The evolution of management accounting routines in small businesses: a social construction perspective

This paper explores the development of management accounting in small firms through a social construction perspective. Taking Dirsmith’s (1998) (Dirsmith, M. W. 1998. Accounting and control as a solution to technical problems, political exchanges and forms of social discourse: the importance of substantive domain, Behavioural Research in Accounting, 10 (Supplement), 65–77) lead we examine the evolution of control and decision-making processes within four growth-orientated service sector businesses. Key to the perspective is the notion of the owner–manager and his/her employees as creators of management accounting routines that form through a cycle of action, externalization and habitualization. These routines still remain in the control of the originator and are flexible in nature. As the business grows these routines may become objectified into localized management accounting ‘facts’ and they may also be challenged by externally imported accounting conventions. This paper explores the creation of idiosyncratic accounting knowledge and the effects of its transmission over the history of the businesses.     

Performance in first year university accounting: Quantifying the advantage of secondary school accounting

Considerable research has been conducted into the relation between students' level of previous accounting knowledge and their subsequent performance in first year university-level accounting. This study considers variables for academic performance and previous accounting knowledge in an attempt to quantify the advantage that high school accounting gives students entering tertiary business courses. The results indicate that for students entering tertiary courses with similar academic ability, i.e., obtained the same entrance score, the first year tertiary accounting result obtained by a student who studied accounting previously is between one and two grades higher than that of a student who did not study accounting at high school.     

Inconsistencies in the business law education of accounting students: A survey of accounting educators

A general requirement for an accountant to take the CPA examination is the completion of a course in business law. It appears that what constitutes the business law course requirement is rather loosely defined and leaves excessive room for interpretation. What is a business law course? A survey of accounting educators regarding the business law requirement and the law courses taught at their respective schools reveals, inter alia, a divergence of opinion regarding the business law requirement, the perceived objective of teaching business law to accounting students, the importance of the legal topics included on the CPA exam, and the coverage of those topics at their respective institutions. In general, accounting educators are encouraged to both review their current business law requirements and to take a more active role in monitoring the business law curriculum.     

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.     

Examining the relationships among background variables and academic performance of first year accounting students at an Irish University

The study reported on in this paper examined the associations among prior academic achievement, prior knowledge of accounting, gender, motives, expectations and preparedness for higher education and academic performance in the first year of an accounting program at an Irish university. Data regarding the background variables were gathered using a questionnaire and examination marks were used to as measures of academic performance. Results indicate a significant association among prior academic achievement, prior knowledge of accounting, and students’ academic performance. Additionally, students’ confidence in their skills and abilities, perceptions regarding the role of university in career development, positive prior experiences of learning accounting, and a desire to experience intellectual growth are all significant variables in explaining variation in first year academic performance. Interestingly, the opportunity provided by university to broaden one’s horizons (motive) and a willingness to ask for help from lecturers (preparedness) were found to be negatively associated with performance.     

The dilemma of implementing controls: The case of managerial accounting

Managerial accounting contains a technical theory of control. Whenever this technical theory of control is correctly implemented to deal with issues that are embarrassing or threatening, the players activate their personal-human theory of control in order to remain “in control”. The correct implementation of the personal-human theory of control necessary inhibits the effective implementation of the technical theory and vice versa.     

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.     

A comparison of the dominant meta programme patterns in accounting undergraduate students and accounting lecturers at a UK business school

Meta programmes are a means of describing the behavioural traits that a person exhibits when interacting with other people. An understanding of meta programmes can improve communication between individuals and this may have implications for teaching. The purposes of this study are first to identify the dominant meta programme patterns of first year accounting undergraduates at a UK business school. An earlier pilot study validated use of the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) to elicit the dominant meta programmes of accounting lecturers at the same Business School (Brown, 2002). Secondly, the students' meta programmes are compared with those of their accounting teachers to identify whether there are any differences or similarities between the two groups. The matching of the meta programmes of the teachers and students would enhance communication whilst major differences in meta programmes would make communication more difficult. A sample of 62 first year accounting undergraduates and 20 accountancy teachers completed the MPQ. The results indicate that, on average, the accounting students have similar dominant meta programme patterns to their accounting teachers. The implications of the findings for improving communication and therefore teaching are discussed, along with the scope for further research.     

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.     

New accounts: Towards a reframing of social accounting

This paper is a speculative and exploratory essay on the emerging field of social accounting. In essence, the paper explores whether the fact that most social accounting has, traditionally at any rate, being promulgated by accountants might be a partial explanation for its self-disciplining limitations and, arguably, its weak inroads into discourse and practice. Through the lens of Erik Olin Wright's work, the paper reconsiders the potential of the social accounting project(s) and argues for the importance of accounts as a means of interstitial transformation as a complement to the traditional privileging of accounts directed towards symbiotic transformations.     

The accounting figuration of business statistics as a foundation for the spread of economic ideas

The new accounting research has been devoted to illuminating the social and constitutive aspects of accounting. This has been done, however, in many cases, in the setting of micro managerial accounting. The effects of financial and macroeconomic accounting on modern economic society have not been examined in depth from an epistemological and critical viewpoint. This article attempts to develop a hypothesis that financial accounting (particularly, that of macro economic entities) has been centrally implicated in the process through which economic ideas and economic management have become ubiquitous in modern society. Accounting's power and the reason for its steady growth are sought in its various formalities rather than its representational capacity. Several factors that are considered to constitute the formalities form a self-perpetuating apparatus that facilitates the prevalence of accounting in modern economic society.     

Irish accounting, business and financial history: a bibliographical essay

Historians have engaged with accounting and business archives primarily in the areas of social and economic history. While much economic and social history draws on macro-economic data, micro-level sources have cast new light on old historical problems such as the Great Famine (1845-51) and the development of trade in Ireland and between Ireland and abroad. This paper traces the contributions of historians of Ireland to our understanding of accounting, business and financial history and maps out potential areas of research for accounting and business historians in the light of earlier and current trends in historical research. Adopting a historians' perspective, the paper will also provide a historical background and suggest potential bibliographical and archival sources to present and future accounting and business historians with a view to enhancing and enriching our understanding of the context in which accounting and business is situated in Ireland.     

浅议小事务所的和谐建设

一、以人为本铸人和小事务所作为一个独立的中介服务机构,同样由具有财务审计、验资、鉴证、评估方面专业知识技能的会计人员及基建工程审核工程技术人员组成。     

University Tees: Introducing fundamentals of management accounting in a small business

This case introduces sophomore-level managerial accounting students to pricing decisions. The case also offers an opportunity to discuss the concepts of business strategy, business risk, and cost drivers. Students draw on concepts such as relevant costing, breakeven analysis, and contribution format income statements to recommend price quotes for a small business.¹     

中注协制定加强会计师事务所业务质量控制制度建设的意见

为贯彻落实国务院办公厅转发财政部《关于加快发展我国注册会计师行业的若干意见》(国办发[2009]56号),深化会计师事务所深入开展学习实践科学发展观活动的成果,进一步提高注册会计师行业的执业质量,促进行业科学发展,更好地服务经济社会发展,维护社会公众利益,中注协制定了《关于加强会计师事务所业务质量控制制度建设的意见》(会协[2010]8号),并于2月9日向各省、自治区、直辖市注册会计师协会印发。该文件全文如下:     

Relocating accounting and business ethics: reflections on a business ethics retreat in Scotland's National Park

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This paper describes an accounting and business ethics course that was developed at Glasgow University's Department of Accounting and Finance and recounts an attempt to increase the effectiveness of aspects of the course through relocating the places where it took place. In particular the paper provides some reflections on an ethics retreat in Loch Lomond National Park in Scotland. The paper provides an account of the weekend and describes the activities in which the students participated. It provides some reflections on the weekend and considers how successful the retreat was in promoting the goals of the course. The paper concludes with a call for further thought and discussion on the role that place could play in making accounting and business ethics education more effective.     

Personalities of accounting students and public accountants: Implications for accounting educators and the profession

This study compares personalities of senior accounting students with public accountants using a rigorous personality instrument, the 16PF. Comparisons are made between accountants and students, between accountants and students by gender, between male and female students, and between students and junior accountants. For all comparisons made, the findings indicate significant differences exist, both overall and for individual personality factors. Implications of these findings for accounting educators concerning curriculum emphasis, content, and counseling of students are discussed, together with possible implications for the profession.