Traditional accountants and business professionals: Portraying the accounting profession after Enron

Society’s perception of the legitimacy of the accounting profession and its members is grounded in the verbal and visual images of accountants that are projected not only by accountants themselves but also by the media. The paper uses the critical literature on stereotypes to examine how books written for a general readership on Enron and other recent corporate failures portray accountants and accounting, and the implications their authors draw for corporate governance and the survival of the financial system. The paper explores how commentators have analyzed the changing activities of accountants (including the rise of consulting) and have contrasted the personalities of “founding fathers” of the US accounting profession with their early 21st-century successors. The paper concludes that changing stereotypes of accountants are evidence of “negative signals of movement” for accounting as a profession.     

Irish accounting, business and financial history: a bibliographical essay

Historians have engaged with accounting and business archives primarily in the areas of social and economic history. While much economic and social history draws on macro-economic data, micro-level sources have cast new light on old historical problems such as the Great Famine (1845-51) and the development of trade in Ireland and between Ireland and abroad. This paper traces the contributions of historians of Ireland to our understanding of accounting, business and financial history and maps out potential areas of research for accounting and business historians in the light of earlier and current trends in historical research. Adopting a historians' perspective, the paper will also provide a historical background and suggest potential bibliographical and archival sources to present and future accounting and business historians with a view to enhancing and enriching our understanding of the context in which accounting and business is situated in Ireland.     

Disharmony in international accounting standards setting: The Chinese approach to accounting for business combinations

The paper addresses two distinct aspects of disharmony in international accounting standards setting. The first aspect relates to the political economic context of financial accounting standards. This is illustrated by the Chinese standards setters’ decision to allow the pooling of interests method of accounting for business combinations despite the prohibition of this method by both the FASB and the IASB. This decision by the Chinese standards setters appears to have been based on political economic factors related to the need for industrial reorganization in China rather than a desire to serve the needs of global capital markets. The second aspect of disharmony relates to the role played by differential understandings of the fundamental objectives of financial reporting in an international context. The IASB's goal of producing one set of global accounting standards to serve the needs of global capital markets has led to a reduction in the number of permissible accounting methods and a move towards the fair value accounting model. In particular, the IASB concluded that the acquisition method of accounting for business combinations should be the only method allowed for business combinations. In contrast, the Chinese standards setters have recognized the existence of both mergers and acquisitions, and in response they created two different methods of accounting for business combinations. Effectively, the Chinese standards setters developed an alternative approach to accounting for business combinations which challenges the IASB's goal of achieving international accounting convergence through the fair value model.     

Linking international business theory to accounting history: implications of the international evolution of the state and the firm for accounting history research

Accounting is an interdisciplinary subject. We routinely draw insights and models from the base disciplines (e.g. economics, psychology etc.) as a starting point for research on accounting issues. As accounting researchers, and accounting historians in particular, explore the international dimensions of accounting it is appropriate, therefore, to look to the literature on international relations for insights. This paper provides examples of how we could use the literature on the nation-state and international enterprises to frame questions about international accounting history.     

会计师事务所业务差异化战略若干问题

一、事务所选择业务差异化战略的原因根据哈佛大学教授迈克尔.波特(Michacl Porter)关于竞争战略的论述,任何一个组织想赢得竞争优势,都离不开三种竞争战略:总成本领先     

University Tees: Introducing fundamentals of management accounting in a small business

This case introduces sophomore-level managerial accounting students to pricing decisions. The case also offers an opportunity to discuss the concepts of business strategy, business risk, and cost drivers. Students draw on concepts such as relevant costing, breakeven analysis, and contribution format income statements to recommend price quotes for a small business.¹     

中国企业“走出去”：充分利用会计中介

如果把＂走出去＂企业比喻为一艘航空母舰,那么,会计师事务所、律师事务所、投资银行等在内的中介机构就是护卫舰、补给船,为舰母保驾护航今年是中国＂十二五＂规划的开局之年,中国企业＂走出去＂在这一年也面临新的形势和任务。实施更加积极主动的开放战略     

Managerial risk incentives and accounting conservatism

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We provide empirical evidence of the effect of managerial risk incentives on financial reporting conservatism. We hypothesize that firms use greater...     

中间业务核心账务处理系统

在银行数据集中前提下，统一的中间业务核心账务处理模式是必然趋势。近年来，国内各商业银行纷纷将数据集中作为电子化建设的重点。随着建行浙江省分行数据集中规模的逐步扩大，以存贷利差为主要收入来源的传统金融运作模式逐渐被以金融服务收益为主要收入来源的模式所取代。中间业务作为银行新的利润增长点，对完善业务种类，增强服务功能，实现经营效益的多元化具有重要意义。中间业务拓展必须借助于计算机业务网络，利用账务系统提供的强大支付手段和信用工具，银行可以把开展中间业务与发展理财服务结合起来，提供统一、规范、灵活的中…     

Acceptance of emerging technologies for corporate accounting and business tasks: An international comparison

Multinational enterprises make use of a variety of information technologies, and require access and usage of various databases and information sources. Based on a global survey, this study examines patterns of technology usage and impediments to such technology in a multinational setting. Past research indicates that culture has an impact on corporate activities, and thus, culture would theoretically affect use of emerging technologies for corporate accounting and other business tasks. This is an important issue as usage of information technology has been shown to affect corporate performance, specifically profitability. The results indicate that external, cultural, and technological differences between countries can significantly affect the use of emerging technologies in the accounting function.     

小企业会计电算化系统实施研究

随着改革开放30多年来的快速发展,小企业在我国国民经济中占有非常重要的地位,是促进市场竞争和发展市场经济的基本力量。但是,我国小企业整体经济效益偏低偏差,经营管理水平相对不高,很重要的一个原因就是相当一部分小企业仍采用手工记账模式而没有实施会计电算化。本文正是基于此背景,详细阐述了我国小企业会计电算化系统实施现状及存在的主要问题,分析了影响小企业会计电算化系统实施的因素,并据此提出了一些促进小企业实施会计电算化系统的对策和措施,以便提高中国广大小企业的整体竞争力。     

中小事务所执业领域拓展研究

据有关资料统计,截至2008年5月19日,我国有注册会计师83531人,分别在8267家会计师事务所执业。注册会计师人数不足20人(含20人)的会计师事务所达89.59%。一方面,这些事务所主要以中小企业为服务对象,以审计和验资为主要业务,其业务范围和收入来源都极其有限。另一方面,这些事务所的执业质量也令人堪忧,中注协的执业质量检查结果显示,2005—2007年受到公开谴责的事务所分别有14家、34家和52家。这些事务所都属中小会计师事务所之列.受到谴责的原因主要是未按照审计准则谨慎执业、出具虚假审计和验资报告、内部经营管理混乱等。中小会计师事务所因为较小的规模和单一的业务结构而拥有的客户较少,来源于某一特定客户的审计收入占其全部收入的比例就越高,屈从于某一特定客户的压力就越大.抵制客户购买审计意见的能力就很弱,从而很容易被俘获,使审计市场陷入无序竞争的状态。为了扩大业务收入来源、提高执业质量,中小事务所必须将自身优势与市场需求相结合,积极拓展服务领域,寻找新的利润增长点。     

会计师事务所业务拓展的现状与对策研究

考察中国注册会计师发展历程,我们发现目前注册会计师正处于大发展时期,但审计市场尚存在压价竞争、业务回扣等过度竞争现象,似乎暗示着中国注册会计师太多了.我们从会计师事务所现有业务发展的特征、业务拓展中遇到的障碍和如何拓展业务三个方面进行问卷调查,问卷调查研究结果表明,审计市场的过度竞争是结构问题和市场无序竞争所导致的,拟解决这个问题,我们倡导会计师事务实施业务差异化发展战略,以业务差异化凝聚事务所的核心竞争力,以核心竞争力为会计师事务所提供竞争优势,做精做强、做大做强,甚至走向国际化,进而为会计师事务所拓展更广阔的发展空间,提供更加多样化的业务机会.     

The impact of introductory accounting courses on student perceptions about the purpose of accounting information and the objectives of business: A comparison of the UK and Japan

This paper is concerned with the impact of introductory financial accounting courses on student perceptions of business objectives. The paper reports the results of a questionnaire survey of UK and Japanese university students which investigated their views at the start and end of an introductory financial accounting module. The views of Japanese students, in comparison with those from the UK, are of particular interest given evidence in the literature that traditional “social market” traditions in Japan are being influenced by Anglo-American “stock market” values. Our results are consistent with such a phenomenon in that Japanese students’ values regarding business objectives show significant changes that are not mirrored by changes in the perceptions of their UK counterparts. We suggest that accounting education is acting as a conduit for views more commonly held in Anglo-American societies.     

A comparison of the dominant meta programme patterns in accounting undergraduate students and accounting lecturers at a UK business school

Meta programmes are a means of describing the behavioural traits that a person exhibits when interacting with other people. An understanding of meta programmes can improve communication between individuals and this may have implications for teaching. The purposes of this study are first to identify the dominant meta programme patterns of first year accounting undergraduates at a UK business school. An earlier pilot study validated use of the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) to elicit the dominant meta programmes of accounting lecturers at the same Business School (Brown, 2002). Secondly, the students' meta programmes are compared with those of their accounting teachers to identify whether there are any differences or similarities between the two groups. The matching of the meta programmes of the teachers and students would enhance communication whilst major differences in meta programmes would make communication more difficult. A sample of 62 first year accounting undergraduates and 20 accountancy teachers completed the MPQ. The results indicate that, on average, the accounting students have similar dominant meta programme patterns to their accounting teachers. The implications of the findings for improving communication and therefore teaching are discussed, along with the scope for further research.     

Mary Douglas,risk and accounting failures

Sociology and anthropology are especially valuable in providing a critical understanding of the risk-related implications of modernity. There has, however, been relatively little discussion of the work of Mary Douglas within accounting although her pioneering writings in the area of risk have been highly influential. This paper uses Douglas’ cultural theory of risk to provide an alternative perspective on the demise of Enron and Andersen. The failure at Enron is interpreted through the grid-group model and analysed as a series of events that threaten to destabilize established cultures. Accounting is thus construed as an activity that exists on the margins of boundaries. There are two important conclusions drawn from the analysis. First, as the worldviews of both the individualist and hierarchical cultures became threatened by the ensuing crisis they collaborated to ensure their perpetuation. This also averted individuals from becoming susceptible to recruitment by subversive egalitarian groups. Second, the individualistic culture of Andersen shaped practices within the firm weakening its ability to act as a gatekeeper and therefore public accounting firms need to modify their cultures if they are to police the margins effectively.