From voluntary to state control and the emergence of the department in UK hospital accounting

This paper explores the development and diffusion of accounting techniques in UK hospitals and finds that attempts to utilise accounting data, for performance measurement and control, predate the introduction of the NHS in 1948. The main focus of the paper is the move from the uniform system of accounts, first introduced in 1893, to departmental accounting information in 1956. After identifying the antecedent accounting conditions the paper explores both why and how change occurred by analysing the roles of dominant individuals, institutions, political and economic forces that led to the introduction of departmental accounting. The process of change, after the nationalisation of the hospitals in 1948, had a significant impact on the accounting technology adopted: with departmental budgeting being dropped. Finally, the role of the medical profession in the departmentalisation debate is explored and possible explanations for the reluctance to adopt new management accounting techniques are discussed.     

The Commercialization of Government's Departmental Accounting (AAS 29): Quasi Rents and Public Welfare

In the Australian public sector. departmental administrative reform is intent on producing lean. efficient. commercially orientated government entities. An accounting regulatory response is AAS 29. Financial Reporting for Governtizetzt Departments. which requires all government departments as reporting entities to adopt in principle much of the whole corpus of private sector accounting standards and statements including. importantly, current cost accounting. This paper explores the proposition that the commercialization of departmental accounting through AAS 29 or similar pronouncements is directly associated with a significant reduction in social and public welfare accountability. Accounting processes are powerful. value-laden agents of social change. Benston (1980) states that 'benefits (net of costs) of accounting standards to society' cannot be measured but can be specified for individuals. Here. accounting outcomes are identified to be the residuals of economic policies to eliminate quasi rents in government. Standardization in AAS 29 rests on the assumption that rights and obligations being equities of generations of participants can be periodically measured as A -L = E at current factor prices. This economic notion lacks cultural heritage in financial disclosure of continuing equities in government and may, for any generation of consumers. induce an excess of social costs over social benefits for the accounting standardization process under prevailing managerialist philosophies.     

IAS 39: Underlying Principles

There has been much recent debate about the merits of certain aspects of the IASB's recent improvements to IAS 39 Financial Instruments – Recognition and Measurement. Many have sought changes to IAS 39 and lengthy discussions have taken place to determine whether proposed changes are appropriate. These discussions have often focused on the practical effects of the proposed changes – an aspect that is certainly worthy of in-depth consideration. However, the IASB has also focused discussions on whether proposed changes are consistent with the principles underlying the standard. This article seeks to highlight those principles underlying the recognition, measurement and hedge accounting aspects of IAS 39, and their consequences for the resultant accounting requirements as a means to enhance understanding of the reasons why the IASB may find it difficult to accept certain proposed changes.     

会计规则的制定目标:信息中立还是经济后果

会计规则的制定目标是形成高质量会计规则的根本性决定因素。“信息中立”是会计价值的根本所在 ,而“经济后果”则是会计所固有的特征。会计规则的制定目标应该综合“信息中立”和“经济后果”两方面。在会计确认与计量上 ,应保持“信息中立” ,在会计报告上 ,应考虑利益相关者的不同信息需求 ,使所披露的会计信息能够满足他们实现自己经济利益的需要 ,但会计信息本身仍然是中立的。     

A rejoinder

This paper takes the position that the task of accountants is to provide information as free bias as possible that will be useful to decision makers (possibly including accountants themselves) who may be concerned with social and economic issues. Though accountants may sometimes fail to achieve the faithful representation of economic phenomena, that should be their goal. In developing this argument, the paper criticizes Radical Accounting, as represented by Tony Tinker's Paper Prophets, and others who assert that accounting policies should be chosen for their supposedly desirable economic consequences rather than for their capacity to depict relevant phenomena faithfully. Like journalists, accountants should report the news, not make it. Neutrality in accounting may not always be easy to secure, but without it the credibility of accounting is endangered.     

Computer-assisted teaching and learning in accounting: pedagogy or product?

The availability of cost-effective computer technologies is a dynamic that has the potential to dramatically change university accounting education. There are various motivations for university accounting departments to adopt computers and computer-assisted learning technologies, and a range of applications are available. The application of computer technologies has implications for student performance, efficiency and effectiveness within accounting departments, and course content—all of which should be considered. The possibilities for generating broad accounting education reform with computers are also significant.Computer technology should not be seen as a passive addition to the classroom. If driven by the desire to economise on the inputs to the educational process, or to expand the conventional content of accounting courses, such technology may have dysfunctional consequences.This paper examines the role of computer technologies in accounting education, the motivation for their introduction and use, and the impact they may have on the contemporary education of accounting students.     

Multiple Dimensions of Accounting in the Development of GAAP

The phrase 'accepted accounting principles' underlying financial statements is a forerunner of today's accounting standards. Here, it is argued that history shows that the term 'principles' is often most vague in debates on the development of those standards. The reasons for and consequences of that vague use are varied and complex. This article provides insights not highlighted in earlier analyses of the periods reviewed. While debates like the rule- versus principle-based standards are set up as two-dimensional, the many dimensions of accounting often allow argument to be easily diverted. The debate/argument thus remains unresolved. For progress to be achieved in the establishment of accounting standards the many dimensions of accounting must be acknowledged and attempts to divert debate minimized. Those with a stake in the development of accounting standards need to consider the total scene of the related accounting. In a particular debate, dimensions under scrutiny must be stated, with any others in that total scene being acknowledged even if kept constant.     

公允价值会计对保险公司财务报告的影响

主要探讨公允价值会计对财务报告体系和结构的影响。公允价值会计对财务报告的各要素都产生重大影响,从而影响保险公司财务报告本身。其中关键的因素是保险负债的评估,虽然保险责任准备金没有直接的市场价格,但是,只要构成保险责任准备金的各种要素反映了市场价格,就可以认为保险责任准备金具备了公允价值。在假设层面上,行业假设是假设市场...     

Choices in IFRS Adoption in Spain: Determinants and Consequences

New Spanish GAAP based on IFRS came into force for separate financial statements in 2008. Companies were allowed to choose between 1 January 2007 and 1 January 2008 as their transition date. The first option commits companies to presenting comparative statements while the second allows them to disclose only the adjustments in equity. We analyze the determinants of companies that decided to choose early transition and also the consequences of this choice on the main accounting figures and ratios. Our results show that the determinants of the early transition date are size and growth. As for the consequences, there is a significant change in the accounting figures and ratios and therefore comparability may be impaired.     

Management control systems and departmental interdependencies: An empirical study

Behavioral accounting research suggests that (1) the design and use of a management accounting system is related to overall characteristics of the organization, and (2) a management accounting system is one element in a package of control systems. The research reported here investigated the relationship between the organizational characteristic of departmental interdependence and the design and use of three elements in a package of management controls — the operating budget, periodic statistical reports, and standard operating policies and procedures. The findings support the hypothesis that departmental interdependence is related to the emphasis placed on each management control system. Standard operating procedures were an important control device when interdependence was low. The budget and statistical reports were used more extensively when interdependence was modurate. When interdependence among departments was high, the role of all three control systems diminished.     

The economics of external reporting: Three frameworks for the classroom

In this paper three frameworks are presented that can be used by accounting instructors to explain some of the economic issues surrounding the external reporting process. The first framework explains accounting numbers in terms of the relationships among capital providers, managers, and auditors. The second framework explains external reporting in terms of its role in determining capital market allocations. The third framework focuses on the policymaking process and the notion of “economic consequences.” In each case the framework is first described and then some suggestions are provided on how it might be used in the classroom. The frameworks have been developed for use in introductory, intermediate, and advanced accounting courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.     

Management accounting system design in manufacturing departments: an empirical investigation using a multiple contingencies approach

This paper proposes a multiple contingencies model that examines the combined effect of departmental interdependencies and organization structures on management accounting system (MAS) design. The model was tested by means of empirical data collected from a questionnaire addressed to 160 production managers. The response rate was 82.5%. The findings provide some support for the notion that organizations adapt their MAS design to the control requirements of the situation. Furthermore, the study offers some empirical support for the existence of suboptimal equifinality. That is, in situations which lack of a single dominant imperative, several alternative, and functionally equivalent management control system (MCS) designs, may arise.     

Accounting for Public Hospitals: A Case Study of Modified GAAP

Public hospitals in the U.K. apply GAAP as modified by the Treasury, the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) and the Department of Health. Individual National Health Service (NHS) Trusts apply their interpretation of the accounting manuals with further guidance and scrutiny from oversight bodies such as the Audit Commission. This article uses a case study approach to investigate how GAAP is modified and to outline the consequences of the constructed reality. The modifications are layered and often opaque. The accounts are constructed according to accounting requirements stipulated by Government and the account preparers adapt the requirements at Trust level. The accounting statements play a part in constructing a reality ( Hines, 1988 ) that has consequences through the NHS control regime and in how the financial position is portrayed to the public. It appears that GAAP is used to legitimate the NHS as a modern organization applying commercial accounting practice, but the accounting statements provide a distorted view of GAAP compliant statements. The accounting, while not itself real, is real in its consequences and can lead to biased decision‐making, service closures and job losses. The planned compliance of NHS Trusts with international GAAP may provide further scope for modification and manipulation in constructing NHS accounting reality.     

Factors impacting accounting research output in developing countries: An exploratory study

The objective of this paper is to identify the factors that impact accounting research output in one of the developing regions of the world, Anglophone Sub-Sahara Africa (Anglophone SSA). Adopting an institutional theory framework, the paper uses a sequential research process comprising an original questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Four research questions were developed to achieve the research objectives. The region's low research output is explained by a host of individual, departmental and/or university, country and international factors; of these, departmental and/or university factors appear to have the strongest impact. The study also found that factors that constitute the regulative (coercive) pillar that promote research tend to be weaker in this region's universities, while factors that constitute the normative and cultural-cognitive pillars which tend to promote teaching appear to be stronger. Thus, the institutional pressure stemming from factors that constitute normative and cultural-cognitive elements dictate the conduct of an accounting academic positioned in Anglophone SSA's universities. That is, research activities of accounting academics in the region are disempowered by the more potent, normative and cultural-cognitive pressures and are inadequately sanctioned by the regulative pressure.     

Accounting for the Private Finance Initiative in the United Kingdom National Health Service

This paper examines the operation of the UK government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) from the viewpoint of accounting in the National Health Service. It explores how the entity concept may be used to remove representation of the economic consequences of such schemes from public accounting reports. Illustrations are provided from the accounts of hospital NHS Trusts, with their high-value and politically sensitive capital projects. The paper provides contemporary evidence of the financial reporting of PFI schemes and the contradictions between the form and substance of these transactions.     

COVID-19 and Ethnic Inequalities in England and Wales*

The economic and public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing inequalities between ethnic groups in England and Wales, as well as creating new ones. We draw on current mortality and case data, alongside pre-crisis labour force data, to investigate the relative vulnerability of different ethnic groups to adverse health and economic impacts. After accounting for differences in population structure and regional concentration, we show that most minority groups suffered excess mortality compared with the white British majority group. Differences in underlying health conditions such as diabetes may play a role; so too may occupational exposure to the virus, given the very different labour market profiles of ethnic groups. Distinctive patterns of occupational concentration also highlight the vulnerability of some groups to the economic consequences of social distancing measures, with Bangladeshi and Pakistani men particularly likely to be employed in occupations directly affected by the UK's ‘lockdown’. We show that differences in household structures and inequalities in access to savings mean that a number of minority groups are also less able to weather short-term shocks to their income. Documenting these immediate consequences of the crisis reveals the potential for inequalities to become entrenched in the longer term.     

The economics of ethics: A new perspective on agency theory

Agency theory provides a series of instructive parables concerning the systems consequences of unreservedly opportunistic behavior. Due to a mutual lack of trust, some otherwise mutually beneficial exchanges do not take place. And, even when exchanges do take place, there are dead-weight losses due to monitoring costs and inefficient risk sharing. Therefore, in ex ante terms, everyone may be better off if they mutually agree to restrain their opportunistic behavior. Unfortunately, by its very nature, opportunistic behavior is not readily observed. Thus, an agreement (i.e. ethical code) to abstain from opportunistic behavior cannot be effectively enforced by external rewards or sanctions; instead, the sanctions for unethical behavior must be internalized. Hopefully, this article will stimulate ideas for incorporating ethics in discussions of accounting, using agency theory as a convenient vehicle.     

Political costs and an intraperiod accounting choice for export tax credits

This study examines the effects of political and debt contracting costs on an intraperiod accounting choice. Export tax credits that New Zealand companies receive may be credited to sales ot to income tax expense. Compared to the credit to sales method, the tax reduction method reduces a company's reported tax rate and interest coverage ratio, both of which could have adverse economic consequences. The results indicate the credit to sales method is preferred by large companies that attract political scrutiny because of their low tax rates. The level of a firm's interest coverage is also related to that accounting choice.