http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:12049 This paper chronicles the journey of two projects that sought to incorporate principles of sustainable development into predominantly technical postgraduate accounting curricula. The design and delivery of the projects were informed by Freirian principles of praxis and critical empowerment. The first author introduced sustainability-related material into a core technical accounting unit and created an elective unit. The second author participated with students to evaluate critically social reports of employers, current and potential. In terms of an objective of bringing reflexivity into the classroom, both projects were marked by some success, but efforts to create permanent curriculum change were hampered by the predominantly vocational orientation of student cohorts. In addition, the traditionally technical focus of the professional bodies and competing educational reform agendas (such as vocational skills) add to the difficulties for sustainability in penetrating already overcrowded curricula. 2012-10-08T05:10:58.214Z ]]> http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:18523 Purpose: In an effort to improve comparability between investment products and standardize investment terminology, Australian legislators recently required investment managers to report to what extent they employ ‘social considerations’ in portfolio construction. This paper assesses if the objectives of the legislation have been met. Methodology: The context of legislative development is examined in Parliamentary debates. Practised accountabilities are identified by examining a sample of the initial set of social information disclosures issued under the purview of the legislation. Although the regulatory laissez faire approach can be criticised of and in itself, the quality of social information disclosures is assessed by the degree of compliance to regulatory requirements. Findings: Initial social disclosures were poor, providing little basis for comparability. In some instances, the quality of information relating to managers’ use of ‘social considerations’ had declined relative to information supplied on a voluntary basis before the legislation took effect. Research implications: Answers calls for studies on the social responsiveness of financial markets. Findings provide important evidence for public policy debate. Originality/value: Establishes a set of standards for disclosures of non-financial information attached to retail managed investment products. 2012-04-04T16:40:57.805Z ]]> http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:18242 This article examines how financial institutions, such as pension funds and insurance companies, have interpreted and used UN-issued climate change management policies. A critical discourse approach is used to analyse material issued by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Bank Group and some business and investment consultancies, with interview data supplementing the document analysis. It is argued that although policymakers and business consultants have been eager to appropriate the discourses of financial services, they have not produced guidance on how the outputs of climate science might best be used to allocate managed capital. In terms of outcomes, financial services remain on the periphery of policy implementation, attention has been deflected from the emitters of greenhouse gases, and policy objectives have been frustrated. By unspoken fiat, the market is here the new truth that cannot be contradicted. 2012-03-22T08:56:49.787Z ]]> http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:12437 In an effort to improve comparability between socially responsible investment products and standardize investment terminology, Australian legislators recently required investment managers to report to retail investors the extent to which ‘social considerations’ are used in portfolio construction. Using a lens of political economy, this paper assesses whether the objectives of the legislation to standardize investment terminology, promote inter-product comparability and encourage the accountability of product claims have been met. The context of legislative development is examined in Australian Parliamentary debates. Practised accountabilities are identified by examining a representative sample of the initial set of regulated disclosures issued. The quality of regulated information disclosures is assessed by the degree of correlation with legislators' objectives and the regulatory requirements. Initial disclosures were poor, providing little basis for comparability. In some instances, the quality of information had declined relative to the information supplied on a voluntary basis before the legislation took effect. The evidence supports a criticism of a regulatory laissez faire approach to self-reporting and an argument for more directed regulation of management processes. 2011-04-06T04:41:01.016Z ]]> http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:12061 Article first published online: 14 FEB 2008. This paper adds to the literatures on socially responsible investment (SRI), investment management, regulation of financial services and social accounting by providing a comprehensive survey of investment methods used in SRI products and regulated social reporting in financial services. Australian and New Zealand regulations require issuers of self-declarative SRI products to provide details on methods used in portfolio construction. Regulators' objectives to standardize the reporting of portfolio construction and thus improve its comparability were identified by examination of parliamentary debates and other public reports. Portfolio construction styles of 86 SRI products managed by 63 financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand were chosen for analysis. Statistical analysis was conducted to identify associations between styles, construction methods and assessment techniques over a four-year period: 2004–2007. These aspects were further examined in 18 case studies. Over the period, diversity and intensity of construction methods had increased both within and between investment managers. The non-standard nature of management consultation used in SRI products, marketing needs to distinguish rather than standardize investment methods and the types of information thought relevant to clients did not reconcile easily with the types of information required by regulation. The more recent products in the sample tended to reference market indexes in portfolio construction, separate social considerations from financial considerations and delegate qualitative assessments of invested companies. Consumer policy implications arise from questions bearing on the integrity of information attached to investment products and the effective monitoring of delegated investment processes. 2011-03-03T23:10:23.690Z ]]> http://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:4891 Objectives of socially responsible investment (SRI) are discussed with reference to the two main mechanisms of the SRI ‘movement’: shareholder advocacy and managed investments. We argue that in their current forms, both mechanisms lack the power to create significant corporate change. Shareholder advocacy has been largely unsuccessful to date. Even if resolutions were successful, shareholder advocacy may still be ineffective if underlying economic opportunities remain. Marketing material and investment prospectuses issued by socially responsible mutual funds (SRI funds) commonly contain the claim that, by affecting corporations' access to capital funding, SRI funds can change corporate practices. This paper makes a contribution by presenting the market share of SRI funds in the regions where they are most developed, being Europe, the U.S. and Australia, to show that this claim is unlikely to eventuate. SRI funds also commonly claim that they will outperform conventional active mutual funds. That the economic performances of both are similar might be explained by their similar portfolio compositions. The paper makes an innovation in the SRI literature by adopting a legitimacy framework to explain the continued presence of SRI funds. To achieve desired social and environmental outcomes, SRI funds are urged to address issues at a more systemic level. A suggested mechanism is the collective lobbying of corporations and, especially, governments. 2010-01-27T22:36:27.473Z ]]>