Contemporary Accounting

Mike Bazley (1931 - 2013)Mike Bazley was the inspiration behind the first edition of this book which now enters its 9th edition. The success of this text is a tribute to Mike's perseverance as many publishers he initially approached were not particularly interested in his idea of adapting the UK text Accounting in Business Context. However, Thomas Nelson, now Cengage, finally agreed and in 1991 the first edition was published. Sadly Mike Bazley passed away in February 2013. Mike was an excellent teacher and highly regarded by the students he taught, an outstanding work colleague, a valued friend and a true gentleman to all that he met. He is deeply missed by his family and many friends and former colleagues.Mike Bazley was born in the United Kingdom where, having undertaken national service, he joined a medium-sized company and worked his way to joint managing director. In 1969, Mike migrated to Australia and began his period of employment at The University of Western Australia which eventually led him to taking up a lectureship in 1977 in UWA's then Department of Accounting and Finance. He subsequently took up a position with Murdoch University where he was Dean of Studies and Chair of the School of Commerce and Senior Lecturer. In addition to his academic work, he also consulted for the Western Australian state government, conducted public seminars and contributed to various academic and professional publications. Mike was a Fellow of CPA Australia. Having retired in 1995, Mike still continued to take great interest in the development of this text. We dedicate the 9th edition of this text to Mike in recognition of his prior contributions over the past 20 plus years and the very substantial and positive influence that he had on its development.Phil Hancock is a Professor and the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning for the Business School at the University of Western Australia. He is also Senior Teaching Fellow at the Graduate School of Management at the University of Western Australia. Phil has extensive experience in the regulation of corporate financial reporting, international accounting and management in both the educational and private sectors. An active member of the accounting profession, Phil is a Fellow of CPA Australia and an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. In addition, he sits on a national panel associated with the society's CPA Program and is also a member of the ASIC Accounting Liaison Group in Western Australia. Phil was appointed to the Urgent Issues Group (UIG) in May 2002. As a teacher, Phil has held senior positions at the University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University and Murdoch University, where he was an Associate Professor in Accounting before moving to his current position at the University of Western Australia.