Historian Charles Xuereb said on television that, as a nation, we should carry out some soul searching and attempt to establish what constitutes our Maltese identity. He contested the ongoing presence of the George Cross on the national flag and questioned the appropriateness of inviting a representative of the British monarchy to be the guest of honour for the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Independence.
Roderick Pace, from the European Documentation Research Centre, begged to differ, arguing that bygones should be bygones and that engaging in such a soul-searching exercise would be a waste of precious time.
Both are wrong and both are right and my intention here is precisely to embrace both views. However, I would like to initially share a few thoughts about the arguments themselves.
I personally do not have any problem with the George Cross appearing on the national flag. It surely represents our country’s gallantry half way through World War II.
For generations like my parents’, both of whom are still alive, it symbolises the hardship they had to endure. Surely, any attempt to remove it at this point in time would be tantamount to doing away with an important symbol of our recent past.
Stretching the argument further could possibly also include not holding the annual re-enactment of the ceremony during which the George Cross was formally given to Malta. Having attended the re-enactment, I must admit it helped me to appreciate better what the Maltese people had to endure at the time.
However, I have no problem with doing some soul searching myself. Indeed, I had to do that in my doctoral thesis when I argued that the accounting model we imported from our last foreign ruler, Britain, is, in fact, not suited to the local scenario.
It is increasingly necessary to respect our recent past while embracing the bright future that awaits us
Various accounting academics have, over the past 20 to 30 years, attempted to research the influence of culture on accounting. Sidney Gray, a professor at the Sydney University Business School, published a seminal paper in 1988 identifying a framework of cultural attributes in accounting based on the work carried out by social psychologist Geerd Hofstede.
Given the space available here, it is impossible to mention and discuss these cultural attributes. It is, however, noteworthy to point out that when one observes the cultural attributes of English society that support their accounting model, one would conclude that these do not apply to the local scenario.
Indeed, the British system falls under the Anglo-Saxon model of accounting with its ingrained concept of presenting a ‘true and fair’ view in a set of financial statements. Consequently, Malta would be similarly classified due to our importation of an accounting model.
One may wonder whether Malta should be classified as Anglo-Saxon. With some soul searching, in terms of accounting, the answer is no and it is evident that Malta’s accounting would have been better off with the French plan comptable.
We have to let bygones be bygones.
While having to accept that we are utilising an accountancy model that does not match our cultural attributes, the 1995 switch to international financial reporting standards proved fruitful both educationally and economically. These standards embody a ‘true and fair’ view and, needless to say, are here to stay.
As Malta continues to grow economically with increased prospects of attracting new foreign direct investment to our shores, coupled with the ongoing process of globalisation, it is increasingly necessary to respect our recent past while embracing the bright future that awaits us.
Ivan Grixti is a lecturer in financial accounting at the University of Malta.