Commentary on Bryer's “Conscious practices and purposive action: A qualitative study of accounting and social change”

This paper seeks to provide a general and informative commentary on Rose Bryer's paper, “Conscious practices and purposive action: A qualitative study of accounting and social change” (2011), which explores the role of accounting in the specific setting of empresas recuperadas (ERs). ERs (reclaimed enterprises) are businesses that have been brought back into operations as a cooperative by the workers when they were thought to be bankrupt. The commentary presented here focuses primarily on Bryer, but also discusses additional elements that may shed light on the unique phenomenon of ERs. As case studies, ERs provide an ideal context in which to research accounting change and test critical perspectives in accounting. This commentary focuses on the particularities of the socioeconomic environment that became the fertile ground of ERs, while also offering a long-term view of the phenomenon ten years after it was initiated. In particular, it undertakes a comparison between the initial situation and the situation in 2012. The commentary makes two key arguments: first, that accounting is an instrumental technology; and second, that the constructs that existed in 2001 have evolved significantly—and have even become partially obsolete—as diverse management forms emerged in successful ERs. This evolution is analyzed along five dimensions: (1) hierarchical organization; (2) property rights and the concept of profit; (3) community action and its links with access to financial resources; (4) the duality of members and non-members; and (5) the role of accounting reporting and discourse.     

A half-century of Accounting and Business Research: the impact on the study of international financial reporting

This paper celebrates the contribution of this journal, over its first 50 years, to research on international financial reporting, defined as comprising writings on comparative or harmonisation topics. The paper examines the journal’s output in that field and how it contributed to the field’s development. Even though the journal was sympathetic to international financial reporting, less than 1% of output in its first decade (the 1970s) related to it. In its first 35 years, a large proportion of the journal’s limited output in the field was produced by two small groups of researchers. However, during its fourth decade, the field gradually became dominant as the accounting world changed. By then, the journal had already published the seminal papers on several central topics in international financial reporting, including measuring harmonisation, using reconciliations to measure international accounting differences, assessing international differences in the influence of tax on financial reporting, and measuring international difference in the application of international standards. These topics were later taken up by many researchers in several other journals.     

Accounting Measurement Basis, Market Mispricing, and Firm Investment Efficiency

In this paper, we investigate how the accounting measurement basis affects the capital market pricing of a firm's shares, which, in turn, affects the efficiency of the firm's investment decisions. We distinguish two broad bases for accounting measurements: input‐based and output‐based accounting. We argue that the structural difference in the two measurement bases leads to a systematic difference in the efficiency of the investment decisions. In particular, we show that an output‐based measure has a natural advantage in aligning investment incentives because of its comprehensiveness. The (first‐)best investment is achieved when the output‐based measure is noiseless and manipulation free. In addition, under an output‐based measure, more accounting noise/manipulation always leads to more inefficient investment choices. Therefore, if an output‐based accounting measure is highly noisy and easy to manipulate in practice, the induced investment efficiency can be quite low. On the other hand, an input‐based accounting measure, while not as comprehensive, may induce more efficient investment decisions than an output‐based measure if some noise is unavoidable in either measure. The reason is twofold. First, input‐based measures may be associated with less noise and limited manipulation in practice. Second, and more importantly, we show that under an input‐based measure, a slight increase in accounting noise/manipulation may lead to more efficient investment choices. In fact, the (first‐)best result is achieved when the noise/manipulability is small but positive. In other words, for an input‐based measure, being less comprehensive makes small but positive accounting noise/manipulability desirable. Two extensions of the basic model are also explored.     

商业银行构建矩阵式财务管理应用平台的探讨

经营模式与增长方式转变推动国内商业银行日益重视建设管理会计平台以获取决策信息。近几年国内商业银行所致力于提炼的均为客户或产品的产出信息，而在处理客户或产品的投入信息方面，至今尚无一家银行取得重大进展。本文提出国内商业银行有必要通过构建核算与管理一体化的矩阵式财务管理应用平台，来解决自身投入信息匮乏的难题。在第一阶段，国内商业银行应构建分业务线的经营管理体制，集约化的矩阵式财务管理，精细化的核算流程，完善实物财产管理，依托流程控制和严格的执行力，与资源配置挂钩并依托强大的技术架构支撑；在第二阶段，将战略成本管理作为长远目标。     

商业银行构建矩阵式财务管理应用平台的探讨

经营模式与增长方式转变推动国内商业银行日益重视建设管理会计平台以获取决策信息。近几年国内商业银行所致力于提炼的均为客户或产品的产出信息,而在处理客户或产品的投入信息方面,至今尚无一家银行取得重大进展。本文提出国内商业银行有必要通过构建核算与管理一体化的矩阵式财务管理应用平台,来解决自身投入信息匮乏的难题。在第一阶段,国内商业银行应构建分业务线的经营管理体制,集约化的矩阵式财务管理,精细化的核算流程,完善实物财产管理,依托流程控制和严格的执行力,与资源配置挂钩并依托强大的技术架构支撑;在第二阶段,将战略成本管理作为长远目标。     

基于产权行为研究的人力资源会计模式再造

对于人力资源会计的艰苦探索,至今仍一直园囿在成本会计与价值会计之间,一方面完全忽视对人力资源作为会计的对象所据以被引入其处理流程的会计事项之确认,另一方面却盲目强调会计模式对人力资源的成本与价值之计量。事实上,这不仅没有真正再现其投资的成本与所产出的价值,而且也没能最终确立一个完整的对人力资源之会计模式。鉴于此,有关的研究可以着眼于对人力资源的产权运作过程进行深入地分析,把所涉及的主体之产权行为系统地划分为人力资源产权投资和人力资源产权交易两种运作形式,以及由之而导致的人力资本收益分配一种运作结果,在此认识基础上,据以再造人力资源的会计模式。     

税务会计原则、财务会计原则的比较与思考

由于税务会计要以税法为导向,因此,体现税收原则的税收核算原则也就是税务会计原则。税务会计原则一般都隐含在税法中,它虽然远远不如(财务)会计原则那么明确、那么公认,但其刚性、其硬度,却要明显高于(财务)会计原则,纳税人一旦违反,就要受到税法等相关法律的惩处。文章对由税法主导的税务会计原则与投资人导向的财务会计原则进行了比较,从中可见两者的差异及其产生的原因。研究税务会计原则与财务会计原则的差异,旨在探讨如何构建符合国际化发展趋势的税务会计与财务会计的关系模式。     

FAS 133: What Is Accounting Truth?

FAS 133, the rule that governs accounting for derivatives, has been controversial since its inception. Besides being expensive to implement and maintain, the rules often cause accounting treatment to diverge markedly from economic reality, making financial statements less transparent and less useful. For example, by marking to market only one side of what are in fact two‐sided (hedged) positions, FAS 133 often introduces artificial volatility into earnings and, in so doing, discourages companies from hedging. How should companies tackle financial disclosure and balance the economic and accounting effects of hedging? This article recommends that companies make economically sensible hedging decisions and then present two sets of earnings numbers to the investment community: (1) the first prepared and audited in strict accordance with GAAP; and (2) a supplemental calculation showing what earnings would have been had the firm qualified for hedge accounting treatment. This kind of supplemental disclosure should be viewed by companies as an opportunity to explain to their investors, creditors, and counterparties how they conceptualize, measure, and manage risk.     

The role of accounting in financial disclosure

This paper examines the various demands facing accounting in attempting to supply diverse groups with differing needs the data they desire. Beginning with the notions that, first, accounting is trying to describe a complex stewardship relation and, second, that what we call accounting is in reality many accountings, it examines several current issues in financial disclosure. Essentially, it concludes that a complex set of economic relations must simultaneously rely on several distinct accountings to properly perform the task of disclosure. In general, this conclusion is viewed as desirable.     

ACCOUNTING MODELS AS AN INQUIRING SYSTEM IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Budgetary processes of local governments have been studied a lot, but there seems to be a lack of knowledge on how the accounting systems are actually used and how they fit into these processes . This is the theme of this paper, which is based on studies of local governments in Sweden. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part there is a discussion of the budgetary process, the accounting system and their interrelationship. Two particular problems are discussed; the first relates to the fact that the accounting system is systematically filtering away what seems to be relevant financial information; and the second is that the accounting system is also very badly adapted to that process of commitments, which is understood to be the budgetary best. In the second part of the paper, it is argued in a normative manner that changes should be made to solve these two problems.     

两种基本财务会计信息需求与供给的矛盾和协调

投资者为满足决策需要和增强契约有效性产生了两种基本的信息需求,即有关公司未来业绩和风险的信息和与经理努力程度高度相关的业绩衡量信息。现实环境的财务会计无法同时在一份报告中完美地提供上述信息,对两种基本信息需求的权衡和报告成为经理利益驱动的会计选择结果。管制和准则在一定程度上协调了投资者和经理之间的会计信息的供需矛盾。认识我国当前的财务会计及其报告的环境,对会计研究者和准则制定者来说都具有重大的意义。     

Accounting tele teaching lectures: issues of interaction and performance

This paper provides empirical evidence on two aspects related to using tele teaching to deliver accounting lectures. The first issue examines student opinion on whether tele teaching lectures provide educational interactions between the learner and the instructor similar to face-to-face teaching. The second issue examines the subject performance of students who were tele taught against a similar group that were lectured face-to-face. Results showed that students viewed the tele taught lectures as lacking in learner–instructor interactions however the performance differences were not significant.     

Fair value accounting: Simulacra and simulation

The paper examines the application of simulacra and simulation in fair value accounting for financial instruments in the U.S. As copies of copies, simulacra problematize the notion of an original and with it an imaginary of a single authentic reality. We examine simulacra as they have been applied in two interconnected fair value accounting arenas. Firstly, simulacra employed as a measurement basis for certain financial instruments. In this regard, we challenge the FASB's insistence that fair value accounting is an originary market based measurement system. Secondly, we examine the process of simulation as employed by the FASB in copying and amending FAS 157 in its subsequent modifications to the guidance provided to the preparers of financial statements. Our purpose here is to both reinforce the absence of a market reality and also to illustrate how the FASB's subsequent modifications to FAS 157 were shaped by political forces. We conclude with some suggestions as to how simulacra and a politicization process might be productively embraced in future fair value accounting endeavors.     

The introductory financial accounting course: Its role in the curriculum for accounting majors

This paper reports a study that addressed two related research questions. The first concerns the proper emphasis in teaching introductory financial accounting in terms of the conceptual and procedural aspects of the subject. The second deals with the adequacy of introductory courses in preparing accounting majors for their intermediate and advanced accounting courses. Professors who had recently taught intermediate and/or advanced accounting responded to a questionnaire designed to answer the above questions. A recent study of the curriculum for accounting majors helped provide a framework for part of the questionnaire. The responses provide some evidence favoring a more conceptual emphasis, although it is not conclusive. There is a clear indication that these professors perceive the preparation received by accounting majors to be inadequate. A related finding is that more study of the accounting curriculum is needed, especially in terms of when the various topics should be taught.     

Market failure fallacies and accounting information

Proponents of increased regulation of accounting maintain that there are failures in the private market for accounting information. In this paper, it is argued that market failure theories contain a logical fallacy. The optima identified in those theories are not optima because they are defined independently of institutional arrangements necessary to attain them. Existing institutional arrangements, such as markets, should not be condemned until it can be shown that there is an alternative regime which can produce socially superior output.The paper examines theories which explicitly allege that there are failures in the private market for accounting information. In addition, early criticisms of accounting information are restated in economic terms, and it is revealed that those criticisms implicitly assume that private production of accounting information suffers from market failures. The paper concludes by suggesting that, if accounting research is to contribute to public policy formulation, researchers should focus on evaluating the type of information that can be produced by feasible regimes such as markets or government agencies.     

Using technology and library resources in financial accounting courses

Accounting practitioners and academics have raised concerns about the need to develop accounting students' critical thinking and communication skills, as well as their computer literacy. This paper presents two intermediate accounting projects that address these concerns. The first project is structured to familiarize students with accounting resources available electronically. The second project requires students to use an electronic database to research and analyze the effect of asset impairment on the financial statements of companies within a specific SIC code. This project can readily be adapted to any financial accounting topic, not just asset impairment. Both projects have writing components and involve the use of groups and technology; the second project also involves critical analysis of the financial statement impact of asset impairments. The results of student surveys requesting feedback on the effectiveness of the projects are also presented.     

A Theoretical Survey of Critical Accounting Studies in Japan

This paper discusses the significance and problems of critical studies of accounting in Japan. The main purpose of this paper is not only to survey critical accounting studies in Japan hitherto unknown elsewhere but to examine some theoretical problems which may be of international relevance. The critical school of accounting in Japan offers alternative perspectives to mainstream accounting. Although there are several tendencies that have historically offered differing theses on accounting as a system of calculation and as an institution, two main schools stand out: the “individual capital movement" approach and the “socio-political superstructure" approach. Their differences stem from their respective views of accounting, but they share common characteristics in that they view accounting in the social and historical contexts. The aims of this paper are as follows: first, to acquaint the non-Japanese reader with the critical studies of accounting in Japan that comprise several schools and controversy among them, and to analyze the significance and problems of these schools; second, to explore a theoretical path to resolve the problems and integrate the different methodological tendencies; and finally, to conduct a comparative analysis of critical researches of accounting in Japan and the West, and to open the way for promoting an international exchange of ideas.     

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.     

The Impact of Irreversibility,Uncertainty and Timing Options on Deprival Valuations and the Detection of Monopoly Profits

This paper has two purposes. The first is to derive rules identifying the deprival value of an asset (i) which is irreversible to one extent or another; (ii) the benefit stream of which is subject to continuing uncertainty; and (iii) for which an option to wait exists as to when to reacquire should the owner be deprived of it. The second is to consider whether accounting rates of return employing these deprival value rules can be developed to help in the detection of monopoly profits in circumstances where investment decision-making takes place in the presence of irreversibility, uncertainty and the existence of timing options. The ‘new’ deprival value rules for an asset differ from the ‘conventional’ ones in that present value less the value of the option to reinvest in the asset appears in the ‘new’ rules wherever present value appears in the ‘conventional’ rules. Examples are provided which suggest that ‘new’ and ‘conventional’ deprival value rules can differ materially. A further result is that accounting rates of return can be developed using the ‘new’ deprival value rules that are, in principle, useful in the detection of monopoly profits. Nonetheless, in practice such use requires a level of information that renders the result superfluous in the sense that the provision of replacement cost balance sheet data, combined with the level of information needed, is sufficient to reveal the presence of monopoly profits directly.     

Agency and structure in management accounting research: Reflections and extensions of Kilfoyle and Richardson

This paper is a reaction to and extension of Kilfoyle and Richardson's (K&R) paper “Agency and structure in budgeting: thesis, antithesis and synthesis” [Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2011;2:183–199] with the aim of contributing to the ongoing discussion about how to conceptualize agency and structure in management accounting research. More specifically, while we fully sympathize with K&R's overall conclusion that a duality perspective (as opposed to dualism) has the best potential to address the intriguing paradox of embedded agency, we also argue that some of their writings open up for multiple interpretations, of which some may be problematic if we want to dissolve the separation of agency and structure. As a reaction to this, we propose a number of specifications resulting in a duality perspective which is grounded in a ‘flat and local’ ontology. This perspective, in turn, forms the basis for the development of a general framework which identifies four principal origins of embedded agency, of which K&R mainly discuss one. In relation to K&R, our paper thus extends their line of argument by suggesting a number of interesting, yet largely unexplored avenues for future management accounting research.