The market for public accounting services: Demand,supply and regulation

An analysis of the market for public accounting services is derived from agency theory. The theory shows that owners and their agents (employees) benefit from monitoring. Furthermore, the owners and managers of enterprises bear the cost when potential investors and users of financial statements (outsiders) fear that those in control operate the enterprise contrary to the interests of the outsiders. The demand for public accounting services is derived from these concerns. The public accountants' comparative advantages in providing this service, the structure of the market supplying the service, and the nature of the demand for its regulation follow from the initial analysis. In the last part of the paper the staff reports of the 1972 U.S. House of Representative (Moss) and Senate (Metcalf) committees are examined and compared with the available evidence.     

The genesis of professional organisation in English accountancy

The organisation of accountants in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield during the 1870s has not been subject to exhaustive historical investigation. This paper analyses the first organisations of accountants in England in the context of theories of jurisdictional boundaries, occupational conflict, the creation of labour market shelters and social closure. It is shown that the Bankruptcy Act, 1869 disturbed the division of labour between accountants and lawyers and threatened the status of established accountants by encouraging competition from lesser practitioners. The study illustrates that the organisation of accountants in Liverpool was instigated by lawyers anxious to establish a medium for negotiating the boundaries of bankruptcy work with local accountants. In London, Manchester and Sheffield (and partly in Liverpool) organisation concerned the protection of established accountants from interlopers and was actualised by erecting market shelters and the imposition of exclusionary closure. Organisation was a device for the institutionalisation of occupational difference and protecting market advantage. During the 1870s the occupation of accountant was bifurcated into professional practitioners, marked by the badge of organisational membership, and less reputable individuals who were denied it. It is also contended that inter and intra professional conflict are pervasive themes in professional organisation and that individual actors were significant to engineering formation processes.     

利率决定理论——利率市场化理论基础之一

利率市场化是指金融机构在货币市场经营融资的利率由市场供求来决定。它包括利率决定、利率传导、利率结构和利率管理的市场化。推进利率市场化的理论基础涉及利率决定理论、利率传导理论以及剖析利率结构和利率管理的金融发展理论。本文重点介绍了利率决定相关理论的核心思想,这些理论包括古典利率决定理论、马克思的利率决定理论、凯恩斯利率决定理论、可贷资金论以及IS—LM模型等。研究表明,平均利润率、资金的供求关系、通货膨胀率、央行的货币政策、国际金融市场利率等都会影响一国利率水平。     

Theories of the state and the state of accounting: Economic reductionism and political voluntarism in accounting regulation theory

It has recently been suggested that the inability of the economics-finance literature to say anything definitive about the appropriate form of accounting regulation highlights the need to augment neoclassical economic analysis with sociopolitical considerations. It is argued in this paper that patching up the orthodox theory would be futile; that the flaws are so fundamental as to warrant abandoning neoclassical state theory and embarking on a serious debate about radical theoretical alternatives. Economic reductionism and political voluntarism are shown to be the main flaws in the neoclassical theory, and these deficiencies are primarily responsible for the present theoretical disarray. After a brief overview of radical theories of the state, this paper suggests that replacing—not refurbishing—neoclassical state theory is the most plausible strategy for accounting researchers.     

On the emergence of strategic management accounting: An institutional perspective

Strategic management accounting (SMA) has been presented as an efficacious approach to strategy formulation and implementation. It also suggests accountants move away from purely financial concerns to give consideration to wider business issues. Management accounting change has attracted significant research attention in recent years. This case study explores the issues which surround change and which enable the adoption of SMA and the repositioning of management accountants to become more strategic. The empirical enquiry is based in one company through a prolonged series of interviews and meetings which enabled activities over a number of years to be reviewed. This revealed an increasing strategic role for management accountants in informing strategic decision‐making and how this role came into being. The research is informed by institutional theories and neoinstitutionalism in particular, to interpret the external and internal influences on the change in roles of some management accountants and the outputs of their work.     

The images that have shaped accounting theory

Accounting theory elaborates imagery. Working within a framework defining a numerical view of reality, accountants draw on different images of the accounting process to elaborate different theories of accounting. This paper examines how different images have shaped developments in financial accounting and considers the implications for future theory and research.     

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.     

The role of internet-related technologies in shaping the work of accountants: New directions for accounting research

This paper reviews the accounting literature that focuses on four Internet-related technologies that have the potential to dramatically change and disrupt the work of accountants and accounting researchers in the near future. These include cloud, big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). For instance, access to distributed ledgers (blockchain) and big data supported by cloud-based analytics tools and AI will automate decision making to a large extent. These technologies may significantly improve financial visibility and allow more timely intervention due to the perpetual nature of accounting. However, given the number of tasks technology has relieved of accountants, these technologies may also lead to concerns about the profession's legitimacy. The findings suggest that scholars have not given sufficient attention to these technologies and how these technologies affect the everyday work of accountants. Research is urgently needed to understand the new kinds of accounting required to manage firms in the changing digital economy and to determine the new skills and competencies accountants may need to master to remain relevant and add value. The paper outlines a set of questions to guide future research.     

Factors that affect accountant's perceptions of alternative work arrangements

Advances in technology have impacted accounting careers with resulting changes in where, when and how accountants perform their job duties. In addition, employee attitudes towards, and need for, better work/life balance has led to more firms offering alternate work arrangements (AWA). Research suggests that AWA programs can lead to many benefits for both employers and employees. Despite the prevalence of these programs there are relatively few accountants working under these arrangements and concerns about work/life balance continue. This study examines factors that shape perceptions of the cost and benefits associated with the adoption and/or support of AWAs across work culture, gender and participation experience. Our results suggest that work environment had a significant effect on perceptions of AWAs. Public accountants perceived greater costs related to career advancement but correspondingly less concern about administrative issues than management accountants. We also found that accountants who have participated (or are currently participating in an AWA), perceived greater benefits and less concern for potential negative consequences to their careers than non-participants. Finally, women perceived greater benefits to result from participation in an AWA and men perceived correspondingly more costs. Regardless, both genders perceived that AWAs were not strictly a women's issue. These findings contribute to our understanding of alternate work arrangements and point to factors that must be addressed to increase the acceptance and success of these programs.     

Social environments and organizational accounting

The determinants of the prevalence of accountants and accounting work in organizations are discussed, starting from a view of organizational structure as created in response to environmental factors. Accounting work is seen as related to the expansion of cultural rationalization—and in particular to forms of rationalization that are not made organizationally complete or self-evident. It arises less in situations of clear vertical and horizontal bureaucratization than in those of the expansion of organizational structure without clear and definite rules of vertical and lateral differentiation.     

Critical accounting in scotland

This paper considers the contemporary role of critical academic accountants. Arguably, academics have been to some extent cut off from the “real world" writing fairly inaccessible papers for each other. Critical accounting academics are certainly concerned with theory but too often they try to develop their theory without active engagement in the outside world. This could have had the effect of making them rather pessimistic about their own agency and the potential for social reform. The paper draws upon the academic and political work of Pierre Bourdieu1as an illustration of an academic who has managed to fuse theory and practice in a more optimistic manner. Critical accounting in Scotland is considered from this perspective. The case of the Clydebank asbestos sufferers is highlighted as an example of where critical accounting researchers might like to test their theoretical skills. The paper also discusses the campaign to end tuition fees in Scotland and the Centre for Social and Environmental Research which is based in Glasgow.     

A new approach to accounting examinations: The Final Qualifying Examination in New Zealand

New Zealand's Final Qualifying Examination for accountants was introduced in 1989 and has developed in a different way from professional accounting examinations in other countries. It provides a final check on the quality of the individuals concerned, but it does not re-test the subjects studied at the university. It includes ethical issues facing accountants, and current issues facing the accounting profession. This paper examines the origins of the Final Qualifying Examination (FQE), and the influences on its subsequent development. Some problem areas are also discussed in order to assist others to learn from the experience of the FQE. Further modifications that will shortly impact the New Zealand accounting profession's admission policy are also introduced.     

Professional accountants and the development of a management accounting service for the small firm: barriers and possibilities

This paper reports the results of a qualitative study examining the potential for the provision of a management accounting service for smaller companies by accountants in professional practice. The study aimed to determine the management information needs of owner-managers, the type and frequency of information preferred and the capacity of professional accountants to contribute to these needs. The owner-managers of 15 smaller companies were asked to participate in semi-strucutured interviews during which their use of computers to provide management accounts, their relationship with their accountant and their financial skills were discussed. The respondents were presented with a range of management information including statutory final accounts, interim accounts, cash statements, ratios and graphical comparisons of monthly turnover figures in order to assess their financial information skills and needs. The study found that companies used computers for the preparation of management accounting information, but usually not to their full potential. The financial awareness of owner-managers varied considerably. There was a favourable response to the presentation of ratios and graphs, however, it was felt that an explanation or interpretation of financial information by their accountant would be a useful addition to improve their understanding and therefore aid their business. The study concludes that there appears to be significant potential for accountants to expand the management accounting services they provide to smaller companies, especially where information is presented as ratios or graphs and accompanied with an appropriate narrative interpretation. This would also increase the financial skills of their clients and result in an increased demand for management accounting services.     

The structure and progressivity of accounting research: the crisis in the academy revisited

Doubts were raised within the accounting research program in the United States in the late 1980s about its progress and future potential. In this paper, we develop criteria for “good” scientific conversation, which leads to progress (defined as innovation and relevance). The key to this process is critical evaluation of background assumptions. The structure of scientific conversation in accounting and economics, whose theories and practices accountants adopted, are examined. We conclude that structural barriers result in a lack of adequate transformative critique, which contributes to the lack of progress in the accounting research program.     

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.     

Contingencies influencing the management accounting practices of Estonian manufacturing companies

Having regained independence in 1991, Estonia has undergone fundamental political and structural changes over the last decade, which have also affected the operation of its companies. This paper examines the management accounting practices of Estonian manufacturing companies, exploring the main impacts on them within a contingency theory framework. The methodology comprises an analysis of 62 responses to a postal questionnaire survey carried out among the largest Estonian manufacturing companies. It is comparatively infrequently that Estonian manufacturing companies have made improvements in their cost accounting methods, although the majority of respondents appear to acknowledge the importance of these practices in finding and lowering real product costs and modernizing the cost accounting systems. The effectiveness of an accounting systems’ design depends on its ability to adapt to changes both in external circumstances and internal factors. We have found some evidence that changes in cost and management accounting practices are associated with shifts in the business and accounting environment as external contingencies, and with those in technology and organizational aspects as internal contingencies. This research aims on the one hand to confirm earlier findings related to the ‘contingent factors’ that influence management accounting and on the other, to identify possible new factors, such as, for example, the legal accounting environment and shortage of properly qualified accountants.     

Knowing one’s place: The distribution of new accounting academics into a segmented labor market

New academic accountants tend to believe that there is a singular academic labor market that will receive them as they approach the completion of their doctoral programs. In such a world, the caliber of their ideas would be judged according to their ability to make a contribution to the knowledge of discipline. However, past research suggests that a prestige structure exists for doctoral programs such that a candidate’s ability to be placed at a school is a function of his/her doctoral programs position in that hierarchy. In this world, limits exist upon possible placement for most candidates such that the caliber of their work will not be a determinative factor in their placement. Various divisions of the doctoral schools in accounting show that movement to higher groups is difficult for all groups. The higher-tier schools are more able to place their graduates in the same tier. Falls to lower tiers are especially likely for the graduates of the lower prestige groups of doctoral schools. This paper seeks to help participants in the labor market, doctoral candidates and those that hire them, obtain a more informed appreciation for their realistic prospects. In this way, an achievable expectation should lead to more efficient placement behavior.     

The economic determinants of the market reaction to proposed mandatory accounting changes in the oil and gas industry: A cross-sectional analysis

This paper examines the economic reasons for the observed negative abnormal common stock performance of firms whose reported earnings and stockholders' equity were negatively affected by the proposed elimination of full cost accounting in the oil and gas industry. Four explanations of the market effects of this mandatory accounting change are examined: (1) naive investor theory, (2) modified naive investor theory, (3) contracting cost theory, and (4) estimation risk theory. These hypotheses are developed in detail and used to generate variables for a cross-sectional model which explains observed return behavior. The effect of the accounting change on total stockholder's equity, the existence of financial contracts denominated in terms of accounting numbers and, to a lesser extent, firm size are shown to be important explanatory variables. The importance of these variables is consistent with both the contracting cost and estimation risk theories.