International research findings and anecdotal evidence alike suggest that new accountancy graduates often begin their careers with inadequate oral communication skills. However, there is a lack of well-grounded empirical data concerning precisely what accountancy employers mean by “oral communication” and what specific skills they value most highly. This article describes a research project investigating the importance of 27 oral communication skills for students intending to begin an accountancy career in New Zealand, as perceived by chartered accountancy professionals. It also examines how frequently accountancy employers are finding these desired skills in new graduates. The findings reported in this study offer important guidance concerning the oral communication skills that new graduates will find most useful in the New Zealand accountancy workplace and suggest useful directions for accountancy students internationally.

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This trial of the learning practice programme shows that, with facilitation and the appropriate input of resources, general practice teams can successfully apply learning organization principles to produce quality improvement outcomes. The study also demonstrates the value of action research in researching iterative change over time.

Digital communication has become ubiquitous to the non-profit sector, globally, and non-profit organizations (NPOs) have adopted multiple digital media channels and platforms in attempts to connect with and influence external stakeholders. This article examines how non-profits in New Zealand (NZ) are using metaphoric language around their deployment of digital media channels. Since its inception, digital information technology has been explained in terms of transport metaphors such as information superhighway and digital traffic. These metaphors have become largely invisible. A combination of empirical and interpretative analyses was deployed to examine the metaphorical framework at work in NPO discussions of their digital media engagements. The analysis uncovered rhetoric that valued movement over destination, de-emphasized the stakeholder perspective and narrowly restricted the power to contribute to organizational meaning.