Technology acceptance: Not all organisations or workers may be the same

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is widely accepted by researchers in the IT field as a reliable tool able to predict acceptance of new technology by individuals. The majority of these studies have used participants (both students and non-students) from within traditional businesses functions, e.g., accounting and finance. The ability of TAM to predict technology acceptance across all situations is not well documented. During the past decade there has been an increasing interest in research within Not-for-Profit (NFP) organisations. This paper considers whether people likely to pursue careers within the NFP sector have different attitudes to technology and whether such differences affect the measures used within technology acceptance models. A survey of business and social science undergraduate students, those most likely to enter careers in the Business vs. the NFP sector, indicated differences between the two groups that may impact on the technology acceptance models.     

Accounting history and theorising about organisations

Historical accounting research has a substantial track record of using a variety of theoretical insights to better understand how and why accounting has contributed to, and been affected by, organisational change and development. The article outlines the emergence of a range of theories that have been employed by accounting historians, against the background of the development of accounting history as a significant disciplinary field within accounting research. From its investigation of accounting historians’ approaches to studying accounting as a central practice in organisational processes, it reveals how historical accounting studies have been informed by and contributed to theorisation of such organisational phenomena. The article concludes that theory is largely used to provide conceptual frameworks for historical narratives, with historical accounting research often focused on case studies of single organisations or organisational settings. However, theory has also been mobilised at more general levels, to provide meta-narratives of the rise of capitalism and the emergence of managerialism. Far from treating accounting as technical practice, accounting historians are revealed as conceiving accounting as social practice, impacting both human behaviour and organisational and social functioning and development. As social practice, accounting emerges deeply embedded and pervasive in organisations and societies.     

Audit opinions and information asymmetry in the stock market

This study analyses the relationship between the content of the audit reports and information asymmetry levels in the stock market for a sample of Spanish firms. By implementing an association study, we document (1) that firms with audit qualifications show higher information asymmetry levels than those with unqualified opinions; (2) firms with non‐quantified qualifications show higher informational asymmetry than firms with quantified qualifications; and (3) we find a stronger effect on the level of informational asymmetry in the case of going concern qualifications. Our findings suggest that audit qualifications reporting more uncertainty on firm accounting statements result in higher adverse selection risk.     

Communication skills in accounting education: Perceptions of academics,employers and graduate accountants

Communication skills are central to intellectual interaction between the providers and the recipients of information. The importance of accounting starts with the gathering and processing of information and ends with the communication of processed information. This paper examines the communication skills which employers, academics and graduate accountants consider necessary to the newly graduated accountant. It also identifies and considers the differences in perception which occur between these groups and suggests solutions to the communication gap. This study confirms findings from previous research that new graduate accountants experience communication-related problems in early employment. In addition, it provides evidence that the Australian accounting curriculum has contributed to the development of communication skills. However, the paper highlights the need for the reconsideration of an emphasis on communication skills in the accounting curriculum, a role which arises from the very nature of accounting as the processing and communication of information.     

Political Influences in Changes to Setting Australian Accounting Standards

The process of establishing regulatory arrangements for setting accounting standards in most Western countries has frequently exposed conflict between private-sector bodies, professional accounting organisations, and government bodies, each attempting to dominate the process in order to gain favoured outcomes. Recent changes by the Australian Federal Government in the structure of setting accounting standards show a substantial shift in power from the two professional accounting bodies (ICAA and ASCPA) to the government. The groups who believe they will gain more influence in the new structure have supported the changes and there has been little opposition from groups losing power for fear of ending up with even less. The initial proposal to adopt IASC accounting standards was effectively discarded in the reforming legislation, showing the government’s sensitivity to corporate reactions and reluctance to relinquish power to an international body. Although some activities in the period preceding the change can be categorised within the corporatism and inter-organisational domain conflict models of regulatory processes, the actions of the government in initiating change do not fit with the role of dispassionate arbiter in neo-corporatism and the muted reaction of the professional accounting bodies is inconsistent with predictions of domain defence.     

Institutionalising XBRL for financial reporting: resorting to regulation

By integrating and streamlining financial information within and among various organisations, eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has been developed with a view to enhancing the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of corporate accounting information. Taking an inter-organisational focus, this paper investigates the process of how XBRL was institutionalised. It explains and offers insights on how institutional arrangements emerge and become relevant as heterogeneous organisations consider adopting accounting innovations while evidence concerning their benefits is unavailable. The original and overall contribution of this study is that it improves current understanding of coal-face actors' perceptions, behaviours, and strategies as they interact in the organisational field and become engaged in developing accounting innovations to produce the macro-level observations documented in existing institutional theory studies.     

Accounting, hybrids and the management of risk

This essay addresses the implications of accounting and hybrids for the management of risk. We argue firstly and most generally for a definition of hybrids that extends beyond organisational forms. The existing literature, we suggest, has been too focused on organisational forms, and has largely neglected the hybrid practices, processes and expertises that make possible lateral information flows and coordination across the boundaries of organisations, firms, and groups of experts or professionals. Secondly, we argue that the management of organisations is rapidly being transformed into and formalised around the management of risk, while much of the management of uncertainty occurs through a variety of hybrids that reside beyond the formalised practices of risk management. Thirdly, we argue that accounting practices are central to these issues, in so far as accounting is constantly engaged in a dual hybridisation process, seeking to make visible and calculable the hybrids that it encounters, while at the same time hybridising itself through encounters with a range of other disciplines. We address these issues in three main stages. The first section considers the ‘discovery’ of hybrid organisational forms by researchers on management and organisations over the course of more than two decades. The second section examines the ways in which economists, lawyers and other social scientists have considered the issue of hybrids. Here, the preoccupation with hybrid organisational forms largely continues, with its attendant neglect of hybrid practices, processes and expertises. The third section considers the discovery of a wider range of hybrids by researchers in accounting, and examines two specific arenas in which the hybridising of accounting expertise has been central: the microprocessor industry, and the various encounters between medical and financial expertise in the context of the ‘New Public Management’ reforms. The essay concludes with a discussion of the implications of this broader definition of hybrids for accounting and the management of risk.     

Sustainability assurance provider participation in standard setting

This paper examines the participation of accounting firms in the development of sustainability standards by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). This study shows that the Big Four accounting firms have an active role in both the submission of comment letters on sustainability to the SEC and participation in the industry working groups (IWG) for the SASB. The SASB participation reveals that individuals located within the US and at international affiliates are participating at earlier career stages. In addition, this paper leverages LinkedIn data, identifying the career path of the individuals subsequent to their participation with the IWG, to determine how large accounting firms are retaining the skills and knowledge necessary for this field. Since the Big Four firms are market leaders in sustainability assurance, the finding that Big Four firms can retain individuals with financial assurance backgrounds differently than individuals with other backgrounds speaks to the unique skill set that financial assurance develops. This suggests that the career opportunities for interested financial assurance individuals within the sustainability sphere remain robust within the Big Four environment.     

Accountants in organisational networks

Using four case studies carried out in the UK clothing and textiles industry, this paper explores how accounting might be differentially implicated in the co-ordination of activity as organisations face higher or lower degrees of uncertainty. It is argued that one of the difficulties faced by many of the contingency studies that have addressed this problem is their conceptualisation of accounting. The present study suggests that accounting, as a tool for organisational control, exists not as a collection of techniques, but as on-going processes. As such, the individuals involved with such processes might be expected to play a substantial role in shaping them. Social network analysis forms the basis of an attempt to understand these issues.     

Social accounting's emancipatory potential: A Gramscian critique

At the heart of the social accounting project lies a radical and emancipatory intent. Yet social accounting practice, in the form of corporate self reporting, has systematically failed to open up organisations to substantive critique. Rather than rendering transparent the contradictions within capitalism, corporate social accounting primarily obfuscates these. Through corporate social accounting business expresses Moral and Intellectual Leadership, further entrenching its hegemony. This paper offers a theoretical explanation for why this is the case, drawing upon the work of Antonio Gramsci. Corporate social accounting serves a regressive role because it is closely tied to the economic base of society. An emancipatory social accounting would operate relatively autonomously from the economic base and actively expose the contradictions of the current hegemony. Such an accounting could be, indeed is, practiced by civil society. This paper goes further than merely critiquing corporate social accounting and draws attention to some of the different types of social accounting that are practiced by civil society organisations. In drawing attention to these civil society accounts the paper suggests that the social accounting project's emancipatory intent can still be realised although this would require a reassessment of the faith that has hitherto been placed in the corporation as an emancipatory change agent.     

会计职业资格的性质及其角色实现:一个交易成本分析框架

会计职业资格的性质及其角色实现是一个同时涉及有限理性、机会主义、人力资产专用性、不确定性与复杂性、信息不对称、氛围等交易成本存在原因的产业组织问题。文章试图将交易成本整合到传统的成本收益分析中,构建一个完整的交易成本分析框架,以分析会计职业资格的性质及其角色实现。文章认为,会计职业资格是鉴别会计人员职业能力、节约会计专门人才供需双方交易成本的一种重要机制,其角色实现需要关注其内在基础、约束条件、核心保证与总体效果。这给会计职业资格各方提出了诸多对应性要求。     

Exploring accounting history and accounting in history

Accounting history, as the history of accounting and the consideration of accounting in history, provides insight into an understanding of accounting in the past, for the present, and into the future. Whilst often viewed as a routine, rule driven practice, the accounting history discipline recognises accounting as having a much wider pervasiveness as social practice and even moral practice. As social practice, accounting affects individual, organisational and societal behaviour. This collection of articles demonstrates the importance of looking at history to provide context and illustrates that understandings of the past lead to comprehension of the present and foresight for the future. The articles in this special issue, international in essence, epitomise the diversity of the accounting history field in exploring accounting in diverse organisations, in investigating accounting in its wider context and in employing different theoretical approaches. In considering the accounting phenomenon that occurred, there is additionally the insight of that which did not occur, the relevance of past events and non-events as an ingredient to better understanding the present and to potentially reshaping the future.The articles explore of the role of actors/agents around accounting and organisational change, how key individuals and networks of individuals, can influence others, both within and external to the organisation, to enact change or prevent change in areas where accounting contributes. It is suggested that these studies could be extended, to consider more widely the influence of the interaction of individuals via prosopographical or similar studies. This collection of articles has global reach, and we make an additional call for more international, interactional or comparative approaches to studies in accounting history. Accounting history studies can further investigate organisational contexts and situations, exploring reporting internally and externally to the organisation and informing current and future accounting and related practices.     

Vocational skills in the accounting professional profile: the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) employers' opinion

The increasingly dynamic environment in which accountants work has necessitated a reorientation of accounting education. In some countries this issue has raised great interest amongst accounting educators and practitioners. The ongoing debate has already resulted in the publication of several statements and research papers that have raised the question of the relevance of the role of vocational skills in accounting education. Examples of these vocational skills are communication skills, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving skills. This paper reports on the importance that the employers of management accountants gave to a specified set of vocational skills and capabilities and the level of ability of these skills exhibited by students. In order to prioritize future developments an integrated analysis of the two attributes, importance and exhibited level, is enabled by the use of strategic mapping. The results of this study suggest that the employers perceive deficiencies in several capabilities that they have identified as being quite important. These deficiencies exist, in the employers' opinion, both prior to recruitment and on professional qualification. The research also indicates that, in the opinion of these employers, the development of these skills should be a central concern for universities and professional bodies. The employers also indicated that vocational skills should be attained in an integrated way.     

Accounting,Remuneration and Employee Motivation in the New Organisation

The paper draws upon two detailed case studies of global manufacturing companies to examine the role of accounting in redesigned remuneration systems which are emerging as organisations delayer their structures, change their production methods and move to team-based systems of work and reward. In this way, changes in the content and application of accounting measures are framed within new approaches to rewarding and motivating employees that have been stimulated by efforts to develop alternative, ‘leaner’ manufacturing practices. The focus is principally upon the remuneration of shopfloor employees, but we also consider the implications of team-based reward systems for managerial staff. We argue that despite the recent complementing of financial with non-financial forms of reward (e.g. skill acquisition, improvements to health and safety), and an emphasis upon peer pressure from team members in addition to individual incentives as a source of motivation, the language and calculations of accounting remain central and pervasive in developing, justifying and mobilising support for the new reward system.     

A study of the perception of public accounting skills held by UK students with accounting and non-accounting carrer aspirations

This paper examines perceptions of the skills that are important for success in public accounting. The total sample consists of 203 respondents who have operationalized carrer interest by either applying to accounting firms (n = 107) or to other large companies for non-accounting positions (n = 96). Data was gathered using an attitudinal questionnaire administered to the two groups. ttests, ANOVA and multivariate analysis were used to analyse the results. Factor analysis was used to generate inputs for discriminant analysis. The finding indicate that bot groups have similar perceptions of the importance of analytical ability and deductive reasoning. However, respondents interested in entering the accounting profession attach greater importance to the possession of good interpersonal skills, empathy, sensitivity, innovation and creativity. Accounting applicants describe accounting as incorporating a wider skill repertoire than those with non-accounting aspirants. The implications of these differing views for carrer choice and accounting education are explored.     

COMMUNITY CARE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE: BRINGING TOGETHER SCARCITY AND CHOICE, NEEDS AND COSTS

In response to ageing populations there are similar patterns of change in the organisation of community care for elderly people in many different countries. These changes may be characterised as firstly, a move away from institutional provision, secondly, the strengthening of home based care and thirdly, coordination and case management. Within care providing organisations issues of cost and allocation of service according to need have traditionally tended to be separate concerns. The development of case management with devolved budgets in community care offers one way in which the resolution of the tension between scarcity and choice, need and costs may be achieved. On the basis of previous studies of this approach some of the factors associated with more or less effective resolution of this tension within service organisations are considered.     

A Knowledge Synthesis of Anti-Black Racism in Accounting Research*†

This structured literature review synthesizes studies that have investigated questions related to anti-Black racism—namely, the discrimination and marginalization of Black people—in the accountancy literature and identifies opportunities for future research. This study is part of a larger research project that reviewed 161 articles and identified four themes relevant to accounting research on discrimination in general: anti-Black racism, imperialism and postcolonialism, intersectionality, and diversity. Based on the 25 anti-Black racism articles reviewed, this paper finds four key subthemes: demand for accountancy services and racial discrimination in accountancy practice, the racialization of professional accounting qualifications, Black professionals in academia, and the supply-side fallacy. Furthermore, because studies at the intersection of anti-Black racism and accounting are limited, this study proposes future research directions that will advance knowledge on various topics related to anti-Black racism.     

Reducing accounting students' oral communication apprehension: Empirical evidence

Although communication skills are recognized as crucially important to success in the accounting profession, the issue of oral communication (OC) skills development has not been widely examined in accounting education studies. Further, some have questioned whether a program can be designed to effect significant gains in OC skills in relatively short periods, given the resource constraints often associated with accounting programs. One important facet of OC is oral communication apprehension (OCA) -anxiety related to interpersonal OC. Since OCA has been linked to OC skills as well as other communication behaviors, reducing OCA is a step towards improving OC skills. We describe an experimental, undergraduate accounting course that had reducing students' OCA as one of its main objectives. Pretest and posttest measures of OCA for treatment and control groups of accounting majors indicated a significant reduction in OCA for the treatment group but not the control group. This suggests that significant reductions in OCA can be made in a single course. The implications of such short-term gains in reducing OCA are that accounting educators should not necessarily presume that limited resources impose a prohibitive constraint on the inclusion of procedures to reduce OCA in accounting curricula, and should consider incorporating exercises such as those described in this study in their courses where appropriate. Further research is needed to help guide these efforts, however, for OCA remains an underexamined phenomenon in accounting education.     

Business Continuity in the Face of Fraud and Organisational Change

We examine business continuity in the context of fraud and accounting for an organisation as a going concern. The issues addressed are timely and focus on two points. First, fraudulent activities in business are increasing worldwide with related costs reaching trillions of US dollars. Second, the conventional accounting concept of a going concern that typically signifies business continuity is arguably formed on a static view of business. As such, this view does not help mitigate opportunities for fraudulent statements of account. We contribute to the accounting literature by emphasising the dynamic nature of business and in doing so extend the discussion on Type 1 and Type 2 going concern errors. In that context we provide evidence of a possible Type 3 going concern error in an organisation's financial reporting. Drawing on an international fraud case involving an Indian company, Satyam, we illustrate the adaptive behaviour of resilient business organisations. The findings of our study show that even in the face of fraud dynamic, adaptive organisations can achieve business continuity.