Multidimensional accounting and distributed databases: Their implications for organizations and society

The motivation behind multidimensional accounting is elaborated and extended to an accounting system built upon a database. This system may serve as the predecessor to a national system of distributed databases that integrates micro-accounting and macro-accounting systems. Two implications for organizations and society are examined: first, the need to standardize information requirements, and second, the need to protect privacy. Recent advances in the application and development of cryptosystems are examined. These advances enhance security and the protection of privacy within a database in a simple and inexpensive fashion.     

RegTech—the application of modern information technology in regulatory affairs: areas of interest in research and practice

We provide a high-level view on topics addressed in scientific articles about regulatory technology (RegTech), with a particular focus on technologies used. For this purpose, we first explore different denominations for RegTech and derive search queries to search relevant literature portals. From the hits of that information retrieval process, we select 55 articles outlining the application of information technology in regulatory affairs with an emphasis on the financial sector. In comparison, we examine the technological scope of 347 RegTech companies and compare our findings with the scientific literature. Our research reveals that ‘compliance management’ is the most relevant topic in practice, and ‘risk management’ is the primary subject in research. The most significant technologies as of today are ‘artificial intelligence’ and distributed ledger technologies such as ‘blockchain’.     

战略管理研究所应遵循的理论基础:资源基础观与交易成本理论

本文通过对目前国内以交易成本理论为基础,对资源基础观提出的批评进行检视和分析,基于资源基础理论对这些批评做出了回应。本文还从理论根源、理论关注的重点和分析角度,理论的研究方法和应用范围以及理论中存在的缺陷对资源基础理论和交易成本理论进行了比较分析。最后得出结论,应该在战略理论研究中以资源基础逻辑为主要理论观,同时借助交易成本理论对相关问题和现象进行分析和解释,其结论将更为透彻和完善。     

Forecasting demand for secondary materials: A case study of waste paper

The authors examine how best to forecast the demand for a resource, in this case waste paper, using three methods. The first is based on long or short-term GDP forecasts, the second is a basic or modified Holt-Winters model, and the third is an input-output model, which can incorporate various scenarios to allow for the effects of technical change. All three techniques are superior to time-series projection. As data availability increases, the application of a combination of these methods would improve the policy response to resource shortage.     

Budget Development and Use in Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: A Field Investigation

We examine the process by which operating budgets are developed and how they are used for control, evaluation, and reward purposes in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs (i.e., fewer than 500 employees) represent the dominant organizational form in North America but surprisingly little research has examined how these companies develop and use management controls. Our study focuses on a key element of the management control system, operating budgets, because prior research on SMEs indicates this as an important and commonly used control tool in such companies. Prior research on budgeting practices, while extensive, has almost exclusively examined larger companies. We conduct in‐depth field interviews at 12 participating SMEs to address four theory‐based research questions intended to provide insights regarding the development and use of budgets by SMEs. Our first question examines how budgets are developed, top‐down versus collaborative. Our second, third, and fourth research questions examine, respectively, whether budgets are used tightly or loosely for results control, performance evaluation, and reward purposes. As a first step in providing a deeper understanding of budget development and use in SMEs, our results have implications for practice, theory development, and management accounting education.     

开源GIS软件和空间数据库在资源环境审计中的应用路径

在当前大数据环境下,善于获取数据、分析数据、运用数据是做好审计工作的基本功,研究资源环境审计大数据技术应用有助于顺应大数据发展更加高效开展审计工作。本文先分析了资源环境审计面临的机遇,存在的数据获取手段匮乏、数据分析工具开发应用不足,资源环境审计工作人员思维方式无法适应需求等挑战,重点阐述了开源GIS软件QGIS和空间数据库PostGIS在获取、分析和运用空间数据方面的优势及审计适用性,构建了基于开源GIS软件和空间数据库的审计应用框架,并以医疗废物审计项目为例阐述了开源GIS软件和空间数据库在审计中的应用步骤,验证了方法的有效性。本文还探讨了该方法的优缺点和后续发展方向,以期为今后开展资源环境审计大数据分析工作提供参考借鉴。     

Preparation for a first level university accounting course: The experience in New zealand

This study seeks to extend the work of Baldwin and Howe (1982) in three ways: first, to differentiate between the different levels of accounting in high school; second, to take into account the level of previous study in economics and mathematics; and third, to examine the effects of these previous levels of study on three different parts of the first level university accounting course. The results are in agreement with the majority of earlier research in that the level of previous study of accounting had no association with the performance in any part of the course. The study of economics showed a positive association with performance in the course, with the major benefit in management accounting.     

Bank-Based or Market-Based Financial Systems: Which Is Better?

For over a century, economists and policymakers have debated the relative merits of bank-based versus market-based financial systems. Recent research, however, argues that classifying countries as bank- or market-based is not a very fruitful way to distinguish financial systems. This paper represents the first broad, cross-country examination of which view of financial structure is more consistent with the data. The results indicate that although overall financial development is robustly linked with economic growth, there is no support for either the bank-based or the market-based view. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: G0, K2, O4.     

Indigenous Land Rights Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Constraint on Productivity?

This article uses cross-sectional evidence from Ghana, Kenya,and Rwanda in 1987–88 to examine the question, Are indigenousland rights systems in Sub-Saharan Africa a constraint on productivity?The evidence supports the hypothesis suggested by historicalstudies, that African indigenous land rights systems have spontaneouslyevolved from systems of communal control towards individualizedrights in response to increases in commercialization and populationpressure. Cross-sectional data on the incidence of land improvementsand on land yields provide little support for the view thatlimitations under indigenous law on the right to transfer landare a constraint on productivity.     

资产证券化流动性的系统协同分析

在系统协同视角下,资产证券化流动性具有三个层次,第一层次指被证券化资产的流动性,第二层次指资产支持证券的一级市场流动性,第三层次指资产支持证券的二级市场流动性,前两个层次流动性的成败最终取决于第三层次的流动性。资产证券化流动性的系统协同要素包括市场基础、工具创新以及风险监管。解决我国资产证券化流动性不足的出路在于层次和要素的系统协同。     

Recent advances in explaining hedge fund returns: Implicit factors and exposures

We survey articles covering how hedge fund returns are explained, using largely non-linear multifactor models that examine the non-linear pay-offs and exposures of hedge funds. We provide an integrated view of the implicit factor and statistical factor models that are largely able to explain the hedge fund return-generating process. We present their evolution through time by discussing pioneering studies that made a significant contribution to knowledge, and also recent innovative studies that examine hedge fund exposures using advanced econometric methods. This is the first review that analyzes very recent studies that explain a large part of hedge fund variation. We conclude by presenting some gaps for future research.     

Information exchange in cartels

Antitrust authorities view the exchange of information among firms regarding costs, prices, or sales as anticompetitive. Such exchanges allow competitors to closely monitor each other, thereby facilitating collusion. But the exchange of aggregate information, perhaps via a third party, is legal. The logic is that collusion is difficult if the identity of a price-cutting firm cannot be ascertained. Here, we examine this logic using Stigler's model of secret price cuts. We first identify circumstances such that when no information exchange is possible, collusion is difficult. We then show that if firms' aggregate sales are made public, nearly perfect collusion is possible.     

REACH: automated database design integrating first‐order theories,reconstructive expertise,and implementation heuristics for accounting information systems

This paper describes the integrated use of different knowledge types in an automated software engineering tool called REACH. These types include: (1) a first‐order domain theory called the REA accounting model, (2) reconstructive expertise gleaned from textbooks on accounting system design in a bookkeeping environment, and (3) implementation compromise heuristics derived from the design experience of database designers. This tool aids an enterprise database analyst in the conceptual design stages of view modeling and view integration. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of normalization on end-user query errors: An experimental evaluation

As a result of the shortage of professional programmers to extract timely information from databases, end-users are increasingly developing their own database queries. Because end-user querying is error-prone, characterizing the sources of query errors and using that knowledge to improve the effectiveness of end-user query development can improve the quality of information used for decision making. This paper reports the results of an experiment that investigated the effect of normalization level on query errors. The results show that query errors vary with the normalization level of the database structure and confirm previous findings about query errors increasing with task complexity. End-users querying a first normal form data structure make fewer errors than end-users querying an unnormalized data structure or a third normal form data structure. Furthermore, end-users querying a third normal form data structure make fewer errors than end-users querying an unnormalized data structure.     

Integration of financial and management accounting systems: The mediating influence of a consistent financial language on controllership effectiveness

Two fundamental options exist for management accounting system (MAS) design: Either financial records can be used as a database for management accounting (integrated accounting system design), or the MAS can be based upon a separate system, i.e., a third set of books beside financial and tax accounting records. Since the 1990s, many German-speaking firms have changed from the second to the first option, which has instigated a highly controversial debate.Our paper contributes to this debate by empirically analyzing (1) whether the integration of financial and management accounting has a positive impact on controllership effectiveness, and (2) what causal inferences relate both variables. We use structural equation modelling for a sample of 149 dyads surveyed from German top 1500 firms. We identify no significant effect of the technical aspects of MAS integration, but a fully mediating influence of a consistent financial language on controllership effectiveness. Our results thus imply that consistency with financial reporting is an important property of MAS design from management's point of view.     

大数据技术在国家重大政策措施落实情况跟踪审计中的应用研究

大数据技术在国家重大政策措施落实情况跟踪审计中的应用研究是近年来审计领域的热点问题。传统的国家重大政策措施落实情况跟踪审计方法对于数据的挖掘和使用存在一定的局限性不能做到全面和深入,因此存在审计发现的问题仅限于表面,无法发现更深层次问题的情况。本文基于Python的文本关键字提取、文本相似度计算和企业依存度计算,审计数据标准化常见问题及处理方法,Neo4j图数据库的审计应用,企业名称模糊匹配技术,特征工程技术方法及应用等,将这些大数据技术与国家重大政策措施落实情况跟踪审计相结合,找到大数据技术的着力点,分析了重大政策跟踪大数据审计理论实际应用,指出存在的问题,提出了改进措施。研究结果为在大数据环境下开展国家重大政策措施落实情况跟踪审计提供了理论依据以及技术手段。     

中观信息系统审计风险管理的理论探索与体系构架

近年来,中观信息系统在我国得到广泛应用,中观经济主体对信息系统审计(IS审计)的需求日益广泛。因中观IS审计的研究具有专业性、抽象性等特点,当前我国该方面的研究成果相对较少。基于多种因素考虑,本文认为,我国亟需构建一套成熟的中观IS审计及其风险管理理论体系,旨在对中观信息系统进行科学管理与有效控制。鉴于此,本文在研究中观审计、IS审计、审计风险、风险管理四要素的基础上,对中观IS审计风险管理理论加以梳理,并以信息安全管理为视角,借鉴国外BS7799标准、COBIT模型、通用准则CC、ITIL标准,初步构建了中观IS审计风险管理的框架,该框架以重大错报风险为切入点,深入探索了中观IS审计风险管理的施行思路。     

Leveraging the synergies between design science and behavioral science research methods

For over two decades, information systems researchers have grappled with defining what constitutes good design science research. With too many older papers simply documenting the development of systems without a clear message of the contribution to science, design science fell out of favor with the information systems discipline. With the emergence of intelligent systems and the re-shaping of knowledge work, substantial effort has recently focused on articulating what constitutes a design science research contribution. In recent years, however, the discussion on the role of behavioral theory and behavioral research in complementing design science research has faded away. In this paper, we argue for a broader view on the synergies of behavioral and design science research with an emphasis on the greater role that behavioral science can take in shaping and validating design science research and motivating future research. We use the INSOLVE program of research as a proof of concept for how this synergistic relationship can be leveraged.     

Expert Systems in Accountancy: A Review of Some Recent Applications

This paper assesses the current and likely impact of expert systems on the accounting community.

The paper begins by briefly reviewing about twenty financially-oriented systems, including those which model expertise in the sub-domains of auditing, taxation advice, financial planning and business risk assessment. The predominantly narrow view taken by some authors in the literature is noted. An attempt is made to broaden this view by ascertaining why particular classes of application might have been chosen in preference to others, and to comment on the significance of this choice. The number and scope of applications are analysed, and some observations are made on their current state of development. Some conclusions are drawn on the suitability of expert systems for traditional accountancy tasks, and an assessment of their current level of success is made. Their likely future impact is considered and the conclusion is drawn that there are still many stumbling blocks in the way of successful implementations of large scale systems but that a useful niche may exist for smaller systems.