Accounting for the control of doctors: Management information systems in hospitals

The paper describes some current and proposed innovations in the activity accounting and cost accounting systems in two Swedish hospitals. Results are reported of interviews with administrators and senior doctors which reveal their attitudes and intensions with respect to the new control information generated by the accounting innovations. The fundamental differences between the professional ethos of the doctor and the managerial ambitions of the administrator are found to remain robust. Nevertheless there is evidence that the new control information may be the focus of some genuine convergence in the outlook of some administrators and some “doctors managers” with some consequent reduction in goal-uncertainty in the organisation. This paper argues that this calls for some revision of existing accounts of the interaction of doctors and administrators in hospital management.     

文化差异与会计偏好:会计文化价值

2001年,国际会计准则理事会(IASB)取代国际会计准则委员会(IASC),成为国际会计标准的制定和发布者。最终,国际财务报告准则(IFRS)将取代国际会计准则(IAS)。无论是过去的IASC,还是现在的IASB,要解决的核心问题都是如何实现会计准则在全球范围的协调。世界各国在经济发展程度、市场运行机制、法律环境、政治环境、文化传统等方面存在着的差异,使得统一会计标准的制定与实施面临着很大的困难。其中,各国文化差异对会计偏好的巨大影响尤其不容忽视。国外已经有许多会计学者就这一问题进行了研究。Geert Hofstede是最早证实上述文化差…     

Accounting for control and trust building in interfirm transactional relationships

This paper theorises the accounting-control-trust nexus in interfirm transactional relationships. In the context of such relationships, accounting has predominantly been conceptualised as a control technology. However, in our paper we analyse stable and durable relationships as being the results of interaction between control and trust building. Such an analysis calls for an additional conceptualisation of accounting as a trust building technology. Furthermore, we explain the interaction between accounting for control and accounting for trust building in the context of a process of embedded agency.     

会计实务问题(一)——资产核算

为促进注册会计师业务知识与技术的学习,我刊新设“业务讲座”栏目。本期开始,先约请浙江天健会计师事务所主任会计师胡少先根据现行会计制度、会计准则规定的基本精神,参照国际惯例,对若干会计实务问题的处理进行了分析,并提出处理建议,供行业同人参考。     

The price of power: The valuation of power and weather derivatives

Pricing contingent claims on power presents numerous challenges due to (1) the unique behavior of power prices, and (2) time-dependent variations in prices. We propose and implement a model in which the spot price of power is a function of two state variables: demand (load) and fuel price. In this model, any power derivative price must satisfy a PDE with boundary conditions that reflect capacity limits and the non-linear relation between load and the spot price of power. Moreover, since power is non-storable and demand is not a traded asset, the power derivative price embeds a market price of risk. Using inverse problem techniques and power forward prices from the PJM market, we solve for this market price of risk function. During 1999–2001, the upward bias in the forward price was as large as $50/MWh for some days in July. By 2005, the largest estimated upward bias had fallen to $19/MWh. These large biases are plausibly due to the extreme right skewness of power prices; this induces left skewness in the payoff to short forward positions, and a large risk premium is required to induce traders to sell power forwards. This risk premium suggests that the power market is not fully integrated with the broader financial markets.     

资源环境核算方法与问题研究

国际上现行的以国民收入核算为基础的国民核算体系是一种有缺陷并缺乏可持续发展调控能力的经济核算体系,应建立并推行包括自然资源与环境核算在内的新型国民核算体系,资源环境方法是在现有国民经济核算体系的基本框架上进行扩展和调整,具有非常积极的意义和优点,但实施起来还存在一定问题.     

The Case for Cameral Accounting

Cameral accounting was developed as early as the 16th century onwards in order to contribute to increased control of public money. Such a control demand does not seem to be of minor importance at the threshold of a new millennium as it was several centuries ago, and therefore Ludwig Mülhaupt in the excerpt above states that 'Unfortunately there are very few researchers and practitioners who are interested in developing the cameral bookkeeping method, which is strongly to be regretted with a view to the importance of these questions.' Most of the literature dealing with cameral accounting is published in German, and it seems to be known only to a small extent beyond the German speaking countries. The purpose of this article is therefore to present this historically important accounting model to a larger audience, allowing us to draw upon the experiences of cameral accounting in our continuous attempts to control public money, including the current international debate about the introduction of commercial (accrual) accounting in the public sector.     

Accounting, post-productivism and corporate power in UK food and agriculture

‘In modern capitalism purchase and sale of manufactured foods is as fundamental to social existence as the exchange of a whole gamut of other commodities’ [Giddens, A. The constitution of society. US: University of California Press; 1984, p. 259]. Behind the production of food are networks of people, transactions and accounting that have rarely been examined by accounting researchers. The ‘agri-food’ sector is conflict-ridden and affects all but a very few of the world's population. This paper examines one segment of the industry – the UK – and explores certain elements that impact on the accounting environment of that industry. These are the move towards so-called post-productivist approaches by agricultural businesses and the considerable, yet not always obvious, influence of large agri-food corporations. The shifting asymmetries of power in the sector, which covers farmers, Government and an extensive service sector as well as corporations, are explored using aspects of domination in structuration theory, to elucidate the difficulties faced by farmers that force them to engage with accounting.     

The CF and Accounting Standards: The Persistence of Discrepancies

The conceptual framework (CF) has introduced a set of ideals and broad criteria for financial reporting focusing on servicing users' information needs. In this article, each concepts statement is considered, in turn, and its consistency with selected accounting standards examined. Particular attention is paid to accounting standards issued for the first time, or in a revised form, subsequent to the release of the concepts statements. It is found that many standards have provisions that are at odds with the CF. These inconsistencies come as no surprise. The CF is incomplete; the issue of measurement remains unresolved, leaving ambiguity in the definitions of concepts such as revenue. The CF project has remained unfinished while standard setters have given priority to other tasks, such as international harmonization, in resolving contemporary financial reporting issues.     

The Book-to-Price Effect in Stock Returns: Accounting for Leverage

This paper lays out a decomposition of book‐to‐price (B/P) that derives from the accounting for book value and that articulates precisely how B/P “absorbs” leverage. The B/P ratio can be decomposed into an enterprise book‐to‐price (that pertains to operations and potentially reflects operating risk) and a leverage component (that reflects financing risk). The empirical analysis shows that the enterprise book‐to‐price ratio is positively related to subsequent stock returns but, conditional upon the enterprise book‐to‐price, the leverage component of B/P is negatively associated with future stock returns. Further, both enterprise book‐to‐price and leverage explain returns over those associated with Fama and French nominated factors—including the book‐to‐price factor—albeit negatively so for leverage. The seemingly perverse finding with respect to the leverage component of B/P survives under controls for size, estimated beta, return volatility, momentum, and default risk.     

A Business Economics Foundation for Accounting: The Dutch Experience

In this paper, experimental, computer simulation methods are used to demonstrate how a depreciation-type adjustment influences the distributional form of accounting earnings. The results confirm conjectures that earnings distributions generally, with or without depreciation adjustments, tend towards a normal form as a function of increasing ‘activity’ levels. They also indicate that depreciation is likely to accelerate the transition towards a normal form as activity levels increase and to transform a non-normal form to one that is significantly closer to the normal at relatively low activity levels. The impact of the fixed asset ‘impairment’ rules is also investigated. The results reported in the paper have implications for standard-setting, risk analysis and inference using accounting earnings and related numbers, including ratios based upon earnings.     

实证会计研究与系统会计研究

实证会计研究渊源于哲学中的实证主义。本文试图在厘清实证会计相关概念的基础上,分析实证会计研究的作用与局限。提出对实证会计研究和规范会计研究分别进行整合,形成实证会计研究与系统会计研究;主张以马克思主义为指导,开展实证会计研究和系统会计研究。     

Accounting for human rights: The challenge of globalization and foreign investment agreements

The triumph of neoliberalism has promoted trade and investment as the dominant routes to economic and social development. This has further enhanced the power of transnational corporations. Developing countries are increasingly expected to secure foreign investment to stimulate their economies and lift the local population out of poverty. However, foreign investment also has implications for protection and enjoyment of human rights. Transnational corporations manage their risks by imposing stabilization clauses on host countries that constrain their ability to protect and enhance human rights. Conventional accounting and corporate social responsibility reports seem to be unable to respond to the emerging agenda on human rights. This paper seeks to stimulate debates about the protection and enjoyment of human rights by drawing attention to the way corporations constrain governments and people through clauses in investment agreements. Some evidence is provided through an examination of an investment agreement relating to the Chad–Cameroon oil and pipeline project. The paper calls for the production of counter accounts to challenge the hegemony of corporations and create spaces for the enjoyment of human rights.     

会计实务问题(二)——负债和权益的核算

一、住房公积金的会计处理2000年9月6日财政部印发了《关于企业住房制度改革中有关财务处理问题的通知》(财企［2000］295号)。文件规定，取消住房周转金管理制度后，企业现有住房周转金余额作调整2000年度报表期初未分配利润处理。由此造成期初未分配利润负数，年终经过注册会计师审计后，报经主管财政机关批准，依次用以下资金弥补：公益金、盈余公积金、资本公积金以及以后年度实现的净利润。这一规定从2000年9月起执行。2001年1月7日财政部又印发了《企业住房制度改革中有关会计处理问题的规定》(财会［2001］5号)，要求企业从2001年开…