The annual general meeting for Australian football clubs : an accountability and entertainment event

The Annual General Meetings (AGMs) of Australian Football Clubs in the 1890s were a community event. These AGMs fulfilled the role of accountability, and the dissemination of financial and non-financial information, and were intertwined with a theatrical function. The theatrical aspects of the meeting which included the stage, enthusiastic participants, eminent dignitaries, cheering, applause and audience engagement meant AGMs were also an exercise in entertainment. Through the narratives of newspapers, this article sheds new light on the interrelationships between the accountability and social roles of the AGM. © The Author(s) 2020

Pivoting authentic assessment to an accounting podcast during COVID-19

Purpose: This paper aims to describe how the COVID-19 pivot to online teaching enabled a student-produced podcast assessment to be created and substituted for the final examination in an MBA accounting course. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides instructors’ reflections and feedback from students on the usefulness of podcasts as an assessment tool in accounting education. Also included are the assignment instructions and a marking rubric which can be adapted as a sharing network. Findings: The pivot to the authentic podcast assessment proved to be a very positive outcome during COVID-19 for instructors and students. The students embraced and enjoyed the task, and importantly it was an efficient learning experience that connected theory to practice, while preserving authenticity. Originality/value: Podcasts have grown in popularity and have been widely used with students as receivers. The accounting education literature is however devoid of instances where podcasts have been used as an assessment tool. Although the assessment was changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has ongoing applicability as a useful assignment in future semesters. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

Social responsibility by Australian football clubs in the 1890s

Purpose This paper aims to examine the social responsibility (SR) by Australian football clubs during the late nineteenth century. While there has been some contemporary research linking SR with sporting clubs, there is a dearth of such studies in the historical context. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a qualitative approach and in the absence of annual reports, relies on The Suburban newspaper narratives of club annual general meetings (AGMs). The National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation programme was used which is a unique archive in management research. Findings Even though it was well-known that football provided a social outlet for watching games, this paper found clubs also engaged in a number of SR-related activities that benefited many stakeholders and the surrounding communities. Originality/value Deficient in much of the history of Australian football is the SR that clubs displayed to their stakeholders. This paper lengthens the historical SR literature for sporting clubs, and provides rich and detailed evidence of SR. While Australian football club histories continue to highlight winning teams, premierships and major personalities, their SR contribution is also significant and extends to the foundation of the game

MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF COUNTRY FOOTBALL CLUBS

Until the last quarter of the twentieth century, non-metropolitan Australian Rules football clubs prospered as volunteer organisations, operating in regions that were protected by distance from clubs in larger, competing leagues. They acted as places that people valued and were important components of social capital in their communities, and in turn, received subsidies from other community groups that reduced operating costs. Clubs appear to have measured success in terms of their ability to attract the talent needed to build a winning team that would boost the prestige of both the club and its local community. The Victorian Football League’s regulations about player payment and mobility gave country football clubs the opportunity to offer attractive terms to League players, and this prevented the game’s most powerful league, from crowding out its rivals. The circumstances that were favourable to country football clubs have changed with the formation of a major league, the Australian Football League. The televising of matches nationwide allowed people in even remote regions to watch AFL games. Economic and demographic decline in country areas, greater mobility and the lure of metropolitan jobs has made it difficult for clubs to retain players. In this challenging economic environment, many country football clubs have been unable to survive in their own right. This paper reports on a survey of administrators of Victorian country football clubs as to their perceptions of what constitutes ‘success’ in this new environment. It provides information about how individual clubs are responding to broad changes that are beyond their control, and offers evidence about the ability of local football clubs to continue to play their traditional role as places of importance and generators of social capital in regional communities.

Strategic responses and disclosures in a sporting drugs scandal : the case of the Essendon Football Club

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. Copyright © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Australian Rural Accountants views on how locally provided CPD compares with City-based provision

This paper analyses Australian rural accountant's attitudes and levels of satisfaction with continuing professional development (CPD), based on whether the CPD was delivered by a professional accounting body in a rural or metropolitan area. The paper responds to prior research that finds rural accountants are dissatisfied with professional accounting bodies [Rural and regional Australian public accounting firm services: Service provision, concerns and tensions. Australian Accounting Review, 23(23), 163–176]. Findings of a survey to which 156 rural accountants responded were that when CPD is delivered into the rural areas, there are greater levels of CPD satisfaction. The study also found that cost was significantly better for rural-delivered CPD and that when more rural-based CPD was attended differences became more significant across a number of satisfaction measures. The findings have important implications for both rural accountants and professional accounting bodies. © 2015 Taylor & Francis

The financial impact of world series cricket on Australia’s State Cricket Associations, 1974–1982

World Series Cricket (WSC), a breakaway competition established by the Australian media proprietor Kerry Packer that operated between 1977 and 1979, was arguably the biggest shock to occur in world cricket. While there is some commentary about the financial cost of WSC, there has been little empirical analysis on the monetary effects of WSC on State Cricket Associations affiliated to the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). Analysis of state cricket association financial reports between 1974 and 1982 shows the substantial negative financial impact of WSC, and a relatively quick recovery through increased post-WSC distributions from the ACB. Non-financial information highlights the initial negative, then positive, feelings between the ACB and WSC. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Diverging paths : CEO regulatory focus, corporate social responsibility, and the enigma of firm performance

Regulatory focus theory theorizes that there are two distinct dispositional foci of self-regulation (promotion focus and prevention focus) that impact individuals’ motivational tendencies to achieve their decision-making processes. This study integrates regulatory focus theory with upper echelons theory to investigate how CEO regulatory focus (i.e., higher degrees of promotion focus relative to prevention focus) influences corporate strategic outcomes, particularly regarding the pursuit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and firm performance. This study uses data collected from the annual reports of S&P 1500 firms in the US from 2000 to 2018. Results show a negative association between CEOs who are predominantly promotion-focused and CSR performance. This negative association is diminished in firms with better corporate governance (i.e., higher CEO equity compensation and greater institutional ownership). The results also show that CSR plays a mediating role in the relationship between CEO regulatory focus and firm performance. These findings not only contribute to the existing literature by highlighting the role of CEO regulatory focus in shaping CSR initiatives but also shed light on its implications for firm performance. © 2024 by the authors

Evading labour market regulations to preserve team performance : Evidence from the Victorian Football League, 1930-70

Sports teams that seek to maximise the number of wins, rather than profits, may not comply with league labour market regulations that compress payroll structures to promote even competition. This strategic behaviour depends on others, as teams choose a strategy to create team incentives, to which rivals will respond. A case study of four teams in a semi-professional Australian Rules football league tests the effectiveness of strategies to evade these regulations on winning percentages. Both compliance and non-compliance within this labour market regulation regime, based on different wage structures and talent distribution, were effective strategies to improve team performance