Accounting history in sports : an analysis of the Malta Football Association

Abstract

PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this dissertation was to thoroughly analyse the MFA’s history in terms of its financial reporting practices and how they have been affected in light of the changes in its surrounding environment, subsequently conceptualising the variety of accounting policies that were implemented in their veracious contextual setting. DESIGN: The study was fully designed to incorporate an archival research of the organisation at hand, with specific focus on its financial statements and records. FINDINGS: The emerging results from the archival research conducted pinpointed how the MFA based its financial statements and accounts on its relevant operations at the time, often segregating both income and expenditure between its diverse functions and adding informative extracts that further enhance the integrity, transparency and overall truthful representation of the Association’s financial standing. Moreover, the financial statements’ annual presentation often differed due to both internal and external influences surrounding the MFA and local football in general, leaving a trail of evolutionary practices in its wake. CONCLUSIONS: The study’s findings and results firmly ascertained that the Association’s financial reporting practices and procedures were routinely amended and updated to reflect the significant changes both in the Association’s internal and external activities as well as reshuffles in Maltese society. IMPLICATIONS/VALUE: This dissertation was intended to be an eye-opening and potentially catalytic entry into the emerging research area of Maltese accounting history, whereby a study on Malta’s oldest and most influential football governing body would provide a telescopic outlook of the evolution in financial reporting techniques and methodologies.