Adoption of activity management practices in public sector organizations

This paper examines the extent to which activity management practices are adopted by Australian public sector organizations at each of Gosselin's (1997) levels of Activity Analysis, Activity Cost Analysis, and Activity‐based Costing. The present paper replicates Baird et al. (2004), thereby enabling a comparison of the extent of adoption of activity management in the public sector with that reported in the private sector in Baird et al. (2004). The results reveal that the adoption of higher level activity management practices (Activity Cost Analysis and Activity‐based Costing) is less prevalent in public sector organizations, whereas they adopt Activity Analysis to the same extent as the private sector.     

Success of activity management practices: the influence of organizational and cultural factors

This study examines the success of activity management practices and the organizational and cultural factors affecting success at each of Gosselin's (1997) three levels of activity analysis (AA), activity cost analysis (ACA) and activity‐based costing (ABC). Data were collected by survey questionnaire from a random sample of managers of Australian business units. The results indicate that activity management is moderately successful in Australian organizations, with greater use associated with higher levels of success. Two organizational factors (top management support and link to quality) were associated with success at each of Gosselin's three levels, whereas training was associated at the AA and ACA levels. The cultural factor of outcome orientation was associated with success at each level, with attention to detail important at the ABC level. Organizational factors were more strongly associated with activity management success than cultural factors.     

高校教育成本的核算与控制

基于高校教育成本核算的现状,采用作业成本法对高校教育成本的核算和控制,有利于提高高校管理水平,有效控制办学成本,提高经费使用效益;有利于建立公平合理的教育成本分担机制,促进高等教育健康发展。     

Sustainability,institutionalization and the duality of structure: Contradiction and unintended consequences in the political context of an Australian water business

This paper presents the results of a longitudinal case study of an Australian public sector water business in order to examine how, and to what extent, did the institutionalization and deinstitutionalization of internal sustainable and environmental management routines, practices and procedures occur over the period 2001 to the start of 2011. It adopts the Dillard et al. framework of institutionalization which incorporates institutional theory, Weber's axes of tension and structuration theory. In 2001, the criteria for costing and financial reporting practices and the criteria for environmental regulation and management practices were competing at the economic and political economic level, the organizational field level and the organizational level. An unintended consequence of this was no accounting for environmental costs. Environmental management criteria and practices were characterized by compliance with EPA regulatory requirements whilst financial management and costing criteria and practices were characterized by New Public Management criteria. Subsequent to 2001, an unintended consequence of the establishment of separate legislative and regulatory bodies has been the institutionalization of competing legitimating criteria with regard to water conservation, externalities, environmental regulation and financial reporting and costing. Within this context, the organizational field and the organizational level of the individual water business has been characterized by the development of new organizational practices and routines with regard to water conservation as well as unintended consequences and decoupling. At all three levels, the ontological security of agents has been evident in the development of new criteria and practices for sustainable development, whilst the routine procedures of the respective management systems were a source of ontological security to the relevant agents.     

For which purposes do managers use Balanced Scorecards?: An empirical study

The accounting literature frequently publishes articles that establish the adoption rates of accounting information systems, such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) or Activity-Based Costing, and subsequently examines the factors that drive this adoption. However, much less is known about the specific purposes for which these systems are used.In this paper, I examine the purposes for which managers use the Balanced Scorecard. Data was collected from a survey administered in 19 Dutch firms which had indicated that they used a BSC. The survey resulted in 224 responses from individual managers. Using exploratory factor analysis on Doll and Torkzadeh's [Doll, W.J., Torkzadeh, G., 1998. Developing a multidimensional measure of system-use in an organizational context. Information and Management 33, 171–185.] instrument of multidimensional MIS usage, I find that managers use the BSC for: (1) decision-making and decision-rationalizing; (2) coordination; and (3) self-monitoring.In the second step, I consider drivers of BSC usage for the three different purposes. These drivers are dimensions of evaluation style, alternative controls that are used in the organizational unit, and the receptiveness of managers to new types of information. I find that BSC usage for decision-making and decision-rationalizing purposes is driven by the degree of action controls used and manager's receptiveness to new information types. BSC usage for coordination purposes is driven by the emphasis placed on managerial evaluation of subordinates and the manager's receptiveness to new types of information. Finally, BSC usage for self-monitoring purposes is driven by the emphasis placed on managerial evaluation.     

The association between organizational culture and the use of management initiatives in the public sector

This paper examines the association between five factors in O'Reilly et al. (1991) Organizational Culture Profile and the use of Activity Management (AM), Total Quality Management (TQM) and Employee Empowerment within public sector organizations. The results show that the use of AM and TQM is lower in public sector organizations than in their private sector counterparts, and is facilitated by an organizational culture of Outcome Orientation and Attention to Detail. The extent of use of Employee Empowerment is similar across the two sectors, and is facilitated when public sector organizations exhibit higher Respect for People and Innovation.     

A Mathematical Programming Approach for Procurement Using Activity Based Costing

Activity Based Costing and Management are important topics in today's management accounting literature. While there has been much attention paid in the Activity Based Costing literature to customer profitability analysis, process improvement and product design, there has been far less notice taken of purchasing. In this paper we develop an Activity Based Costing approach for the determination of procurement strategies. Vendor selection using an Activity Based Costing approach is choosing the combination of suppliers for a given product group that minimizes the total costs associated with the purchasing strategy. To this end we develop a mathematical programming model where decisions involve the selection of vendors and the determination of order quantities. The system computes the total cost of ownership, thereby increasing the objectivity in the selection process and giving the opportunity for various kinds of sensitivity analysis.     

The effect of service process type, business strategy and life cycle stage on bureaucratic MCS in service organizations

This study uses the survey method to investigate the influence of several contingent variables on the design of MCS in service organizations. MCS was conceptualized in terms of five dimensions: action/results controls, formal/informal controls, tight/loose controls, restricted/flexible controls, and impersonal/interpersonal controls to form a composite measure of the degree of MCS bureaucracy. The framework used in this study recognizes that the service process type, business strategy, and stage in the organizational life cycle influence the choice of MCS design within an organization. Questionnaires were administered to financial controllers of service organizations operating in Australia. Using t tests and multiple regression analysis, the results indicated that (1) mass service, mature and cost leader firms place a greater emphasis on more bureaucratic forms of MCS, compared to professional service, growth and differentiator firms, and (2) service process type, organizational life cycle stage, and business strategies have a significant influence on the design of a firm's MCS.     

Two Decades of Research on Comparative Management Accounting – Achievements and Future Directions

Comparative Management Accounting research has explored the applications, transferability and cross‐country adaptation of management accounting practices since the early 1990s. These efforts have been triggered by findings indicating that the adoption of foreign management accounting techniques generates comparative advantages in environments characterised by increasing global business competition. However, the literature on Comparative Management Accounting is heterogeneous in terms of its methods and theory and tends to focus on a great variety of practices and instruments. Therefore, this paper reviews the existing literature, elaborating on the dimensions of comparative research in management accounting. In addition, it provides insights into shortcomings and developments in the field and identifies directions for future research and implications for corporate practice.     

Managing Multiple Institutional Logics and the Use of Accounting: Insights from a German Higher Education Institution

This paper examines the use of accounting in managing the co-existence of different institutional logics in a German higher education institution (HEI), and its impact on the HEI. The study is of particular interest as the HEI analyzed pursued its own corporatization through a re-organization from a state into a foundation university. We show that this corporatization through the adoption of new public management related ideas leads to institutional complexity arising from the co-existence of extant state and emergent business logics. Our study suggests that HEIs may deploy particular accounting practices shaped by business logic only superficially, so as to satisfy stakeholders such as governmental authorities in order to enhance their legitimacy following a self-imposed reform, while the operation of the HEI remains rooted in state logic. Specifically, the findings suggest that in the case of actual changes to the budgetary process arising through the corporatization and an emergent logic, failure to replace abandoned accounting practices shaped by a previously dominant logic with equivalent practices adhering to either extant or emerging logic(s), may put the organization at risk. Overall, our study contributes to a better understanding of the dangers of an organizational response to institutional complexity, referred to as reactive decoupling, in the management of institutional complexity and points to its negative impact on organizations' hybridization capability.