (32 articles). In addition to those counted in Table 5, there are several
studies in this category by New Zealand-based academics but which are theoretical rather
than empirical, and so no New Zealand empirical data have been used.
42
Interpretation of Analysis
In the Further Analysis of Data section, much interpretation has been provided alongside the
analysis. This section elaborates a few matters.
Demand for Research – Niche Markets
It is suggested in explaining accounting research in the Introduction that researchers based in
New Zealand wanting to use New Zealand data could find a place in foreign-edited journals
that claim to have an “international” audience by inquiring about issues, questions and topics
in New Zealand that, for idiosyncratic reasons, there is a niche in these journals. The overrepresentation of some sub-disciplines and topics in the article counts reported in Table 5
might be explained by researchers doing this very thing, that is making the most of their New
Zealand surroundings to carve out niches in the supply of research according to the available
publishing opportunities. This may be deliberate or otherwise; and, anecdotally, it is probably
more the latter than the former.
From a researcher’s point of view, being pressed to publish or perish, a lesson to be drawn
from the successes in researching Structural Adjustment and New Public Management is that
researchers wanting to study New Zealand should turn to areas where New Zealand is a
world leader or has something special to offer the rest of the English-speaking world. As with
most markets, however, one has to get there first in order to reap the biggest profits and
before competition leads to saturation. As already indicated, social and environment
accounting and reporting is a recent niche that is being carved out, in particular in matters of
sustainability, carbon emissions and climate change.
Purposes of Research – Policy versus Criticism
Reflecting on the size of the category Structural Adjustment and New Public Management
and its shape (i.e., articles starting to appear in 1990 and then tailing off since 2005), it is
significant that many of the research studies were published after the economic and political
reforms were carried out, rather than before and during. This leads to two important points
about research and publishing findings. First, most research studies on Structural Adjustment
and New Public Management were carried out during and after the reforms, not before them,
and so the reforms were not prompted or informed by research. One wonders if this does not
apply generally to the accounting research analysed in this study; that is, most of it is not
about addressing questions associated with future innovation but is about analysing and
criticising existing or past circumstances, and not necessarily in ways that can spark further
43
innovation. Second, considerable time is elapsing between the studies being carried out and
the articles in which they are reported being published. This is discussed below.
Purposes of Research – The Research-Learning Nexus
A further observation has to do a particularly large and vital New Zealand audience, and with
the association (or perhaps lack of association) between research and programme/course
design and teaching. In the case of public and third sector accounting generally, while the
proportion of research in this area (139 studies out of 738 in total, or ≈ 20%) is still below the
size of the public and third sectors in relation to the New Zealand economy as a whole (≈
40%), it far exceeds the numbers of courses focusing on and students studying accounting in
these sectors in each of the eight New Zealand universities as a proportion of the totals of
courses staged in accounting. In other words, most courses focus on, and most students study,
private, for-profit sector accounting. This might be an argument that more courses should be
staged about the public and third sectors, at the expense of reducing the private, for-profit
courses, and more students should be expected to study these areas to qualify as accountants
or to know about accounting; or it might be an argument that research activities are skewed
by what foreign journals will publish, and are out of kilter with student, economic and
societal priorities.
Purposes of Research – The Profession
In the Flint (1982) article cited earlier, the editor of the professional magazine in which it
appeared prefaced the piece by stating that there had “long been schism between the
practising accountant who is uninterested in research and the academic researcher seeking
ultimate truth in isolation” (p. 73). Much water has passed under the bridge since but looking
at the academic contributions about New Zealand that have appeared in Chartered
Accountants’ Journal over the past four decades, it is not that evident that the bridge between
practice and research is any more sturdier. Indeed, for the past 15 years, things seem to have
been moving in a contrary direction, based on the data incorporated into Figure 2. Supplying
articles to Chartered Accountants’ Journal would seem an obvious way for accounting
academics to fulfil their individual and collective responsibilities under these strategic aims
and in return for the funding they are provided with by New Zealanders. So, why isn’t this
reflected in an upward trend in Figure 2? That is notwithstanding the Institute and the
universities and institutes of technology having formed an increasingly formal partnership in
the design and delivery of academic and professional accounting education and training. And
44
many of the new academics to whom the Institute gave PhD scholarships in the 1980s and
1990s now occupy senior positions in these establishments of learning.
Supply and Demand Issues
If one eliminates from Table 3 the USA-edited titles and other similar foreign-edited titles
that experience to date indicates that they not likely to provide New Zealand researchers with
much opportunity to disseminate New Zealand knowledge, let alone publish it in ways that
suit New Zealand audiences, the list of titles is much shorter. Given this reality, one wonders
how more titles can be established to suit New Zealand’s potential supply of and demand for
formally published knowledge; and how alternative, and at least equally valued, ways of
disseminating this knowledge can established. As it seems likely that accounting is not the
only subject area facing these challenges, it seems the relevant New Zealand Government and
university authorities have some responsibility for tackling these and some interest in
overcoming them, the former to facilitate its policy on research and the latter because of the
amount of resources they are devoting to the supply side of research.
Time Lags and Irrelevance
Raised above is the general issue of how untimely study reporting can be for having to rely
on journals, and especially foreign-based one as the means of publication. The delay between
data collection and publication in the case of articles in peer reviewed journals is at least
several months and mostly years, compared with weeks or months in the case of Chartered
Accountants’ Journal articles. So, if you are aiming to be an A in the 2018 PBRF (census
period 2012 to 2017), you need to be presenting at this conference. On the other hand, given
the New Zealand Government’s policy that research is primarily about extending New
Zealand’s knowledge base, responding to the needs of the economy and addressing
environmental and social challenges, perhaps it is less of a priority to publish in foreignedited journals, if that means the research findings are not disseminated in forms that are as
good as they could be for New Zealand audiences.
This variation in delay indicates something about the relevance of research from a practice
standpoint. It would have not been of particular concern in the 1990s, when many studies
gave rise to a timely Chartered Accountants’ Journal article, followed up with a more
substantial but slower contribution to the academic literature. But nowadays far fewer
researchers seem incentivised to submit their work to the Chartered Accountants’ Journal.
45
New Zealand-Based Researchers Doing Non-New Zealand Research
Regarding concern alluded to earlier that New Zealand-based academics might deliberately
shun New Zealand data in favour of Atlantic data in order to boost acceptances in Atlantic
journals, the incidence of use of non-New Zealand data seemed slight, as discerned
intuitively when collecting the primary data. Most instances related to circumstances such as
a non-New Zealand PhD student being involved, a study was deliberately of the south Pacific
and the article was concerned with theory and did not contain empirical data.
Conclusions
In conclusion, research about accounting in New Zealand has increased in volume over the
past few decades. But how the results are being disseminated appears to be driven
increasingly by individualised PBRF-related incentives that are short term and probably set
by research institutions more for such reasons as prestige, to mimic institutions elsewhere and
to impress Tertiary Education Commission-appointed funders than with the wider New
Zealand audience of stakeholders in mind. A review of these matters seems timely, in order
to bring about more effective interaction about and dissemination of research questions,
methods and findings among researchers and not only practicing accountants but also the
many others in New Zealand who one would suppose could benefit from this knowledge for
the sake of the economy and to address environmental and social challenges.
This paper goes some way to addressing the important questions are what form has
publishing about New Zealand, and by New Zealand-based researchers, taken and how
accessible is it to practising accountants, their clients and other parties interested in or
affected by accounting practices. These are not just academic questions. They relate to
political economy and public policy. Although no official figures are published separately
from other disciplines, a reasonable estimate is that between $10 million and $15 million is
expended annually on accounting research conducted from within accounting departments in
universities and institutes of technology. Repeating an expectation included prominently in
the National-led coalition government’s strategic aims for tertiary education include, among
other things, “We [the Government of New Zealand] expect the tertiary education system to .
. . produce high quality research to build on New Zealand’s knowledge base, respond to the
needs of the economy and address environmental and social challenges” (Office of the
Minister for Tertiary Education, 2009, p. 6).
46
The research findings have consequences for researchers, their measurers, managers and
governors, for teachers and students of accounting, NZ businesses and nonbusinesses, higher
education accreditation agencies and quality assurance agencies, and policymakers and other
agencies in the New Zealand Government. Research is about quantity and quality. While
some may think that quality is regulated by publishing in reputable academic journals, if
those journals are aimed at audiences whose expectations differ from New Zealand societal
audiences, then quality in the eyes of the latter will be impaired. Thus, while academic
productivity and quality may be improved by improving performance measurement and
management of individual academics, it is also vital for universities and other institutions to
precipitate other changes to make the best of these improvements, including having outlets
for research that accepts New Zealand based work reported in forms to suit New Zealand
audiences. The New Zealand Government should also be involved in establishing such
outlets, as the private for-profit sector seems incapable of doing so.
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Appendix – An outline of matters that a foreign audience may find useful but which
contains much material that might be taken for granted in writing for a New Zealand
audience
New Zealand
New Zealand has developed into a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy
over about 10 generations. It comprises land associated with indigenous peoples now
commonly referred to as Maori. Its dominant institutions, however, derive primarily from
England and Scotland. They were brought to New Zealand by settlers starting in the early
1800s, when a penal colony was established at Port Jackson in what has become Australia
and the South Pacific was opened up to whaling, trading, missionary activity and settlement
by people from the British Isles and elsewhere in Europe, China and elsewhere in Asia, the
east of North America (and then its west) and other islands in the Pacific Ocean that lie west
and north of New Zealand (Morrell, 1960; Ward, 1946). Six of these institutions of relevance
are the English language, the Government, NZICA, the ascendant laws and customs of doing
business (including factories/plantations), the New Zealand higher education system and the
scientific method.
The Universities, New Higher Education and Performance
The higher education system includes universities, whose early history is recounted in
Gardner, Beardsley and Carter (1973) and Parton (1979), among others. The University of
New Zealand was founded in the 1870s. It comprised university colleges, which in the early
1960s emerged as universities in their own right, and whose number has been added to since,
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so that there are now eight. The priority of this system for 20 years at least was developing
teachers for the colony’s / dominion’s secondary schools. This priority widened in the
following few decades to include other professions, including medical staff, veterinarians,
engineers, lawyers and accountants. The colleges were concerned primarily with teaching and
learning, and the university with qualifications, examinations and development of the system,
including academics as teachers and funding for the system. Academics came primarily from
Britain for the first four decades, after which the number of New Zealand-educated
academics has been ascendant, although recruitment from other mainly-English-speaking
countries has continued to be significant, and there has been recruitment from elsewhere,
usually with the proviso that the academics concerned were proficient in English.
In regards to accounting, the present universities continue to be part of a long running
partnership established in the 1900s between the University of New Zealand and the New
Zealand Society of Accountants (Graham, 1960; Hay and Maltby, 1997; Moores and
MacGregor, 1992; Parton, 1979). Students aspiring to join the profession (now NZICA,
primarily, but with Certified Practising Accountants Australia making inroads recently)
follow specified four-year programmes of courses. As part of these, the students obtain threeyear bachelor degrees. The academics teaching these programmes teach other courses for
other qualifications, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. They also research, as indeed
they are obliged to under laws stipulating that for an institution to award degrees, its
academics must be researching.
Although academics at universities in New Zealand have long been engaged in research as
well as teaching, research has tended to have the lower priority and not been as universal as
teaching. This was demonstrated from time to time in university colleges being urged to do
more research, including as a way of raising standards (e.g., see Gardner et al., 1973). In the
accounting area, the situation prevailed well into the 20th century that although programmes
were overseen by professorial staff, these were often in a related discipline (e.g., political
economy, economics) and the actual accounting teaching was carried out by professional
accountants employed on a part-time basis. These hardly published any research in the sense
we know it today but obviously much participant-observation data was available to them
through their daily work. These circumstances gradually changed between the 1950s and
1980s, by when most teaching staff were full-time academics, albeit mainly professionally
qualified and experienced. In the 1970s and 1980s, they became increasingly involved in
research, including participating in PhD programmes, although they were also faced with
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fast-growing numbers of students and increasing teaching workloads, as universities found it
difficult to recruit accounting academics for reasons such as comparatively lower pay than
was offered in professional work and being reluctant to employ persons without postgraduate
qualifications (as distinct from professional qualifications).
Since the 1980s, New Zealand universities have been caught up in public sector reforms. In
the early 1990s, these affected universities funding, which moved from a matter for the
University Grants Committee to the Equivalent Full-Time Students system under a new
Ministry of Education (Coy et al., 1991). The basis of funding for teaching and research
changed from a grant negotiated privately between each university and the committee
(Gould, 1988) to a grant calculated according to a published formula, in which the dominant
features were categories of students, a set amount for each student in the categories and the
numbers of students enrolled in each category at a university. Some categories pertained to
postgraduate students, and the set amounts for these categories included general funding for
research. This funding system continues today but with a significant modification in that
research funding has been taken out of these postgraduate categories. Indeed, there is now a
distinction between the Student Achievement Component, which comprises (the majority of)
funding allocated using EFTSs, almost as before, the PBRF, and other funding components,
(Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), ???). It is understood that the funding system is
about to be amended so as to reassign some EFTS-based funding to funding based on
qualifications awarded.
Funding allocated on the basis of research performance is known as the Performance-Based
Research Fund (PBRF), and involves counting research outputs by individual academics over
particular periods, referred to formally as quality evaluation periods (TEC, 2003, 2006,
2008). In the present PBRF quality evaluation period (2006-2011), two periodical lists
published in Australia have increasingly exercised the minds of university managers
responsible for managing accounting academics, as well as those in related disciplines. These
are the ABDC list (ABDC, 2009) and the ERA list (ERA, 2010) (this section is yet to be
updated to take account of the 2012 ERA list). These lists shape the data collection and
analysis for this study.
Staying with funding for a while, the system of funding between the Government and the
universities has influenced the way in which funds are allocated across departments and
colleges/faculties within the universities. One significant change since 1990 has been that
resource allocation has become much more open in terms of officially published data and
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involves official calculative practices far more than in the past (see Coy and Pratt, 1998; Coy
and Dixon, 2004; Dixon, 2009). On the face of it, university revenues tend to follow student
numbers more so than in the past, and staff positions follow that money, although the profiles
of academics by type of position (e.g., professor, lecturer) may not be as directly related in
accounting and similar professional disciplines as they are in more traditional academic ones
(e.g., anthropology, zoology). Nevertheless, accounting seems to have gained in terms of
resources per student and staff member because of these changes, and so there is now more
funding available for research. This is notwithstanding that the set amounts for each student
in the various cost/subject area categories derive from data collected on the basis of skewed
allocations of resources within universities existing in 1990 (i.e., high staff-student ratios in
business, and low ones in natural and applied sciences).
The PBRF and attempts to meet expectations for research outputs articulated by accreditation
agencies (e.g., Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, European Financial
Management Foundation) seem to have put pressures on academics that have caused more
than these additional funds to be absorbed, and so there is pressure on the academics to attract
further funds in the form of research grants. There is also pressure on them not to fail to
publish. For example, at one university, the vice-chancellor has indicated that for each
academic in a budget-holding college who is graded R (≡ not publishing enough) in the 200611 PBRF round, the college will be “fined” $40,000 per year. This figure is calculated on the
basis that the average academic costs $100,000 per year and each academic is expected to
spend 40% of their time on research, along with 40% on teaching and 20% on everything
else, which is usually labelled “administration”.
http://www.tec.govt.nz/Documents/Ministerial%20determinations/Funding-DeterminationPBRF-2011-12.pdf
Literature on performance measurement and management, accountability and the
governable/manageable person is also relevant and will be reviewed here.
The actions of successive governments and their agents, and of the corporate managers who
have ascended to the top of today’s learning establishments, coupled with academics’
enthusiasm, pride, promotion and desire for mobility, have led to several interrelated trends.
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Increasingly more resources have been available for accounting departments to function.
There has been a steady increase in the number of accounting academics. The quantity of
research activities in which these academics engage has grown. More of their research results
are being disseminated outside the classroom, particularly by publishing. A clue to the
answers to this question and to those about the form of publishing and its accessibility is how
in the past decade funding for research has come to be distributed by the Tertiary Education
Commission and then by university controllers, especially around the Performance-Based
Research Fund process. Usually referred to as the PBRF, this entails each academic being
assessed on their research activities and results, be they in accounting, tax, finance,
anthropology or zoology, over a “quality evaluation period”. So far, these periods have been
1997 to 2002 and 2000 to 2005. The current one has been running since 2006 and is
scheduled to take in up 2011. In the accounting discipline at least, in successive quality
evaluation periods, and indeed in the 5-10 years preceding the first, ever greater store has
been attaching to publishing articles in academic peer reviewed journals, shifting the supplyside emphasis away from Chartered Accountants’ Journal and other outlets, including nonacademic conferences and other practitioner fora, books, pamphlets, etc. The effect of this is
evident from the continuing upward trend formed by the data about publishing in academic
peer reviewed journals incorporated into Figure 2. These data comprise about 750 refereed
articles in all as explained next.
This article is about the relationships among accounting research and its dissemination,
accounting practice, and lifelong accounting education, not to mention expanding
professional and critical knowledge about roles and usages of accounting and their
consequences for individuals, organisations and New Zealand society.
“. . . a dynamic, progressive, responsible profession must be continually reviewing
and striving to improve its practice and . . . the future of our profession is critically
dependent on the quality of the research which is undertaken”.
So argued Flint (1982) to the New Zealand Society of Accountants. (C)AJ’s editor prefaced
the piece by stating that there had “long been schism between the practising accountant who
is uninterested in research and the academic researcher seeking ultimate truth in isolation”
(Flint, 1982, p. 73). This was reflected in something else Flint observed: that is
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“ . . . our profession has [not] yet properly comprehended the dimensions of the
research effort that is needed or the importance to the profession of an academic
community of the highest order.” (Flint, 1982, p. 73)
Supplying articles to Chartered Accountants’ Journal would seem an obvious way for
accounting academics to fulfil their individual and collective responsibilities under these
strategic aims and in return for the funding they are provided with by New Zealanders. So,
why isn’t this reflected in an upward trend in Figure 1? A clue to the answers to this question
and to those about the form of publishing and its accessibility is how in the past decade
funding for research has come to be distributed by the Tertiary Education Commission and
then by university controllers, especially around the Performance-Based Research Fund
process. Usually referred to as the PBRF, this entails each academic being assessed on their
research activities and results, be they in accounting, tax, finance, anthropology or zoology,
over a “quality evaluation period”. So far, these periods have been 1997 to 2002 and 2000 to
2005. The current one has been running since 2006 and is scheduled to take in up 2011. In the
accounting discipline at least, in successive quality evaluation periods, and indeed in the 5-10
years preceding the first, ever greater store has been attaching to publishing articles in
academic peer reviewed journals, shifting the supply-side emphasis away from Chartered
Accountants’ Journal and other outlets, including non-academic conferences and other
practitioner fora, books, pamphlets, etc. The effect of this is evident from the continuing
upward trend formed by the data about publishing in academic peer reviewed journals
incorporated into Figure 2. These data comprise about 750 refereed articles in all as explained
next.
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