In the last weekend of September the University of Malta in conjunction with the Malta Chamber of Scientists and the University’s Research Trust organised the EU-funded Science in the City (SITC) event. The last figures indicate that around 25,000 people visited the varied stands put up for the event.
Families and people of all ages roamed through Republic Street in Valletta to savour a countless number of science activities displaying the main theme of this year’s fifth edition of the European Researchers’ Night.
This year’s event was extended to all student organisations, and one of them was the Association of Students of Commercial Studies better known by its acronym, ASCS. Members of the current executive who happen to be reading for their masters in accountancy sought my assistance in identifying how accountancy as their chosen subject matter could be blended into SITC.
Fellow academics abroad still contend that accounting is more of a science than an art. So, the initial thought was that of organising a debate bringing in past academics to discuss this. The second idea was of putting up a play taking on research in accounting that has just been concluded by the cohort of students who will be graduating in December.
The second idea was meant to be. Little did I know that one of the students within ASCS was a scriptwriter. Taking on the principal findings from a top-notch dissertation which delved into gauging the understandability of a set of financial statements by Maltese individual investors – itself an offshoot of my doctoral research – a brilliant 15-minute play came into being which discussed the important issue that it is nice to make a profit but the generation of cash is even more important. Indeed the play’s title was Till ‘No Cash’ Does Us Part.
Events such as Science in the City can bring together accountancy-related research which in some way or another affects the lives of people
Others within the team created a couple of games which attracted both young and old to the ASCS stand.
In management I have been thought to give credit when it’s due, and I publicly give credit to all those who took part. They can consider themselves pioneers in managing to bring accountancy to SITC. From my end I feel privileged to have mentored and taken part in this maiden ‘ASCS goes SITC’ event. All in all it confirms that accountancy is not that boring after all. Current employers should cherish the participants’ organisational and teamwork capabilities beyond their technical competencies in accounting.
The event also hammered home that the Department of Accountancy does not only conduct research but conducts much needed valid research which relates to the intricacies of a small state such as Malta. Malta is not only small but also characterised by small businesses.
Through the enactment of the 1995 Companies Act, Malta adopted and entrenched International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) into that same legislation. Today more than 120 countries have moved to IFRS. The ongoing process of globalisation has triggered off the necessity of having one global accounting language.
While that makes sense for reducing business costs little is known how such standards affect individual countries. Moreover, given that such IFRSs are written for multinationals having cross-border listings, questions arise as to how beneficial they are for small states like Malta. Unfortunately, the available literature relates to big states which have fully fledged stock markets but then again financing in Malta comes in the main from commercial banks.
This creates the necessity for conducting academic research which can provide some answers; answers which can be compared to similar research in other jurisdictions.
It is within this ambience that events such as SITC can bring together accountancy-related research which in some way or another affects the lives of people.
With regards to ASCS I augur that the current executive committee manages to secure continuity so that this year’s ‘ASCS goes SITC’ achievement will not do us apart.
Ivan Grixti is a lecturer at the Department of Accountancy, University of Malta.