Focus on the Future

In the final issue of Australian Accounting Review for 2023, we present four articles that focus on the future of accounting, and the critical role that accountants play in shaping the reporting of business transactions.

We are proud that our leading article is an update to a well-cited and influential article published in Australian Accounting Review 20 years ago. The article by Burritt et al. (2023) includes two of the authors of the original 2002 framework for environmental management accounting (Burritt et al., 2002). It reflects on ‘developments from the perspective of the framework and looks forward to how environmental management accounting could be further developed in the future’. We know that the Burritt et al. (2002) framework will continue to be relevant in the future, as our society faces more environmental challenges.

Our next two articles show how important it is that accountants consider more than just the numbers when reporting on both past and future business transactions. Almutairi et al. (2023) explore the use of tax havens by Australian companies, identifying how they are used in combination with related party transactions, highly concentrated ownership and earnings management practices. Because such practices and transactions may be regulated more heavily in the future to prevent abusive tax practices, this article alerts both firms and their investors to the potential risks involved.

The importance of reporting without bias is further emphasised in Qi et al. (2023), who study the tone of language used in forward-looking initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses. They find that tone is associated with underpricing in the market at the time of issuance and also with poor future performance. Investors should be aware of this risk.

Our final focus on the future turns to your career, that of the accountant, and how young accountants align their expectations and experiences in the early days of their careers. The takeaways for the reader from Jackson et al. (2023) are that early career accountants are seeking sustainable careers, and, in light of this observation, how each organisation can better attract and retain them in the workforce.

The theme of this issue, Focus on the Future, demonstrates through each of the different articles how accounting is about the future. It enables us to address societal challenges, identify risks and measure future performance.