Accounting information systems research over the past decade: Past and future trends

This article reviews the extant accounting information systems (AIS) literature by conducting an analysis of AIS articles published in 18 leading accounting, management information systems, and computer science journals from 1999 to 2009 with a view to identifying whether or not the focus of AIS research has changed, and if so how it has changed, since the Poston and Grabski’s (2000) review of AIS research from 1982 to 1998. We also report our insights into where AIS research is likely to be heading in the future. We analyse each of the 395 articles identified as reporting AIS research to identify their underlying theory, research method and research topic. Our results confirm the continuing decline in analytical and model‐building research in AIS‐related research and this decline is associated with a similar decline in the use of computer science theory to motivate this research. We also find that two theoretical platforms, in particular, now account for almost half (48 per cent) of all AIS research: cognitive psychology and economics. Experimental research methods and archival studies continue to grow as the preferred methods for testing the AIS‐related theories derived from these theory domains.     

Casemix Management in a New Zealand Hospital: Rationalisation and Resistance

This paper discusses the use of a 'casemix' information system to rationalise and scrutinise clinical activity in a corporatised New Zealand hospital. The implementation of the casemix system was part of a management strategy to influence clinician behaviour by making visible the financial implications of clinical decisions. Clinicians were able to resist the application of this comparative surveillance system by challenging or diverting the information produced.     

How information systems influence user decisions: a research framework and literature review

Technology has created new information alternatives that may influence the way information system users make decisions. This paper proposes a research framework for examining how features of an information system affect the decision-making process. The framework is synthesized by merging frameworks from the accounting information systems (AIS) literature and the human information processing (HIP) literature. The framework is then used to organize a literature review of 15 journals from 1987 through mid-1999, which identified 57 decision-making studies. Findings indicate that a wide range of opportunities is available for information systems research on issues of contemporary importance. This discussion includes changes in the decision process initiated by implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, data warehouses, electronic commerce, virtual organizations, on-line financial reporting, and disaggregated financial statement information.     

Towards a meta-theory of accounting information systems

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a model for accounting information systems (AIS) research that synthesizes the primary theoretical perspectives of the extant literature. Building on the three orientations used in prior research (technological, organizational and cognitive approaches) and adopting an explicit systems perspective, we develop a model that links system design alternatives to the three orientations and to task performance. The model places a central focus on the accounting task and suggests a matching process between requirements of the task and system design alternatives at multiple levels of analysis. We also demonstrate how the application of the model suggests future research opportunities, organized around four research propositions.     

Implications of Web assurance services on e-commerce

The ongoing rapid growth in the popularity of the Internet is having a revolutionary impact on the way companies do business. Doing business online has become a necessity, not an option. However, some consumers are not completely comfortable using the Internet for transacting business because of concerns regarding security of their transactions. For these situations, consumer trust and confidence can be enhanced by a Web assurance service such as AICPA Trust Services. Building on prior studies, the study provides comprehensive information on current reporting requirements, differences among Web assurance services, and results of a recent consumer survey to obtain perceptions of Web assurance services. The theoretical foundation of the current study is based on the Assurance Gaps Model [Burke, K. G., Kovar, S. E., & Prenshaw, P. J. (2004). Unraveling the Expectations Gap: An Assurance Gaps Model and illustrative application. Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, 7, 169–193]. E-business consumers (users of Web assurance services) can be dichotomized into older consumers and younger consumers, who have different expectations based on information asymmetries. Findings indicate that consumers value Web Assurance services, but younger consumers place greater value on these services than older consumers.     

Data for outcome payments or information for care? A sociotechnical analysis of the management information system in the implementation of a social impact bond

ABSTRACT

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are a policy intervention designed to explicitly link the activity of social interventions to outcome payments. Despite a burgeoning literature on SIBs there is a lack of evidence in relation to the information system characteristics and accounting mechanisms of SIBs. Applying a multi-dimensional sociotechnical lens to a case study of a SIB allows us to reveal the current problematic convergence of public management and information systems. The authors found that an information system within a SIB is introduced and adapted to increasingly prioritize the production of data for payment over documenting care accounts to support improved provision. The ?ndings of this paper also suggest that claims of SIBs as an innovation are limited as they are subject to the familiar problems of New Public Management practice, in the way they shape the design and use of the data in governance, management and service delivery practices.     

试论WTO及网络经济环境下的会计信息系统

在中国加入WTO和网络经济的环境下 ,财务的国际化已是必然选择。本文从网络经济的特点出发 ,分析了在新的环境下传统会计信息系统的缺陷 ,并针对这些不足 ,论述了在新的环境下会计信息系统应有的特点及功能。     

论会计信息的公允性和合法性

本文通过比较国内外关于审计目标的公允性的几种定义,提出了公允性的本质内涵,辨析了公允性与合法性之间的相互关系,认为法律是一种保证和实现会计报表的公允反映的制度安排,合法性是为公允性服务的,当二者发生冲突时,应以公允性作为提供和鉴定会计信息的首要标准.     

基于不确定性理论的会计信息真实性评测研究

会计真实性对会计研究具有至关重要的意义。本文从会计信息失真为一种不确定性现象的观点出发,分析归纳了影响会计信息真实性的关键因素,运用不确定理论对其作用进行度量,建立了会计信息真实性的评测模型。     

会计信息的供求分析与政府适度监管体系的构建

本文从会计信息的供给与需求分析入手,指出由于供需者的信息不对称性、信息生产的垄断性以及会计信息质量的"隐性"特征,使得信息供需双方在市场交换中处于不对等地位.文章认为,解决该问题需要适度的政府监管,关键在于合理界定政府的监管范围,即应基于成本效益分析、将之严格限制在会计信息市场失灵领域中能够修补的缺陷部分.     

论我国会计信息质量特征体系的构建

会计信息质量特征是现代会计理论体系中的重要组成部分,与会计目标间存在着较为密切的内在逻辑关系.构建一套系统完善的会计信息质量特征体系不仅有利于会计理论的进一步发展完善,而且对于全面有效地提高会计信息质量水准、遏制日益严重的会计信息失真具有重要意义.本文拟借鉴国内外这方面的研究成果,结合我国的会计环境以及已有的原则性规定,提出会计信息质量特征体系构建问题上的一些设想.     

Effects of the Adoption of IFRS on the Credit Market: Evidence from Brazil

Based on a sample of approximately 6500 credit ratings and 137,000 loan contracts, this paper analyzes the effects of mandatory IFRS adoption on the Brazilian credit market. We find that the IFRS adoption effects were limited to firms displaying improved accounting information quality at the time of transition, lending support to the notion that economic benefits do not necessarily flow from the publication of financial reports in IFRS but, rather, depend on how earnestly firms adopt the recommended disclosure practices.