The U.K. private finance initiative: An accounting retrospective

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in the U.K. has been the subject of considerable interest in government, professional and academic literature. This reflects its importance as one of the classic forms of Public Private Partnership, its adoption in other jurisdictions, the scale of infrastructure investment under PFI legislation and the extent of controversy that has accompanied its development and application. The financial reporting of PFI schemes has been one element of this controversy in view of its potential to limit public sector financial accountability by off-balance sheet financing and the potential for alternative interpretations of its accounting treatment. It is now an appropriate time to review the turbulent history of accounting for the PFI as U.K. public sector accounting is now based upon International Financial Reporting Standards. This has resulted in the redundancy of previous accounting guidance issued by the UK ASB and the Treasury which, at the time of being abandoned, contained unresolved inconsistencies.This paper uses a triangulation method of investigation linking the input to, and output from, the regulatory process to an analysis of public domain evidence of press coverage and letters submitted to the standard setter and interviews with key participants to the standard-setting process. This approach shows that hidden pressures were influential in the process of developing PFI accounting regulation. Different interpretations of the ASB's principles-based Application Note and the Treasury's more rules-based Technical Note created de-facto alternative accounting treatments. The pressure, from organisations such as the Financial Reporting Advisory Board, for reform of PFI accounting was only released by the government's decision to switch the U.K. public sector to IFRS-based accounting.     

SMEs' tax compliance costs and IT adoption: the case of a value-added tax

The objective of this study is to examine the factors behind the adoption of a tax-compliant accounting system among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using the technological–organizational–environmental (TOE) framework, particularly the role of tax compliance costs in fostering the adoption of this system. This study makes a novel contribution by attempting to link the influence of tax compliance costs to the information technology (IT) adoption literature. Questionnaires were distributed to 401 SMEs, and data were analyzed using partial least squares. The results suggest that the TOE framework is useful for examining factors that affect SMEs' IT adoption decisions; the influence of perceived compatibility, complexity, relative advantage, and mimetic and regulatory pressure is important for the adoption of a value-added tax (VAT)-compliant accounting system. Moreover, the impact of compatibility, learning from external sources, and perceived coercive pressure on the adoption of a VAT-compliant accounting system is moderated by tax compliance cost.     

Habermas, law and accounting

This essay provides a critical review of Habermas' theory of law in Faktizität und Geltung against the backdrop of attempts to apply his work to the field of accounting. First, we analyse the core themes of this theory: the tension between facticity and validity from which Habermas' book takes its tide; the problem of the foundations of critical theorizing; Habermas' views on public administration and the role of expertise. Second, we consider the implications of this theory for critical accounting research. This discussion addresses Habermas' theory of money and the significance of the facticity of accounting. We also make some suggestions about how Habermas' counterfactual sensibilities remain relevant to critical accounting.     

CONNECTING ACCOUNTING AND EDUCATION IN THE UK: DISCOURSES AND RATIONALITIES OF EDUCATION REFORM

In this paper we analyze the processes which have structured the emphasis upon budgeting and accounting in the Local Management of Schools initiative by outlining the inter-relations between the discourses of neo-liberal government and economics, and the apparent “need” for the expansion of accounting and budgeting systems in the public sector and particularly education in the UK during the past six years.At the heart of our analysis is the contention that accounting and budgeting systems have been promoted throughout the UK public sector by connections to a discourse of managerial enterprise and economic rationality. The intersections between accounting techniques, and economic and managerial notions of decision making, responsibility and market organization have provided the complex discursive formation within which the accounting and budgeting innovations introduced under LMS have been presented and represented as “necessary” elements of proper public sector organization. The colonization of accounting into the education sector has been made possible by a series of seemingly unquestioned linkages, associations and reductions, upon which we offer a commentary, between the discourse of economic rationality and the techniques of accounting.     

Formal Analysis of Segregation of Duties (SoD) in Accounting: A Computational Approach

This study examines a computational framework for segregation of duties (SoD) in the design as well as implementation of accounting systems. The framework consists of a model of workflows in accounting systems based on workflow graphs, a partial order model of roles performed by the actors in the accounting system, and a specification of SoD rules. We develop a set of algorithms for four SoD rules that can be used in the enforcement of SoD. For the SoD rule that precludes task type conflicts, our results show that while compliance verification can be carried out efficiently, finding an SoD compliant assignment of tasks is computationally intractable. For those situations, we present an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation for finding compliant assignments using public domain ILP solvers. For the remaining three SoD rules, we demonstrate efficient ways of testing compliance for a given assignment as well as finding compliant assignments.     

Interpreting the European Union’s IFRS Endorsement Criteria: The Case of IFRS 9

EU Regulation requires that any international accounting standards (International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS) and interpretations (IFRIC) pronounced by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) meet three sets of criteria before they become binding for EU-based companies: a ‘true and fair view’ criterion, a list of qualitative criteria, and a ‘European public good’ criterion. During the endorsement process, EU institutions evaluate each standard or interpretation’s compliance with these three criteria. Nevertheless, despite plenty of past endorsement decisions, there is still disagreement about a unanimous interpretation of the criteria in the literature. In this study, we interpret all three criteria against the background of European accounting law and academic accounting research. Then, the paper illustrates for the case of the new IFRS 9 standard on accounting for financial instruments how these criteria can be applied in the endorsement practice. We conclude that the standard cannot reasonably be rejected on grounds of the IAS Regulation. We also explain that the vagueness of the endorsement criteria and the inherent discretion in the eventual endorsement decision help maintain the EU’s political influence on the IASB’s standard-setting ex ante.     

International financial reporting standards — credible and reliable? An overview

The study discusses how IFRS's objective of the harmonization of accounting standards and improvement of quality of financial reporting may have been negatively affected due to public authorities' influences in the European Union (EU), the U.S., the U.K. and China. In addition, we discuss issues related to the inconsistent interpretations and implementations of IFRS as principle-based accounting standards. Moreover, we discuss how the funding system of the IASB may (or may not) have affected its independence. The review of relevant literature and discussion is critical to IFRS adoption/convergence efforts in the U.S.     

Regulatory hybrids: Partnerships, budgeting and modernising government

This paper examines the ‘modernising government’ initiative in the UK, and the ‘flexibilities’ – lead commissioning, integrated provision, and pooled budgets – introduced in the Health Act 1999. This policy reform, and the associated tools to operationalise it, placed ideas of cooperation and partnership at the heart of inter-organizational relations in the domain of public administration, and gave prominence to the roles of management control practices in facilitating cooperation. We consider how the ideals of cooperation and partnership were discursively articulated, how professional and administrative boundaries were given visibility in particular legal cases, and what happened when local practitioners sought to make these ideals operable. We demonstrate how cooperation initially emerged as a ‘local’ phenomenon, both prior to and subsequent to the Health Act 1999. We then examine how those delivering services sought to mediate pragmatically between legal and policy injunctions to engage in formal cooperation, and the imperative to provide services across organizational and professional boundaries. Finally, we consider the limits of cooperation across organizational boundaries in settings with strongly developed professional enclosures. The paper draws on both archival material and fieldwork to examine what are termed ‘regulatory hybrids’ – those inter-organizational processes, practices and expertises that are formed from two or more elements that previously existed separately, and that emerge in part out of regulatory or judicial interventions rather than simply the imperatives of voluntary coordination. The paper seeks to build on suggestions for developing the links between the accounting and public administration literatures, and it draws on ‘governmentality’ studies to analyse the phenomenon. This argues for the importance of considering three distinct and interrelated layers or levels of analysis: the programmatic or discursive, the practices and processes to which such discourses are intrinsically linked, and the professional ‘enclosures’ that can emerge in some domains. While drawing on governmentality studies, we also suggest extending them by paying greater attention than is customary in such writings to localised processes and practices. In particular, we propose the concept of ‘mediating instruments’ to explain how management control practices link the larger political culture with the ‘everyday doings of practitioners’.     

Accounting,New Public Management and American Politics: Theoretical Insights into the National Performance Review

Borrowing from the work of political theorists Sheldon Wolin and William Connolly, this essay seeks to provide additional rationalization for the expansion of accounting within domains like the public sector. We suggest that such an expansion is intimately linked to social and cultural transitions which have led political theorists to not only question modern political theory but to also recognize the political significance of practices like accounting to political theory. We contend that these same transitions also make possible expansions of accounting through New Public Management (NPM) initiatives like the U.S.'s National Performance Review (NPR). Seen in this way, accounting theory begins to move away from its traditional status as, in Foucault's (1995) terms, a “subjugated” knowledge and to take on a serious intellectual priority within political theory. A primary objective is to provide at least a partial rational-analytic typos useful in understanding the codetermined relationship between accounting and politics.     

Reflections on the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Project

The purpose of the interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting (IPA) project is to have an impact on the theory and practice of accounting as well as the surrounding social processes. The following discussion outlines the birth and maturation of the contemporary IPA project and concludes that the undertaking is divided along methodological, philosophical, and ideological lines. In addressing these issues, we propose to clarify and differentiate the nature and purpose of the contemporary IPA and critical accounting projects. The interdisciplinary work is directed generally toward a more complete understanding of accounting theory and practice and of the broader social institution of accountancy. The purpose of interdisciplinary studies is to heighten the awareness of those parties who are implicated in its enactment. The critical accounting project is viewed as a subset of the interdisciplinary project and provides a focus for those who wish to devise an approach that consciously privileges the linkage of knowledge to the pursuit of a radical political process. Whatever labels are employed, it must be recognized that though participants in the interdisciplinary project might disagree as to its source, intensity, and influence, the totalizing influence of hegemonic power is present in society and the world. This is so whether one classifies that world as modern or postmodern, or whether we see change as possible on a global level or only within some local sphere; issues of human rights, human dignity, and the human condition must be of central concern. Regardless of the interdisciplinary origin or grounding, we must continually affirm a commitment to a more socially responsible institution of accountancy. In our view, the critical accounting project provides a focus for those who wish to devise an approach to accounting studies that consciously privileges the realization of the philosophy of praxis. Those who choose the critical accounting project must recognize, however, that without an ever expanding interdisciplinary horizon, the critical project is likely to degenerate either into tyranny or quietism.     

The ‘performativity thesis’ and its critics: Towards a relational ontology of management accounting

This paper explores accounting's mediating role in bringing theoretical statements from economics into life. It addresses the so-called performativity thesis that claims that economic theory does not just observe and explain a reality, but rather shapes, formats and performs reality. Accounting mediates in that process by creating cognitive boundaries that embed societal practices in economic theory. However, the performativity thesis is not without criticisms. Its main criticisms concern a lack of proof of the thesis; an overestimation of the power of economics to extend beyond the virtual; and a lack of a critical stance. In order to bring more nuance in the discussion on the performativity thesis the paper reflects on evidence from the field of accounting. The review of accounting studies reveals how accounting, to different degrees, is implicated in strategic and operational activities in markets and organisations and how it is a performative mechanism of economisation. Moreover, in order to accentuate the ‘good’ in society and to challenge the ‘bad’, the paper suggests a further development of (critical) management accounting research into the performativity of both economics and other social theories. A relational ontology of management accounting that is in politics and that is sensitive to ‘unlocalisable’ virtual powers of social-historical formations of management accounting may be developed.     

New development: Managing and accounting for sustainable development across generations in public services—and call for papers

Social and environmental justice across generations is a fundamental attribute of sustainable development. In this article, which is also a call for papers for a future theme in Public Money & Management (PMM), we develop our case for further research on how governments and public service organizations seek to address sustainable development in their decision-making processes. We believe that accounting for social and environmental aspects is an underdeveloped area of research and practice that is worthy of further critical enquiry. We therefore call on researchers and practitioners to submit their research to a themed issue of PMM on managing and accounting for sustainable development in public services.     

The Progression from Voluntary to Mandatory Derivative Instrument Disclosures – Look Who's Talking

The growth of derivative markets over the past decade suggests that many entities are using these instruments. The transparency of firms' exposures and their accounting treatment have become critical issues, particularly given the media attention to derivative-related losses by some high-profile corporations. This paper focuses on derivative instrument disclosures during a three-phase disclosure regime — pure voluntary disclosure (1992–94), coercive voluntary disclosure (1995–97) and mandatory disclosure (1998). The time frame provides an insight into firms' and regulators' responses to information demands by stakeholders. Increases in disclosure of information, even if incomplete, are particularly noticeable in 1995, the beginning of the coercive regime, and in 1998 when the disclosures became mandatory.     

Politics of Financial Reporting and the Consequences for the Public Sector

This article examines the political processes surrounding public sector accounting standard setting, in particular, the Australian decision to adopt sector-neutral International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It contends that the history of private and public sector involvement in the accounting standard setting process to date, and recourse to regulatory theory, assist in understanding these contemporary developments. The article reveals that private sector interests have dominated accounting standard setters at all important stages of standard setting in Australia. It concludes by arguing that, given this continued neglect by standard setters, if public sector financial reporting standards are to remain relevant to the public sector, then it may be necessary for public sector regulators to set their own standards.     

Accounting Choice and Theory in Crisis: The Case of the Victorian Desalination Plant

This paper traces the financial developments of the desalination plant in the State of Victoria in Australia. The desalination plant was built via a public–private partnership (PPP) vehicle, and commissioned at a time when water storage levels in the state were low. Subsequent rainfall has meant that no water has yet been ordered by the Victorian Government from the plant. In the paper an analysis is undertaken of the impact of the manner in which accounting treatment has been used in valuing this infrastructure asset. It is concluded that the applied accounting policy choices and treatments for this infrastructure asset are not consistent with conventional accounting theory, the Conceptual Framework for accounting or generally accepted accounting principles.     

Accounting for the U.K.'s Private Finance Initiative: An Interview-Based Investigation

This article investigates the development of the public sector accounting policy for the United Kingdom's Private Finance Initiative. A novel approach to investigating the development of accounting regulation is applied, based on interviews with persons involved in the process. A fuller explanation of events is obtained by going beyond published material that is already in the public domain in order to reflect the informal procedures which cause regulatory outcomes to be determined by negotiation and persuasion. The article concludes that the limited participation of public sector bodies at the formal stage of lobbying through written representations may not be critical in view of the existence of other means to influence the outcome of the regulatory process.     

Accounting and the reduction of state-owned stock in China

In 2001, the Chinese government announced that it would reduce its ownership position in companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. As state-owned shares had previously not been permitted to be traded, this announcement was a significant market event in China. The announcement stated that the shares would be sold at a market-determined price, rather than at the much lower “net assets” price that investors had naively anticipated. The difference between these prices was considerable for virtually all listed companies. We examine how accounting information was used discursively to frame the situation, constructing the “problem” of how to reduce state ownership and simultaneously restricting the set of permissible solutions. We distinguish the ex ante and ex post uses of accounting calculations and vocabularies in the public discourse during this event, and examine how the discursive function of accounting in China is conditioned by bureaucracy and ideology in Chinese society.     

A Bangladesh soap opera: privatisation, accounting, and regimes of control in a less developed country

This paper reports an intensive case study of a soap manufacturing company in Bangladesh that was nationalised upon Bangladesh's independence in 1971 and privatised in 1993. Theoretically it is informed by Burawoy's contributions to labour process theory, especially how the consent of labour is manufactured through internal states, internal labour markets and games, and how regimes of control in less developed ex-colonial countries are transformed by state and production politics. How the role of accounting systems may shape and be shaped by these processes is traced. Nationalisation brought state attempts to manufacture consent by the methods described in Burawoy's depiction of hegemonic regimes. However, idealistic attempts to secure accountability, rational planning and control, and consent through bureaucratic means were subverted and transformed into a regime of political hegemony. Here control was secured by political interventions, often at the behest of trade unions, for party political rather than commercial ends. Detailed systems of accounting for control and accountability were maintained but became marginal, ritualistic, and de-coupled from operations. Privatisation brought changes consistent with Burawoy's prediction of coercive controls within a new despotic regime. New owners destroyed the internal state and internal labour markets and, following widespread redundancies, most workers were hired through internal subcontracting. The changes heightened worker divisions and rendered workers powerless to resist. Gaming was observed but this relieved the pressures of work intensification and proved functional to management. Significant changes to accounting controls were made. External reporting ceased in violation of legal requirements — financial accounting became the preserve of the owning family and was beset with irregularities. Budgets became more market oriented and were transmitted downwards in a physical form to reinforce coercive pressures upon managers and thence the shop floor. The paper concludes by relating the findings to a revised model of transformation of control regimes in Bangladesh     

Critical reflections on Laughlin's middle range research approach: Language not mysterious?

Professor Richard Laughlin is renowned for applying critical insights from the German philosopher, Jurgen Habermas. His middle range research approach has explored many accounting problems such as public–private partnerships, health care reforms and how accounting impacts cultural issues. Laughlin's work re-conceptualises accountability in terms of cultural analysis, language and systems theory. Users of his work may encounter issues associated with: (1) understanding how to judge assertoric statements concerning various truth claims; (2) exploring the dichotomy between the secular and sacred; and (3) examining whether language simply designates meaning or opens us to interpretive new pathways.