Ros Whiting

Rosalind Heather Whiting (3 March 1958 – 22 July 2024)^[1] was a New Zealand accounting academic, and was an associate professor at the University of Otago. She was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand in 2018.

Rosalind Whiting
Born	3 March 1958 Eltham
Died	22 July 2024
Academic background
Alma mater	Eltham School, Merrilands School, Highlands Intermediate School, New Plymouth Girls' High School, University of Otago, University of Adelaide
Thesis	Gender, family responsibilities and career success in the New Zealand accountancy profession (2006)
Academic work
Institutions	University of Otago

Early life and education

Whiting was born in Eltham, Taranaki, on 3 March 1958, and was one of six children of Jim and Isobel Whiting.^[2] Whiting attended Eltham Primary School before the family moved to New Plymouth, where she went to Merrilands Primary School, Highlands Intermediate and New Plymouth Girls’ High School.^[2] Despite initially intending to be a teacher, Whiting went on to take a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at the University of Otago, followed by a diploma in environmental studies from the University of Adelaide.^[2] She worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Roxburgh, studying the Clyde Dam, before studying accounting at Otago, gaining a postgraduate diploma and a Master of Commerce.^[2]

Academic career

Whiting joined the faculty of the University of Otago in 1991, rising to senior lecturer in 2003 and associate professor in 2016.^[3][4] She completed a PhD titled Gender, family responsibilities and career success in the New Zealand accountancy profession at the University of Otago in 2006.^[5]

Whiting was interested in the history of accounting, and gender and accounting careers, but also published on corporate finance and microfinance.^[2] Whiting was involved in a research study that found dropping levels of home ownership was reducing the likelihood of a comfortable retirement for an increasing number of people.^[6] In 2009 Whiting founded Dunedin Community Accounting, which provides advice and training to community groups.^[2][7]

Whiting retired in May 2023.^[8] She died from pancreatic cancer in Dunedin on 22 July 2024, survived by her husband and three children.^[2]

Honours and awards

Whiting was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand in 2018, for her "outstanding contribution and achievement to the profession of accountancy".^[2][9]

In 2014 Whiting was awarded a University of Otago Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2018 the Otago Business School Citizenship Award.^[10][2]

Selected works

• Martin Clarke; Dyna Seng; Rosalind H. Whiting (25 October 2011). "Intellectual capital and firm performance in Australia". Journal of Intellectual Capital. 12 (4): 505–530. doi:10.1108/14691931111181706. ISSN 1469-1930. Wikidata Q130455461.
• Daniel C.M. Low; Helen Roberts; Rosalind H. Whiting (November 2015). "Board gender diversity and firm performance: Empirical evidence from Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore". Pacific-Basin Finance Journal. 35: 381–401. doi:10.1016/J.PACFIN.2015.02.008. ISSN 0927-538X. Wikidata Q130455462.
• Rosalind H. Whiting; James C. Miller (4 April 2008). "Voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital in New Zealand annual reports and the "hidden value"". Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting. 12 (1): 26–50. doi:10.1108/14013380810872725. ISSN 1401-338X. Wikidata Q130456049.
• Rosalind H. Whiting; James Woodcock (28 June 2011). "Firm characteristics and intellectual capital disclosure by Australian companies". Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting. 15 (2): 102–126. doi:10.1108/14013381111157337. ISSN 1401-338X. Wikidata Q130456042.
• Clare T. Gardner; Markus J. Milne; Carolyn P. Stringer; Rosalind H. Whiting (September 2005). "Oral and written communication apprehension in accounting students: Curriculum impacts and impacts on academic performance". Accounting Education. 14 (3): 313–336. doi:10.1080/06939280500077269. ISSN 0963-9284. Wikidata Q130456043.
• ROSALIND H. WHITING; CHRISTINE WRIGHT (June 2001). "EXPLAINING GENDER INEQUITY IN THE NEW ZEALAND ACCOUNTING PROFESSION". British Accounting Review. 33 (2): 191–222. doi:10.1006/BARE.2001.0161. ISSN 0890-8389. Wikidata Q130456048.