This study examines women's career journeys to professorship in accounting and finance academia with a focus on the potential influence of various forms of capitals. Given the dearth of women at professorial level despite various institutional initiatives to reduce gender imbalances, it is critical that their careers be examined. We utilise the work of Bourdieu and studies on gender capital to interpret the influence and interplay of capitals within the career journeys of accounting and finance women professors from Australian universities. Our key findings show that women professors utilised various forms of social capital to advance their careers, including connecting with mentors who taught them the rules of the game and introduced them to powerful actors in the academic field. Interviewees leveraged economic capital through institutional and personal support and resources to progress their career and to enhance their social and cultural capital through valuable artefacts such as publications, and professional connections to world-renowned scholars. Turning to gender capital, we found that interviewees referred to the advantages flowing to them from both female capital and feminine capital. This study contributes to the literature on gender in the academic workplace and highlights the importance of gender capital to career progression.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the self-efficacy beliefs of first-year accounting students and investigate the sources of self-efficacy beliefs for both female and male students. The goal is to provide insights to help lecturers support the academic success of accounting students. Design/methodology/approach The study involves analysing data from 184 accounting students who reported on four sources of self-efficacy beliefs: enactive mastery experience, verbal persuasion, vicarious experience and physiological and affective states. Findings The study reveals that male students are primarily influenced by prior experience and physiological and affective states, while female students are mostly influenced by prior experience and verbal persuasion. Practical implications Educators can use these findings to design more effective interventions and support systems that enhance students’ self-efficacy and, consequently, their academic performance and overall learning outcomes. Originality/value This paper contributes to the development of theory in the underexplored area of self-efficacy beliefs among accounting students. It provides insights on the differences in sources of self-efficacy beliefs between genders and provides valuable evidence for educators to support student success in learning accounting.

Possessing cross-cultural capabilities is essential for accounting educators operating in transnational environments to effectively engage diverse student populations, foster inclusive teaching, and enhance educational outcomes. Despite its importance, this competency remains under-examined. Drawing on cultural intelligence (CQ) as the theoretical framework, this study investigates the cross-cultural capabilities of long-term foreign accounting educators working at foreign universities' branch campuses in Vietnam. Data collection involved semi-structured in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys with foreign accounting educators. Findings reveal that deep immersion in the local community served as the primary pathway for CQ development. Engagement with colleagues, students, and cultural practices shaped more culturally responsive teaching practices. This study highlights the critical role of cross-cultural capabilities in shaping teaching practices in culturally diverse environments.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze how practitioners in Vietnam understand and engage in earnings management, through the lens of practice theory.Design/methodology/approachThis study relies on data collected from interviews with 30 accountants, auditors and regulators in Vietnam. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, resulting in three key themes: practitioners' understanding of earnings management; the relationship between accounting standards and earnings management; and the praxis of earnings management.FindingsThis study examines why practitioners in Vietnam engage in earnings management, often as a response to the pressures received from organizational superiors. The lack of consistent and comprehensive regulation, alongside the discretion permitted within Vietnamese accounting standards, are enablers of earnings management.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that an assessment of earnings management should not occur without considering the context and/or motivations of practitioners. It also shows the limitations inherent in Vietnamese accounting standards and their lack of enforcement as factors contributing to earnings management activity.

Purpose The commentary examines the possible rational for Federation Internationale de Football Association(FIFA) sending a series of tweets on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Design/methodology/approach The commentary counts and analyses the number of tweets sent by FIFA media between 1 February and 1 March, 2020 and indicates that these concerning the war in Ukraine represent a radical departure from past topics. Stakeholder engagements with the tweets on the war were recorded and these far surpassed other regular topics. Findings FIFA's stance in condemning the war and taking direct action against Russia was effective in generating far greater stakeholder engagements in Twitter than other football-related posts. While the tweets were favourably received by many fans, not all of that response was positive, and in fact, some were extremely hostile. Originality/value An analysis of tweets and their responses provides a relatively new and powerful mechanism for gauging stakeholder engagements. The authors also contribute to the literature on communication strategies of sporting bodies by demonstrating how the integration of social issues into social media posts is likely to exhibit a strong response, albeit not always favourable. When sporting bodies (such as FIFA) depart from their core mission, they risk alienating some stakeholders when they delve into controversial social and/or political issues.

Student success is impacted by many factors, both individual and institutional. We examine Tinto's (Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 2017, 19, 254) theoretical model of achievement by surveying students enrolled in an introductory accounting subject (n = 132) at a New Zealand university twice and relating their responses to their levels of achievement in the subject. We find that both self-efficacy beliefs and a sense of belonging to the university are significantly related to academic success. This study builds on the body of work examining non-cognitive factors in accounting education and provides practical implications for accounting educators.

This study investigates employers' perceptions of, and recruitment approaches for, accounting professionals using a survey of small to medium sized public accounting firms in Australia. We find that firms experience significant difficulties in sourcing high quality graduates and tend to hire a low proportion of international students. To explain the latter, we employ Bourdieu's notions of habitus, together with the concepts of social and cultural capital, to examine the challenges faced by international students. A key finding of our study is that many international students are at a disadvantage in seeking professional employment because of a lack of habitus, that is, a 'feel for the game' and an understanding of what is needed to succeed in the accounting field. Our findings add to the accounting literature by highlighting that demonstrated potential to excel at business development activities and possession of strong social and cultural capital were paramount in obtaining employment.

Sustained innovation in teaching and learning is needed to achieve high-quality outcomes in student learning. However, despite extensive research in teaching and learning practice, challenges are faced to translate teaching research into scholarly practice, especially in professional degrees. This article develops and proposes a new conceptual framework for sustainable change in teaching and learning in higher education professional disciplines. This is designed to assist change managers to identify achievable goals and develop the most effective strategies, to deliver the greatest benefits to student learning. The new model activates collaboration between change managers and stakeholders at all stages of the change process, systematic consideration of interrelated variables across a range of organisational levels, selection of more effective change strategies and regular reviews of progress so strategies can be adapted in response to context changes. A key component of the framework is collaboration which enables contextualisation of change to the professional disciplines. Its nested structure also provides an implementation framework. Such a framework provides a useful contribution as it assists change managers in adapting teaching and learning to the changing future needs of universities, staff, students, graduates, and the professions.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a polemic on the evolution of universities and business schools over the past two decades. During this period, universities have increasingly adopted a self-interested stance using business-like practices and behaviours to justify their transformation. The authors provide recommendations aimed at enhancing universities’ contributions and relevance to society, increasing their sustainability broadly defined and better positioning them to help solve wicked problems in a post-COVID-19 world. Design/methodology/approach This polemic analyses prior literature relating to the evolution of universities and uses this to generate a framework for ways forward for their improvement. Findings The authors argue that the evolution of universities into entities with missions and operations designed to mimic business and commercial imperatives has yielded undesirable outcomes including the muddling of the core mission of universities, alienation of key stakeholders and an excessive focus on income growth. Business schools face a tension between forging their own, unique identities and simultaneously striving to meet university university objectives. We term this “the Business School identity paradox”. The authors contend that the way forward requires senior management to re-discover the essence of what it means to be a university, re-establish collegial decision-making within universities that includes built-in feedback loops and a fundamental emphasis on developing graduates with an enlightened perspective that goes beyond technical skills. Originality/value This paper is novel in that it analyses the evolution of the “Enterprise University” some 20 years after this term was first coined and in a radically changed environment following the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis is also forward-looking as the authors re-imagine universities and business schools by identifying opportunities for renewal and improvement in their focus and societal impact. The authors also develop a schema that identifies major influences on universities and business schools, the impact of COVID-19 and strategies for them post-COVID-19.

This study examines urban and rural South African accounting students' perceptions of their professional skills development through participation in an extended professional project (hereafter 'project'). We find students from the rural-based institutions perceived higher levels of professional skills development than their urban-based counterparts. We argue that this reflects rural students' hitherto limited exposure to professional role models or their ways of working. This study highlights the significant benefit of using projects to foster professional skills development. Furthermore, this study underscores the need for co-designed projects between institutions (urban and rural) and industry connections to foster greater access to quality education for rural-based students.

This chapter synthesizes and critiques recent studies examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on accounting, accountability and governance, and categorizes them according to different organization-types and common themes. Our analysis highlights how traditional approaches to accounting, accountability and governance have been challenged by the global pandemic at different levels. This chapter also reflects on the lessons learned, and which continue to be learned, and provides possible suggestions to improve the preparedness of organizations and society to manage future crises. Studies published to date examining the impact of the pandemic emphasize the importance of values, culture and institutional contexts in shaping accounting, accountability and governance. Analysis of these studies indicates that further research is needed to increase understanding of the interplay between these elements. Collectively, these studies highlight the importance of continually questioning and re-evaluating underlying accounting, accountability and governance practices, as the pandemic has shown that they may suddenly shift, become contested and give rise to conflicts and ambiguities.

This paper contends that one key reason for the lack of adoption of comprehensive change models based in higher education (HE) teaching and learning is that they lack a strong theoretical underpinning, thus potentially impeding their effectiveness in dealing with the complexities of human and organisational behaviour. Change theories that articulate the specific roles and influences of context, time and key actors in the change process are interrogated to highlight barriers to sustainable change in HE. A new theoretical framework for sustainable change is proposed that integrates these change theories in the context of HE professional disciplines. The findings provide several recommendations for university management in implementing change models including the provision of reciprocal feedback loops, enhanced learning for staff and students through scaffolding, developing workplace and professional networks, and implementing study and work unit flexibility.

The purpose of this study was to understand the processes undertaken by accounting academics during an international teaching experience that reveal their cultural intelligence (CQ) levels. We employ an ethnographic approach with confirmatory data collection involving five triangulated sources. Our findings indicate supportive and culturally sensitive strategies, active participation in the host environment, the importance of intrinsic motivation, and the ability to appropriately adjust behaviour are associated with higher levels of CQ. Furthermore, the ability to engage local actors and embrace local culture and people were found to be important capabilities of academics who possessed higher levels of CQ.

This study introduces data mining methods to accounting education scholarship to explore the relationship between accounting students' current academic performance (grades), demographic information, pre-university entrance scores and predicted academic performance. It adopts a C4.5 classification algorithm based on decision-tree analysis to examine 640 accounting students enrolled in an undergraduate accounting program at an Australian university. A significant contribution of this study is improved prediction of academic performance and identification of characteristics of students deemed to be at risk. By partitioning students into sub-groups based on tertiary entrance scores and employing clustering of study units, this study facilitates a more nuanced understanding of predictor attributes. Key findings were the dominance of a cluster of second year units in predicting students' later academic performance; that gender did not influence performance; and that performance in first year at university, rather than secondary school grades, was the most important predictor of subsequent academic performance.

This paper critically explores the notion of academic citizenship, evaluates its importance and argues that faculty have shifted away from engaging in collegial activities to behaviour that is purposefully targeted towards the attainment of academic performance metrics. We highlight the significant implications and challenges for the academy of a gradual retreat from academic citizenship in an era characterised by academic capitalism. We argue that university management urgently need to foster a culture of collegiality that fully appreciates and nurtures academic citizenship, particularly amongst junior faculty as they represent the future of the academy. Furthermore, we call for academic citizenship activities to be explicitly recognised in academic performance metrics and workloads to facilitate prioritisation by faculty.

Critical to the successful maintenance and survival of a transnational education partnership is the role of faculty. Our study documents the operational and social relationships between faculty teaching transnationally. Through interviews and observation, we find that informal communities of practice (CoP) spontaneously evolve, serving to improve faculty's teaching and learning practice while in situ. The key to CoP effectiveness is members' cultural intelligence and adoption of a reflective practice. These findings have significant implications for university internationalization practices. CoP should be nurtured and encouraged to develop organically in a transnational environment, and formally supported by university systems and processes. Furthermore, we recommend universities facilitate development of faculty cross-cultural capabilities. Our study contributes to international education and CoP literature through its rich and detailed portrayal of the development and operation of CoP, and mapped member participation, in a culturally distant situated learning environment.

Purpose Drawing from Upper-Echelons Theory (UET), this paper aims to examine whether an increasing number of board members studying and working overseas, especially in Anglo countries, provides some impetus for increased corporate environmental disclosures (CED) in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach This study used quantitative data collection and analysis. The data collection involved a content analysis of annual, sustainability and integrated reports to capture the quality and quantity of CED. The authors subsequently developed ordered probit models to quantitatively test the hypotheses. Findings The authors find that board members studying in Anglo countries positively impact firms’ levels of CED in emerging economies. However, overseas work experience is found to be an insignificant explanatory variable. Further, the findings suggest that, in Vietnam, Chairs appear to be more influential than chief executive officers in affecting CED levels. Practical implications Despite the positive influence of overseas study, the authors find overall levels of CED in Vietnam remain relatively low. This suggests the necessity of dialogue about potential reform in CED policies, which could involve the introduction of mandatory reporting requirements. In addition, to enhance sustainability disclosures, shareholders should appoint board members who possess international qualifications. Originality/value This study adds to the literature exploring the impacts of Anglo cultural traits of board members on CED levels, within an economy transitioning from a communist ideology to a market-oriented system context. The connection between international study and cultural norms, beliefs and traditions in these countries and their positive influence on directors’ values and attitudes towards CED have not yet been studied. The study also extends UET by examining the potential positive influence of different national contexts on board members’ education levels.

This paper is analytical and primarily focuses at the individual academic level. It examines the drive for academics to meet narrowly defined key performance indicators that is potentially leading to sub-optimal outcomes such as universities diverging from acting for the wider betterment of society and reduced quality of teaching and learning. This trend has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. For example, a heavy reliance on online learning has potentially reduced student engagement where these programmes have not been designed and implemented well. If academic performance is primarily judged by research outcomes, but academics face increasing expectations around developing high-level, online teaching materials, then this creates a tension for them. Turning to the ways forward, universities need to develop staff performance evaluation systems that reorientate towards a broader set of indicators of success, and academics need more input into the performance indicators that are cascaded down to them.

Despite studies on the perceptions of benefits and costs of joining a professional body little empirical evidence is available on the deciding factors for joining one specific professional body, let alone multiple ones in an emerging economy. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) theoretical lens, this paper investigates, through surveys, the factors affecting the decisions by final-year university students and associate members to affiliate with one or more professional bodies in Vietnam. This study used a quantitative approach design. Questionnaires were sent to students studying an undergraduate accounting degree in Vietnam (N = 167) and candidates completing the foundations levels of a foreign professional accounting body programme in Vietnam (N = 145). The results show that attitude is the most significant factor in explaining the intentions of accounting students and foundation candidates to affiliate with a professional accounting body while subjective norm is only marginally significant and perceived behavioural control is not significant. The comparison between those who intend to professionally affiliate and those who do not reveal that the main factors affecting the decision are the reputation of the professional body, career and networking opportunities, international recognition, professional status, international mobility opportunities, perceived expertise of members and continuing professional development.

This case utilises Oliver's (1991) framework of strategic responses to institutional processes to provide insights into the actions of an Australian football club faced with a prominent drugs scandal. It analyses public disclosures and statements by senior executives and coaching staff of the club across the period 2012 to 2016 in the face of heavy media attention, as well as narrations and content through its annual reports. A defiance response strategy is identified and characterised using Oliver's framework. This case study presents lessons on how organisations may deal with these types of scandals, and how actors may alter their strategies to have their best interests served in a public sports scandal.