Financial factors in R&D budget setting: the impact of interfunctional market coordination, strategic alliances, and the nature of competition

Increasingly demanding markets, changes in technology and greater international competition have made the effective management of product R&D together with its associated costs essential. The magnitude of R&D costs are of concern to many companies, potentially inhibiting organizations from investing in new product development. Although rising costs of R&D and the growing dependence of companies on R&D for product leadership increase the need to plan and evaluate R&D activities more effectively, difficulties have been experienced in applying budgetary control systems to R&D. Despite such concerns, the published literature indicates that an emphasis on financial factors in setting the size of R&D budgets is becoming a competitive necessity. A review of the published literature suggests that interfunctional market coordination, the relative use of strategic alliances and the nature of competition in terms of product cost versus product innovation are potentially instrumental in influencing the degree of emphasis on financial factors in R&D budget setting. The results of the present study indicate that these three organizational and environmental variables result in an emphasis on financial factors in setting the size of R&D budgets. Implications drawn from the findings are discussed.     

Product innovation, budgetary control, and the financial performance of firms

Organizations are increasingly calling for greater budgetary oversight of the product innovation process. A major focus of their concern is the costs associated with product innovation together with their need to enhance their financial performance through these endeavours. However, the literature has raised a number of issues arising from such budgetary proposals, suggesting that the creativity of those involved in product innovation should not be constrained by cost concerns, that the use of management control systems is incompatible with product innovation, and that budgets may stifle innovation. It is argued in this paper that the extent to which product innovation has a positive impact on the financial performance of firms is dependent on the manner in which budgets are used in organizations. If budgets are used predominantly as a planning mechanism, then such budget planning facilitates product innovation resulting in enhanced performance. In contrast, if budgets are used primarily as a control mechanism, then it is unlikely that product innovation will contribute to financial performance. The results of the study are consistent with these expectations. This paper makes a contribution to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the impact of budgets in the context of product innovation.     

A note on work-related values, budget emphasis and managers’ organisational commitment

Managers’ work-related values (WRVs) have important implications for designing appropriate management accounting systems (MAS) in organisations. This paper examines the effect of the interaction between managers’ WRV for innovation and budget emphasis (an integral part of MAS) on their organisational commitment. The sample consisted of 109 managers from production, marketing and support departments within Australian manufacturing firms. Hypotheses were tested using both quantitative and qualitative data collected by a questionnaire survey and post-survey interviews. The results indicate that the adoption of low budget emphasis led to high organisational commitment when managers’ WRV for innovation was high, but not when managers’ WRV for innovation was low. The results also indicate that marketing managers held higher WRV for innovation than production managers. The post-survey interviews provide further insight into how a more customer- and competitor-focused subculture of marketing managers and a more technical- and efficiency-focused subculture of production managers may promote the difference in their WRV for innovation, and affect their attitudes towards budget emphasis. The findings of the study have implications for design of performance evaluation systems for managers in functionally differentiated organisations.     

CEO职业关注与企业会计信息披露质量

依据2001-2019年沪深两市A股上市公司数据,以C EO年龄水平作为职业关注水平的代理变量,考量CEO职业关注对企业会计信息披露质量的影响.结果表明:CEO职业关注降低了企业的会计信息披露质量,CEO职业关注水平较高时,企业盈余管理倾向更强,应计质量更差,发生盈余粉饰的可能性更高.进一步分析发现,企业正向盈余管理倾向是C EO职业关注影响会计信息披露质量的渠道,职业关注与会计信息披露质量的关系受到财务业绩压力的干扰.     

Fee pressure and the longitudinal dynamics of audit engagement budgeting and reporting

Using longitudinal data from an international accounting firm, this paper investigates how budgeted and reported audit hours change in response to prior budget variances, fee pressure, and budget pressure imposed by audit firm management. This investigation is motivated by concern regarding the association between these factors and quality-reducing audit behaviors. The results for audit firm management budgeting show that budgets increase following unfavorable variances, and that fee pressure does not affect the budgeting process. Regarding engagement team reporting behavior, we find that both prior unfavorable variances and fee pressure are associated with subsequent reduction in reported audit hours. Further, when audit firm management imposes budget pressure on engagement teams, they respond by reducing reported hours. Overall, the results provide evidence on the interplay between audit firm management and engagement teams in responding to prior variances, fee pressure, and budget pressure during the period 2001-2003.     

Simultaneous Public and Private Provision of Services, Asymmetric Information and Innovation

Public and private provision of a service coexist. There is asymmetric information between the government and the agency providing the public service with respect to the costs, the quality of the service and the innovation effort of the agency. We examine the optimal government design of the funding contracts to induce the agency to reveal its costs and exert high innovation effort. The optimizing behaviour of consumers and private firms generates observable information, which can be used by the government to reduce its information problem. In the optimal contracts, the informational rents of the agency increase with the level of innovation effort that the government induces from the agency. Correlation between public and the private sector costs results in a trade-off in the government's policy between inducing innovation and extracting the informational rent of the agency. To increase the redistribution inherent in the public provision of the service, the government will manipulate the expected profits of the private firms to induce higher innovation effort.     

THE EFFECT OF EMPHASIS ON TIGHT BUDGET TARGETS AND COST CONTROL ON PRODUCTION AND MARKETING MANAGERS'' PROPENSITY TO CREATE SLACK

Extant literature suggests that target setting must be complemented by cost control. There are, however, strong theoretical reasons to suggest that cost control, whilst meaningful for the manufacturing function, may be less effective for the marketing function. Difficulties in setting standards and tracing marketing results (sales) to marketing effort and the discretionary nature of many marketing costs are likely to reduce the effectiveness of cost control in marketing departments. This study examines firstly, whether cost control moderates the relationships between emphasis on tight budget targets and subordinates' propensity to create slack; and secondly, whether these relationships are found in both the manufacturing and the marketing functions. The results support a significant two-way interaction between emphasis on tight budget targets and cost control affecting propensity to create slack for the manufacturing function, but not for the marketing function. Marketing managers' propensity to create slack was found to be associated only with emphasis on tight budget targets. These results are consistent with the theory that differences in manufacturing and marketing can influence the effectiveness of accounting control systems.     

审计成本控制框架设计与运行——基于价值链预算角度

会计师事务所与一般企业一样,需要控制其成本以提高绩效,而"通过分析企业价值链,制定出预算,进而通过预算实现对成本控制"的价值链预算可以铸造具有系统功能的"审计成本控制链"。审计成本控制链是审计人员接受委托到最后审计报告提供给投资者决策使用的整个过程中对审计成本发挥控制作用的各种因素及其所形成的控制链条。对"审计成本控制链"上各作业单元进行分析,可以测算出完成每个作业所需不同级别审计人员的审计时间,进而编制出初始的预算成本;当发现新的审计线索时,增加审计程序不可避免,预算也必然会随之进行调整;为检验调整的合理性以及更好地发挥预算对成本控制的效果,还需要在审计项目结束时,对预算的编制及调整进行评价。从预算的编制到预算的调整再到对预算实施效果评价,在逻辑上就构成了完整的成本控制链条。     

Influencia de los sistemas de información en los resultados organizacionales

Over the last years, information systems (IS) have constituted the main focus of research in the business organization literature. This has created the need to identify their entrepreneurial value. The paper presents a theory-based model that was developed to assess the degree of IS success in SMEs. The aim of the proposed model is to determine the influence of IS on organizational performance. To achieve this aim, the Partial Least Square statistical technique is used to analyze data from 133 questionnaires administered to businesses across the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. The results show that those enterprises that are more concerned with the improvement of the systems’ quality, information quality and the informatics service enhance the organizational outcomes. The present study contributes to the body of literature on the assessment of IS success in the context of an emerging country. In particular, the study provides a thorough assessment of the IS effectiveness and their impact on organizational performance.     

The impact of the input level of information system audit on the audit quality: Korean evidence

In response to the increasingly sophisticated corporate information system environment in producing accounting data, audit firms are undertaking information system (IS) audit in addition to conventional auditing. This study focuses on examining the impact of input level of IS audit on audit quality. We collected data on IS audit hours, a unique reporting requirement for Korean listed-firms as disclosed in the External Audit Implementation Details beginning in 2014. Simultaneously, we used the amount of discretionary accruals and measure of conservatism, C_Score as the proxies of the audit quality. By empirically examining a sample set that includes 2,370 corporate-year observations from the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (2014–2018), we found that IS audit hours and IS audit personnel had a statistically significant negative correlation when estimating with amount of discretionary accruals using the model of Kothari et al. (2005) and positive correlation with C_Score. Even when the group was divided into Big 4 and non-BIG 4, these results were apparent in firm samples that were audited by Big 4 audit firms, whereas those audited by non-Big 4 firms did not show these results. Taken together, the following conclusion can be derived. Audit quality has improved through conducting IS audit in response to new types of audit risks that have emerged because of the use of information technology in corporations. Significantly, this study analyzes empirically the effect that the effort of IS auditing has on improving audit quality by using a unique reporting requirement for Korean-listed firms. The study confirms that an appropriate level of IS audit input can improve audit quality. In addition, it is meaningful that IS audit practice is following the risk-based approach of the Clarified International Standards on Auditing (ISA).     

商业银行财务集中的管理框架与创新思路

商业银行财务集中有效解决了财务核算主体分散、监控管理不到位的问题,使财务信息核算质量提高,但是,其仍然存在以下隐忧：受管理环境的制约,财务集中的基础性定位、单一的核算职能与商业银行价值管理的发展要求存在差距,财务信息与商业银行预算管理、绩效评价等管理会计的相关性较弱。财务集中的创新应通过全面的成本控制来发挥财务资源配置...     

The Effects of Participation and Job-Relevant Information on the Relationship Between Evaluative Style and Job Satisfaction

This study investigates the intervening effects of budgetary participation and job-relevant information on the relationship between budget emphasis and job satisfaction. It proposes that budgetary participation and job-relevant information are endogenous to budget emphasis. Using the path analytical technique and based on a sample of 152 senior managers, the study found that budget emphasis has an insignificant direct effect on job satisfaction, but a strong indirect effect through job-relevant information and budgetary participation. The results also indicate that job-relevant information has an intervening effect on the relationship between participation and job satisfaction.     

信息不对称和报酬方案对预算松弛的影响研究

本文用实验方法研究预算的激励功能和计划功能需要同时发挥时,在预算参与的情况下,信息不对称和报酬方案对预算松弛的影响。本文的研究发现,信息不对称和报酬方案都会影响预算松弛:无论是否存在信息不对称,编制松弛在真实诱导报酬方案下要低于松弛诱导报酬方案;无论是否存在信息不对称,真实诱导报酬方案下的业绩要好于松弛诱导报酬方案下的业绩;信息不对称时不同诱导报酬方案下的业绩差异大于没有信息不对称时不同诱导报酬方案下的业绩差异;无论是否存在信息不对称,松弛诱导报酬方案下的报酬要大于真实诱导报酬方案下的报酬。上述结果表明,必须以系统思维来进行预算管理,将预算管理置于整个管理体系中考虑,做到与管理体系中的其他内容协调配套,只有这样才能充分发挥预算管理的功能。     

Antecedents of Budget Participation: Leadership Style,Information Asymmetry,and Evaluative Use of Budget

This study explores the causes or antecedents of budget participation to understand more fully the role of participation in the workplace. The study focuses on the reasons why superiors encourage the budget participation of their subordinates and draws upon several theoretical perspectives including leadership theory, agency theory and organizational justice. To examine the issues, a survey was administered to managers and supervisors in several companies. Results of path analysis suggest that superiors encourage subordinate participation when the superior's leadership style is considerate. This implies that budget participation may mediate the relation between leadership style and work outcomes. Results also suggest that superiors encourage participation when budget goals are used in the performance evaluation of subordinates, in which case, the study argues, the superiors encourage participation because of concerns about organizational justice. This finding implies that budget participation may mediate the relation between the evaluative use of budget and those work outcomes that prior research has linked to organizational justice. The proposed relation between information asymmetry and budget participation is not supported.     

Do Banks Value Innovation? Evidence from US Firms

This study evaluates how innovation within companies alleviates the information asymmetry problems in relationship lending. We hypothesize that patenting activities could reveal favorable private information and, hence, reduce the information asymmetry between innovative borrowers and banks. Using a sample of US patenting firms from 1987 to 2004, we show that borrowers with higher innovation capability (revealed by having more patent applications, higher research & development (R&D) productivity, or higher‐quality patents) enjoy lower bank‐loan spreads and better nonprice‐related loan terms. Our evidence further suggests that the information benefits of patenting activities on loan spreads is more pronounced for small or less R&D‐intensive firms.     

The experience trap

When companies put seasoned managers in charge of important projects, they don't expect missed deadlines, budget overruns, and rampant defects. However, that's what researchers found when they tested hundreds of experienced project managers with computer games that simulated software development projects. The study, conducted by two professors from Insead and one from Naval Postgraduate School, strongly suggests that veterans in complex environments suffer a breakdown in the learning process. The research reveals three reasons for the breakdowns: Time lags between causes and effects make it difficult to see how they're connected; fallible estimates color the chain of decisions that determine a project's outcome; and a bias toward the initial goals prevents managers from setting revised, more appropriate, targets when project circumstances change. Sticking to an initial low budget goal after a project grew in scope, for instance, led subjects to ignore quality assurance, which led to soaring defect rates--and costs. Companies can take practical steps to fix the learning cycle. They can provide feedback that shows the relationships between important variables in the environment. Such feedback might reveal, say, the 20-day ramp-up that a new quality assurance team needs before becoming fully effective. Tools that apply formal models to calculate such things as the effect of turnover on team productivity also help. Setting goals for behavior, instead of targets for performance, is critical as well. Finally, firms can create project "flight simulators" that mimic actual learning environments but don't let complexity overwhelm trainees. Managers can continue learning only if they get decision support tailored to the challenges they face. Firms would do well to focus more on training people higher up in the organization and stop leaving them to fend for themselves.     

A further interpretation of the relational agency of information systems: A research note

This paper proposes a reinterpretation of the agency of information system (IS) as relational. It explores how the agency of IS has been articulated in the extant stream of accounting information system (AIS) research and explains how a relational view of agency can enhance our understanding of IS in its organizational context. This reinterpretation highlights the limitation of viewing IS as technology (technocentric view) with predefined functionality and predictable effects. Attention is also shifted away from an anthropocentric conceptualization of IS; where the technology is seen as a tool and agency is attributed only to humans. We argue in the paper that both the technocentric and anthropocentric views of IS limit what can be learned about the agency of IS. Drawing on actor-network theory (ANT), this study conceptualizes IS as a relational network and proposes a relational view of the agency of IS. This relational view suggests that the social and material entities that make up IS have no absolute essence when viewed in isolation; rather, their collective force defines the agency of IS. The implications of the relational view of agency for AIS research are also highlighted.     

Press Release Disclosure of ‘Pro Forma’ Earnings Metrics by Large German Corporations – Empirical Evidence and Regulatory Recommendations

This paper is set against the background of recent regulatory action and standard-setting activities pertaining to the disclosure of so-called ‘pro forma’ earnings. For a sample of large corporations listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange, I individually analyze quarterly earnings announcements published for the fiscal years 2005 and 2006. Given voiced concern about the potential of pro forma metrics to misrepresent firm performance and thus to potentially mislead investors, research questions pertain to the use, the calculation and the presentation of pro forma earnings, and the impact of recent recommendations issued by European securities commissions. The results indicate that firms make extensive use of so-called ‘EB’ (earnings before) metrics and, more importantly, of pure non-GAAP performance measures, both in terms of frequency and reporting emphasis. The transparency of adjustments to GAAP earnings turns out to be low. Year-to-year analysis suggests that recent recommendations by European securities regulators have had no discernible impact on these disclosure patterns. Taken together, this evidence suggests that regulatory concern may be warranted. At the same time, it points out the need for more research into the determinants and the investor reception of pro forma earnings disclosures in EU jurisdictions.     

Why Muddy the Water? Short selling and the disclosure of proprietary information

The conventional wisdom of voluntary disclosure literature is that the major factor preventing firms from disclosing customer-related information is firms' concern for proprietary costs. However, non-disclosure may also happen when firms have bad news to hide and are concerned about short sellers using customer information to verify bad news about the firms. By implementing a difference-in-differences research design against the backdrop of the deregulation of short selling in China, we find that increased short-selling pressure discourages firms from disclosing the identities of major customers. The findings also reveal consistent evidence supporting the bad news hoarding hypothesis rather than the proprietary cost hypothesis. Overall, our study provides an alternative explanation for firms’ lack of disclosure of customer information.