The logics of budgeting: Theorization and practice variation in the educational field

This paper examines the introduction of budgeting practices in situations where institutional logics are competing. The empirical cases, studied in two phases in the 1990s and in 2011, explore tensions that emerged between the new business logic, prevailing professional logic, and governance logic in the education field. We analyze the theorization of budgeting practices and their performative effect on cognition in organizations. We argue that competing logics in a field impact upon budgeting practices and theorization of the meanings attributed to budgetary outcomes. Our study contributes to the understanding of accounting in processes of institutional change, and the further development of neo-institutionalist theory by attending to the sources of practice variation and their relationship to competing logics. We advance four tentative theoretical propositions concerning the impact of multiple logics upon budgetary practices.     

Committed to professionalism: Organizational responses of mid-tier accounting firms to conflicting institutional logics

We study how mid-tier accounting firms deal with changes in their institutional environment that resulted in a shift in emphasis from the trustee logic to the commercial logic. We find that these mid-tier firms selectively adopt practices related to the commercial logic, while retaining a principal commitment to the trustee logic. Interviews with high level informants in these firms show how specific strategic choice opportunities serve as independent critical events framing practice-adoption decisions. Main strategic issues for the mid-tier firms relate to the changing role of the accountant and changes in organizational structure and practices. As these issues fundamentally challenge characteristics of their professional identity, there is internal resistance against this transformation. Non-partnered accountants mainly challenge new roles that upset their extant work routines, whereas partners resist changes affecting their autonomy. These types of resistance directly impact the strategic organizational responses of the accounting firms to institutional pressures.     

Institutional Logics and Responses to Performance Measurement Systems

Abstract: This comparative study analyzes institutional logics and categorizes organizational responses to performance measurement systems (PMSs) in two Finnish cities. We refine the typology of organizational responses and suggest how the choice of response depends on the institutionalized logic in the public sector accounting context (cf. Oliver, 1991 ). Further, we discuss and refine the types of successful co‐operation under competing institutional logics (cf. Reay and Hinings, 2009 ). Our study also sheds light on practice variation in public sector accounting such as how and why PMS use materializes in different forms in units with different institutional logics.     

Materiality in an integrated reporting setting: Insights using an institutional logics framework

Using institutional logics as a theoretical framework and interviews with 20 preparers from 14 large organisations listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), this paper focuses on examining differences in integrated reporting practices. The results reveal how a finance-centric market and professional logic interact with a stakeholder logic, leading to differences in the materiality determination process. Market-dominated firms have an internally focused approach to setting materiality which emphasises value-relevance for financial capital providers. Where logics are contested, materiality becomes an amalgamation of the factors which are important for shareholders and other stakeholders and essential for demonstrating compliance with codes of best practice. Organisations with market, professional and stakeholder logics aligned have the most sophisticated materiality determination processes. The emphasis shifts from lengthy reporting and compliance to providing a comprehensive account of the value creation process and how the business ensures long-term sustainability. In this way, how logics are instantiated may explain the considerable variation being observed in integrated reports. There are also implications for the propensity of firms either to view integrated reporting as a hegemonic challenge or to internalise it as part of a process of positive organisational change.     

Institutionalising multiple accountability logics in public services: Insights from Australia

This paper reports on a field study of how a range of inter-institutional and inter-organisational forces shape the evolving rhetoric and practice of multiple accountabilities in public services. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, we carried out a qualitative field study in the Australian Commonwealth Public Service involving semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions, and the examination of internal accounting, management reports, and government archival records. The findings suggest that emphasis on conventional instrumental mechanisms and reporting tools, such as budgeting and accrual-based reporting, support managerial (instrumental) accountability through compliance logics. We conclude that an emphasis on public (relational) accountability through public dialogue is central to the public sector accountability debate, and that more attention needs to be paid to the question of how to balance the dual logics (instrumental and relational) in public services. The findings provide practical insights for public sector managers, policymakers and governments responsible for designing and implementing reforms, accounting tools, and accountability practices.     

‘We do good things,don’t we?’: ‘Blended Value Accounting’ in social entrepreneurship

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the emergent reporting practices used by social entrepreneurs in terms of their institutional settings and strategic objectives. These reporting practices not only account for financial performance but also disclose more nuanced and contingent social and environmental impacts and outcomes. Furthermore, they act as symbolic objects expressing the market orientation of many socially entrepreneurial organizations in that they aim to provide more complete and transparent disclosure of a variety of performance impacts. Conceptually, this paper draws upon approaches developed within the sociology of accounting as institutional practice and uses three theoretical interpretations to conceptualize the function and effects of reporting, disclosure, and audit in social entrepreneurship: positivist; critical theorist; and interpretative. A discussion of five case studies leads to the development of a new theoretical construct – ‘Blended Value Accounting’ – that constitutes a spectrum of disclosure logics used by social entrepreneurs to access resources and realize organizational mission objectives with key stakeholders. Conclusions consider some further questions around socially entrepreneurial reporting practices and strategies and suggest some new lines of research going forward.     

Financial reporting quality in international settings: A comparative study of the USA, Japan, Thailand, France and Germany

The purpose of this study is to show the importance of the business contexts of individual countries to understand corporate accounting practices in international settings. Using data from five countries, we show that while agency theory constructs are effective in explaining accounting practices in corporate settings that have a strong agency orientation, such as that of the United States, it is necessary to go beyond such constructs to understand accounting practices in other corporate settings. Given the variety of international business settings, we use a generic theory, institutional theory. To conduct this examination into cross-country accounting practices, we focus on an earnings quality measure based on accrual accounting practices, the abnormal accruals component of accounting earnings. We provide evidence to support the view that with varying business settings we are likely to see diversity in accounting practices that result in different levels of accruals or accruals based earnings quality.     

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH ON PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING LITERATURE: A REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT

This paper reviews the evolution of institutional research on performance measurement and management (PMM) in the public sector accounting literature. An assessment of the progress of this research programme is offered in light of some key developments in the broader neo-institutional sociology (NIS) literature, such as the growing recognition of the role of embedded agency, the need to bridge institutional and rational choice explanations of action and the extension of empirical research across different levels of institutional fields. Some progress has been made in this respect and has contributed to shift the emphasis from a one-sided focus on institutional effects  on  PMM, treating institutional pressures as largely exogenous, to recognize its more intricate roles as an outcome of, as well as a medium for, change. However, further research is required into the micro dynamics involved in transforming and reproducing PMM practices at different levels of analysis and how such practices become infused with meanings conditioned by higher-order institutional logics across various levels of institutional fields. Some research strategies for addressing these issues are outlined.     

Ownership changes, accounting practice and the redefinition of the corporation

This paper examines the role of accounting in facilitating and legitimating the conglomerate movement in American business during the 1960s. We argue that the profileration of conglomerate mergers contributed to a reconceptualization of the corporation that emphasized its financial rather than its productive capacities. This conception of the firm has now been institutionalized; its logic motivates the takeovers and restructuring that characterize contemporary business. Our case illustrates the rhetorical power of accounting as a symbolic system for legitimating new corporate forms and practices.     

Standard Setting for the Financial Reporting of Religious Business Organisations: the Case of Islamic Banks

Islamic banks have to abide by Islamic principles in all their business transactions. Accounting practices also have to be in conformity with this cardinal rule. Currently almost every Islamic bank sets its own accounting policy through a process which involves in-house religious advisers and the financial auditor of the bank. However, Islamic banks have recently agreed to establish a standard setting body to regulate their financial accounting and reporting. This paper argues that one of the predominant factors which seems to have influenced this decision and the institutional arrangements through which accounting standards will be promulgated is Islamic banks' fear of possible future intervention by their regulatory agencies.     

Analysing the Institutional Logic of Late DRG Adopters

Abstract: This study investigates how institutional logics that are prevalent in an organizational field influence change in management accounting. More precisely, we examine the institutional logics of late DRG adopters through which organizations attempt to address the pressures imposed by the institutional field of health care. Specific attention is also paid to the way in which organizations operate at different institutional levels and what kinds of interrelationships exist between these levels. Such developments may at least partially explain why the implementation and adoption of DRG–based accounting systems in Finnish health care took almost twenty years.     

Transformative change towards sustainability: the interaction between organisational discourses and organisational practices

This paper adopts a case study approach to explore the complex process of organisational change towards greater social and environmental sustainability. The case study of a major global financial services organisation involved interviews and examination of company documents, and their website over the period 2000–2014. The rare longitudinal empirical evidence from different sources provides important insights to how companies are responding to increasing demands for sustainable development. Using Laughlin’s [1991. Environmental disturbances and organizational transitions and transformations: some alternative models. Organization Studies, 12 (2), 209–232] pathways of change model, the study investigates the interaction between organisational discourses (i.e. its interpretive schemes) and organisational practices (i.e. design archetypes). The findings demonstrate the centrality of organisational discourses, especially those relating to accounting calculative practices, to radical change towards sustainable development. The paper also contributes to the literature on institutional logics, particularly multiple institutional logics, and how these are implicated in change processes.     

A French connection; paths to a ‘new system’ of accounting for the Royal Navy in 1832

This study contextualises the official introduction of double entry bookkeeping in the Royal Navy, in 1832. The objective is to consider how accounting developed and changed through the competing logics of path dependent processes and to provide insights and explanations of those accounting changes in the Royal Navy. An innovative theoretical framework combines the longer-term lens of historical institutionalism with the roles of key actors to investigate change, logic and meaning of accounting in the Royal Navy in the context of financial reforms resulting from governmental investigations. The study is intended to make a contribution to accounting history and theory by means of this extension of historical institutionalism, exploring the options available and the paths taken at critical junctures, as the result of key players and their influence on the practices developed. The study identifies the paths available to the Royal Navy in the adoption of this ‘new system’ of accounting. The paper contributes to the literature on accounting development and change, on military accounting history and on the political nature of accounting in exploring the influences for change.     

Understanding management accounting practices: A personal journey

This paper reviews the changes which have taken place in management accounting research over the last 35 years. It traces the author's personal journey as a management accounting researcher and emphasises the shift which has taken place in what it means to understand management accounting practices. It argues that to make sense of diversity in management accounting practices we need to understand the complex mish-mash of inter-related influences which shape practices in individual organisations. It outlines the contribution which institutional theories can make to understanding this mish-mash of complexity. In particular, it reviews the achievements of the Burns and Scapens framework (2000) for studying management accounting change and describes some of its limitations and extensions; viz., the interplay of internal and external institutions; the importance of trust in accountants; the impact of circuits of power; and the need to study the role of agency in institutional change. It concludes that research in recent years has provided a much clearer understanding of the processes which shape management accounting practices; but the challenge for the future is to use this theoretically informed understanding to provide relevant and useful insights for management accounting practitioners.     

Accounting for the financialized UK and US national business model

In this paper we adopt a ‘business model’ conceptual framework grounded in accounting to describe the processes and mechanisms of national economic development and transformation. We locate national business models within a broad econo-sphere where they evolve and adapt to information arising out of stakeholder/institutional interactions. These interactions congeal into reported financial numbers that are presented as current income flows (income, expenditure), balance sheet accumulations and changes in net worth (assets and liabilities outstanding). We employ financial data from national accounts to specifically describe how the US and UK national business models have become financialized as ongoing capitalizations run ahead of earnings capacity. This process of interminable re-capitalization is conditioned by variable institutional and sub-institutional sector characteristics. However, in financialized national business models the system of accounting takes on added analytical significance because it ‘transmits rather than contains’ and ‘amplifies rather than dampens’ adverse financial disturbance as capitalizations are recalibrated up or down in secondary markets.     

The role and impact of professional accountancy associations on accounting education research: An international study

This paper explores the relative influence of the accounting academy and accountancy professional associations in the debate concerning the profile and quality of accounting education research. This research analyses 13 semi-structured interviews undertaken with members of key accounting professional associations in Australia, New Zealand (ANZ) and the United Kingdom and Ireland (UKI). The paper makes a theoretical contribution by the novel application of the institutional logics theory to the literature concerning professional accounting associations (PAAs) demonstrating the dominant commercial logic of the education function and the more traditional fiduciary logic of the technical function. The research finds that the primary stakeholders in the professional accounting curriculum development model are the PAAs and employers, whilst the accounting academy is relatively absent. The relative independence of the education and research and technical functions within PAAs is also identified: academic research and technical activity has little influence on professional education and vice versa. However, PAAs’ funding of academic research is common across all four countries for brand recognition and in some instances to influence policy rather than informing the professional curriculum.     

Marketization and Performance Measurement in Swedish Central Government: A Comparative Institutionalist Study

Public sector organizations have increasingly been subject to varying forms of marketization, ranging from competitive contracting to a more general conception of citizens or users as customers or consumers regardless of whether such economic factors prevail. Drawing on neo-institutional sociology (NIS) and other advances in economic sociology, we examine such marketization efforts as an institutionally embedded phenomenon with particular reference to how it is implicated in the performance measurement practices (PMPs) of two state agencies in Sweden. This reveals how PMPs are embedded in only partly consistent institutional logics and under what circumstances such practices can be reconciled. Some PMPs, especially those grounded in efficiency concerns, tend to play an important constitutive role in operating-level practices, partly as a result of also being embedded in regulatory pressures. Other PMPs, imbued with symbolic meanings signifying a more customer-oriented rationale, only seem to approach such a status if they are dis-embedded from the 'global' practices in which they originate and re-embedded in evolving PMPs dominated by efficiency concerns. We discuss the implications of these findings for emerging research into practice variations embedded in competing logics in institutional fields and for policy development.     

Time and space in income accounting

Inspired by the work of DR Scott, we explore the formation of an internal logic of income accounting that bestows upon the income accounting system an institutional status. As large scale modern corporations emerged in the market, imaginative ways of doing income accounting were developed and exercised in the 19th century. Creative accounting practices of the time were eventually evolved into what is now known to be the accrual process. A distinctive feature of the accrual accounting system, that has the accrual process as its essential part, is that it creates internal space demarcated (de-marketed) from the external world. In the demarcated space of the accrual accounting system, “the Emptying-out of Internal Transaction Time” takes place. Internal transactions enable the accrual accounting system to generate smoothed income series out of cashflow chaos, which function as an “attractor” in the complex relationships between managers and stakeholders. Creative accounting practices induced phase transition so as to establish the accrual accounting system as a legitimate social institution.     

Institutional changes in university accounting education in post-revolutionary China: From political orientation to internationalization

Since the formation of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the broad field of accounting education in China has undergone many changes in the context of a dramatically changing sociopolitical environment. The institutional mechanisms in Chinese university accounting education are examined in this paper, principally through a re-reading of the historical experience since 1949. We utilize an institutional theory frame to examine how action in the regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pillars have shaped accounting education from its heavily political orientation in the early years of the PRC to a more internationalized university accounting education system that has begun to take shape in contemporary China. We seek to contribute a contextualized understanding of contemporary China's accounting education, while adapting and extending the role of institutional theory in explaining education changes more broadly.     

A CRITIQUE ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING: TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CLASSIFICATION—THE SEARCH FOR OWNERSHIP

This paper is a critique on contemporary accounting¹classification studies. It suggests that such studies have thus far provided an inadequate assessment of and explanation for extant international contemporary accounting diversity. This paper locates the discussion within a neo Marxian political economy, and explores how notions of structure and hierarchy central to the institutional traditions of economic liberalism and the social priorities of capital have increasingly invaded the classification and understanding of contemporary accounting diversity. It contends that such classification studies are a product of capitalist desires to import and assimilate increasingly distant realms of business life into the capital@8alabour value relation/contemporary accounting@8icapital relation. Furthermore, this paper suggests that such classification studies fail to recognise the impact of such social, political and economic arrangements as they are increasingly reupholstered and redistributed by the changing priorities of capital, resulting in a limited appreciation of the constitutive power of capital and its influence on contemporary accounting.