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A longitudinal study of the interplay of corporate collapse, accounting failure and governance change in Australia: Early 1890s to early 2000s

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  • Carnegie, Garry D.
  • O’Connell, Brendan T.

Abstract

The “surprise” element of many corporate failures during calamitous periods typically results in criticisms of accountants and auditors and their principles, practices and standards and typically leads to governance reforms including those related to the preparation and audit of corporate financial reports. Set in Australia, this historical study presents the results of an examination of four rounds of heavy and unexpected corporate collapses across a number of sectors which occurred in the early 1890s, early 1960s, late 1980s/early 1990s and the early 2000s. The longitudinal study examines the interplay of corporate collapse, accounting failure and governance change within these periods and seeks to elucidate the continued implication of accounting in corporate scandals despite the governance reforms that were introduced after each calamitous period in order to alleviate or curtail future failures. The study applies an investigatory framework for analysis purposes which draws upon Clarke's (2004, 2007) perspective on cycles of crisis and regulation, Jones's (2011a) model of the potential for accounting failure and the scholarly literature on legal conceptions of rule effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Carnegie, Garry D. & O’Connell, Brendan T., 2014. "A longitudinal study of the interplay of corporate collapse, accounting failure and governance change in Australia: Early 1890s to early 2000s," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 446-468.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:25:y:2014:i:6:p:446-468
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2013.04.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lois Munro & Sherrena Buckby, 2008. "Audit Committee Regulation in Australia: How Far Have We Come?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 18(4), pages 310-323, December.
    2. Garry D. Carnegie, 2009. "The Development Of Accounting Regulation, Education, And Literature In Australia, 1788–2005," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(3), pages 276-301, November.
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    4. Thomas Clarke, 2004. "Cycles of Crisis and Regulation: the enduring agency and stewardship problems of corporate governance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 153-161, April.
    5. Garry D. Carnegie & Brendan T. O'Connell, 2012. "Understanding the responses of professional accounting bodies to crises," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(5), pages 835-875, June.
    6. Stewart Hamilton & Alicia Micklethwait, 2006. "Greed And Corporate Failure," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-50275-8, October.
    7. Arnold, Patricia J., 2009. "Global financial crisis: The challenge to accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 803-809, August.
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    10. Chua, W. F. & Poullaos, C., 1998. "The dynamics of "closure" amidst the construction of market, profession, empire and nationhood: An historical analysis of an Australian accounting association, 1886-1903," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 155-187, February.
    11. Bruce Bennett & Michael Bradbury & Helen Prangnell, 2006. "Rules, principles and judgments in accounting standards," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(2), pages 189-204, June.
    12. Garry D. Carnegie & Brian West, 2011. "A Commentary on ‘Contextualising the Intermediate Financial Accounting Courses in the Global Financial Crisis’," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 499-503, October.
    13. Roberta Romano, 2004. "The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Making of Quack Corporate Governance," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2653, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jul 2005.
    14. Christopher Humphrey & Asad Kausar & Anne Loft & Margaret Woods, 2011. "Regulating Audit beyond the Crisis: A Critical Discussion of the EU Green Paper," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 431-457, June.
    15. Richardson, Alan J., 2009. "Regulatory networks for accounting and auditing standards: A social network analysis of Canadian and international standard-setting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 571-588, July.
    16. Carnegie, Garry D. & Napier, Christopher J., 2010. "Traditional accountants and business professionals: Portraying the accounting profession after Enron," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 360-376, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sylvie Héroux & Mélanie Roussy, 2020. "Three cases of compliance with governance regulation: an organizational learning perspective," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(2), pages 449-479, June.
    2. Hottegindre, Géraldine & Loison, Marie-Claire & Belze, Loïc, 2024. "Dynamics of influence within the audit regulatory space: Role-playing and the rise of cynicism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    3. Zeeshan Mahmood & Rehana Kouser & Waris Ali & Zubair Ahmad & Tahira Salman, 2018. "Does Corporate Governance Affect Sustainability Disclosure? A Mixed Methods Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Sidhu, Jasvinder & Carnegie, Garry D. & West, Brian, 2021. "Australia's divided accounting profession: The 1969 merger attempt and its legacy," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    5. Bauer Kinga & Hospodka Jan, 2020. "Accounting as a Source of Financial Information on Insolvency in Liquidation Proceedings," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 28(4), pages 2-29, December.
    6. Joe Christopher & Philomena Leung & Shane Leong, 2017. "Can Employees Be Used to Overcome Independent Audit Limitations?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 27(4), pages 442-456, December.
    7. Garry D. Carnegie & Ann Martin-Sardesai & Lisa Marini & James Guthrie AM, 2021. "“Taming the black elephant”: assessing and managing the impacts of COVID-19 on public universities in Australia," Meditari Accountancy Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(6), pages 1783-1808, October.
    8. Claire E. F. Wright, 2022. "Above board? Interlocking directorates and corporate contagion in 1980s Australia," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 290-312, November.

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