The effects of national culture on the role of participation in different task situations

Prior studies primarily in Anglo-American and Asian cultural settings have found that budgetary participation interacts with reliance on accounting performance measures and task situations to affect managerial attitudes. Researchers have questioned if such findings can also be found in different cultural environments. As France has a high power distance and high individualism culture which is different from those of both the Anglo-American and Asian nations, this study investigates if such cultural differences may affect the findings of prior studies. Based on a sample of 44 French managers, the results indicate a similar significant three-way interaction effect. However, they also indicate that French managers have low levels of budgetary participation. Participation also has an insignificant effect on managers' job satisfaction in high task difficulty situations. These results are contrary to those of prior studies in Anglo-American and Asian cultural settings and may have important implications for the study of cultural effects on management control systems.     

交互预算:应对战略不确定性、契合管理控制的新机制——基于天津一汽丰田公司的案例研究

本文基于Simons的管理控制框架,在理论上梳理交互预算的控制特征、重构交互预算与其它管理控制方式间的协同关系,通过对天津一汽丰田公司预算控制的案例描述与理论分析,阐明了有别于传统的诊断预算控制,交互预算既能够克服传统预算方式的制度弊端,又能成为适应不确定性环境下的战略管理工具,还是促进企业上下级对话沟通、组织学习和管理创新的机制;另外,交互预算控制也是契合管理控制系统中信念控制、边界控制等其他控制方式的制度安排。     

Reliance on budgetary control, manufacturing process automation and production subunit performance: A research note

The degree to which reliance can be placed on budgetary control in the assessment of production subunit performance, particularly with the advent of manufacturing process automation involving, for example, robots and CAD/CAM, is problematic. While budget-based control systems are extensively employed in organizations, such usage does not provide clear evidence of their utility as performance enhancement vehicles as advances are made in the automation of manufacturing processes. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study which examines the effect of automation on the link between reliance on budgetary control and production subunit performance. The findings suggest that manufacturing process automation moderates the relation between reliance on budgetary control and departmental performance. As such, firms may benefit from a reliance on budgetary control in the evaluation of production subunit performance as manufacturing processes become more automated.     

Linking environmental uncertainty to non-financial performance measures and performance: a research note

Several previous research studies have reported mixed results concerning the direct association between non-financial performance measures and performance. The presence of environmental uncertainty on this relationship has not been established. This paper makes a contribution to this area by proposing that it is in conditions of environmental uncertainty that non-financial measures are most useful in improving organizational performance. It analyses empirical data from a sample of New Zealand manufacturing organizations to test the hypothesis that non-financial measures of performance would lead to improved organizational performance under conditions of increased environmental uncertainty. Multiple regression analysis of the data suggests that performance should be a declining function of the size of the ‘mismatch’ between an organization's environment and use of the different combinations of non-financial performance measures. Further, the paper concludes that prior mixed results may be attributed to the omission of environmental uncertainty.     

Re-Examining the Consumption–Wealth Relationship: The Role of Model Uncertainty

This paper discusses the consumption–wealth relationship. We use data on consumption, assets, and labor income and a vector error correction framework. This framework defines a set of models that differ in the number of co-integrating vectors, the form of deterministic components and lag length. Further models can be defined through parametric restrictions and, in particular, interest centers on a weak exogeneity restriction that says that the co-integrating residuals do not affect consumption and income directly. Key results in previous work relate to the roles of permanent and transitory shocks in driving wealth and how consumption responds to these shocks. We investigate the robustness of these results to model uncertainty and argue for the use of Bayesian model averaging. We find that there is a large degree of model uncertainty. Whether this uncertainty has important empirical implications depends on the researcher's attitude toward the theory used to motivate a co-integrating relationship between consumption, assets and income. If we work with models consistent with this theory and impose the weak exogeneity restriction, we find precisely estimated results that show that permanent shocks have only a small role in driving assets and that the predominant transitory shocks have little effect on consumption. These findings are consistent with the previous literature. However, if we work with a broader set of models and let the data speak, we find that the exact magnitude of the role of permanent shocks is hard to estimate precisely. Thus, although some support exists for the view that their role is small, we cannot rule out the possibility that they have a substantive role to play.     

ACCOUNTING FOR INSECURITY

This paper argues that modern systems of budgetary control are implicated in the exploitation and production of insecure forms of employment. The flexibility of direct labour is assumed at a very basic level in some of the core techniques of costing and budgetary control. Previous historical studies of the development of these forms of control, moreover, have shown that they were used to shift the costs of economic fluctuation from capital to labour as well as to encourage the efficient utilisation of human effort. In the light of these observations, it is to be expected that the use of budgetary targets which incorporate direct labour costs will: (1) be more prevalent where the workers are least able to resist the various forms of “flexibility”; and (2) encourage recourse to redundancies where the performance of business units within a company falls below expectation. The paper then tests these hypotheses against data from a recent survey of industrial relations practice in large UK companies. The results show, firstly, that there is a strong and positive association between the proportions of females and part-timers within the workforce and the use of unit labour costs and the direct labour cost/sales ratio as performance targets. Secondly, the use of return-on-investment (R.O.I.) targets is associated with the declaration of redundancies in business units which have failed to perform satisfactorily. For those to whom insecurity of employment constitutes a social problem rather than a managerial convenience to be celebrated as “flexibility”, these findings indicate that the accounting control systems typical of the modern company constitute part of the problem. The achievement of the long-standing trade union aim of security of income and employment will depend, in part, on changing these systems of control.     

Budget games and effort: differences between the United States and Latin America

While much work has been conducted on different behavioral factors affecting the budgetary process in the U.S., little effort has been made to examine how the budget process may differ in Latin America. The current study gathers data from U.S. and Latin American respondents to examine the implications of locale on budget game repertoires utilized, and in turn, budgetary effort expended. Results indicate significant differences across the locales. Latin American respondents were less likely to use Devious and Economic game repertoires. Across locales, individuals using Devious repertoires exerted less budgetary effort, while those using Economic repertoires exerted more.     

The effect of performance feedback on prior budgetary participative research using survey methodology: An empirical study

Prior research examining the relation between budgetary participation and job performance explicitly or implicitly posits budgetary participation and intervening variables such as role ambiguity, motivation, job satisfaction, and job-relevant information as independent variables; job performance as the dependent variable. However, these studies are often based on correlated data in which the direction of causation is unknown. This paper uses attribution theory to examine whether job performance affects perceptions of budgetary participation and/or intervening variables (e.g. role ambiguity). Using a laboratory experiment and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the findings of this study show that knowledge of performance, obtained through performance evaluations and/or external cues, affects individuals’ perceptions regarding budgetary participation, job satisfaction, role ambiguity, motivation, and job-relevant information. The results of the study may undermine correlations between self-reported data on individual characteristics (e.g. motivation) and performance data, as well as correlations between self-reported data on organizational variables (e.g. budgetary participation) and performance data. The study provides suggestions how researchers could overcome problems associated with causal directions in future budget participation studies that link self-reported individual and organizational characteristics to job performance.     

Evaluating Mutual Fund Performance

We study standard mutual fund performance measures, using simulated funds whose characteristics mimic actual funds. We find that performance measures used in previous mutual fund research have little ability to detect economically large magnitudes (e.g., three percent per year) of abnormal fund performance, particularly if a fund's style characteristics differ from those of the value-weighted market portfolio. Power can be substantially improved, however, using event-study procedures that analyze a fund's stock trades. These procedures are feasible using time-series data sets on mutual fund portfolio holdings.     

Nonfinancial performance measures,externalities and target setting: A comparative case study of resolutions through planning

This paper presents an analysis of the resolution of organisational externalities through the use of nonfinancial performance measures for planning. Using a comparative case study, this paper illustrates how centralised controllers’ choice of nonfinancial performance measures and target setting in two companies provides critical information to decentralised agents regarding how to balance their performance with the performance of other decentralised agents in their organisation. This work complements current management accounting research in that it focuses on the role of nonfinancial performance measures with respect to the design of performance plans for decentralised agents that can be used to internalise externalities. To date, discussions of externalities in management accounting research have primarily focused on how performance measurements can be used as a price mechanism to provide decentralised agents with incentives to internalise externalities. In addition, this case study illustrates some of the difficulties related to acquiring general knowledge about the externalities of nonfinancial performance measures and, therefore, about whether specific nonfinancial performance measures are appropriate for a particular type of organisation.     

Conditioning Information and European Bond Fund Performance

In this paper we evaluate the performance of European bond funds using unconditional and conditional models. As conditioning information we use variables that we find to be useful in predicting bond returns in the European market. The results show that, in general, bond funds are not able to outperform passive strategies. These findings are robust to whatever model (unconditional versus conditional and single versus multi‐index) we use. The multi‐index model seems to add some explanatory power in relation to the single‐index model. Furthermore, when we incorporate the predetermined information variables, we can observe a slight tendency towards better performance. This evidence is consistent with previous studies on stock funds and comes in support of the argument that conditional models might allow for a better assessment of performance. However, our results suggest that the impact of additional risk factors seems to be greater than the impact of incorporating predetermined information variables.     

The relationship between lack of controllability and proactive work behaviour: an empirical analysis of competing theoretical explanations

The controllability principle suggests evaluating managers solely based on performance measures they can control. In practice, however, companies often disregard this principle. Therefore, our study addresses organisational benefits linked to the lack of controllability in measures used for managers’ performance evaluations. We draw on important case-based findings to establish a positive ‘base relationship’ between lack of controllability and proactive work behaviour. We test this base relationship with a large-scale sample and find that companies encourage higher levels of proactive work behaviour when they rely on less controllable performance measures. Drawing on recent developments in role theory, we advance previous research and extend the base model by including the theoretical construct of flexible role orientation. We examine different mechanisms through which flexible role orientation potentially impacts the base model. Using survey responses from 432 managers, we find evidence for a mediation model as opposed to an interaction model. Specifically, we find that lack of controllability enhances role conflict, which in turn induces more flexible role orientations ultimately resulting in higher levels of proactive work behaviour.     

Pricing credit default swaps with bilateral value adjustments

The aim of this work is to examine the influence of mutual fund flows on market timing models, thus providing unbiased timing coefficients. However, as this control is motivated by the existing relationship between mutual fund flows and market returns, we first analyse this relationship, considering previous and concurrent market returns. However, unlike existing studies, we do not consider future returns, since investors do not observe them when making investment decisions. Thus, we feel it is more appropriate to consider expected market returns. We construct the expected market returns by running an AR model and considering the available public information about the macro-economy. The relationship is analysed under different conditions, considering a variety of different mutual fund flow measures, and considering (or not) the sensitivity of mutual fund flows to positive and negative market returns. We also propose different controls for the traditional timing models, and we further analyse the reverse-causality problem. The study demonstrates, for a sample of equity mutual funds registered for sale in the USA, that the poor market timing performance found in this and other prior studies can be completely attributed to the perverse effect of the fund managers’ liquidity service.     

The moderating effects of hierarchy and control systems on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance

This study investigates the moderating effects that an organizational unit's hierarchical level and control systems have on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance. Using moderated regression analyses, we find a three-way interactive effect on performance between hierarchical levels, types of control systems, and budgetary participation. Further analyses reveal that at the high level of a hierarchy, budgetary participation has a positive relationship with performance and this relationship is stronger for organizational units that use output control than for those that use behavior control. By contrast, at the low level of a hierarchy, budgetary participation has a negative relationship with performance and this relationship is stronger for organizational units that use output control than for those that use behavior control.     

Analysis of the complexity of writing used in accounting textbooks over the past 100 years

The Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) and the large international accounting firms have all emphasized that accountants must be able to work with unstructured problems to be successful in today's business environment. Measures of this ability are essential if accounting educators are to assist students in improving their abilities to work with unstructured problems. However, there appears to be no measure that has been widely accepted as being the ‘best’ measure. This study considers whether two linguistic performance measures might be usable by accounting educators for this purpose. We use data obtained from a student assessment centre to consider two measures of linguistic performance, idea density and grammatical complexity. We incorporate five criteria in deciding whether these measures could be usable: (1) whether the measures are related to students' performance when solving unstructured problems; (2) whether the measures distinguish between the ability to work with unstructured compared to structured problems; (3) ease of obtaining necessary information from students; (4) ease of scoring, and (5) robustness of the findings after considering other variables that may have an effect. Our results indicate that subjects' linguistic performance as measured by idea density meets these five criteria. However, grammatical complexity is not related to performance for either type of problem. These results were found even after controlling for the effects of other variables such as grade point average (GPA), experience, and personality variables. Because the measures can be obtained from virtually any written work produced by students, the information to be scored is relatively easy to obtain. Scoring is also relatively straightforward.     

The effects of task outcome feedback and broad domain evaluation experience on the use of unique scorecard measures

Prior research has found that division evaluators using balanced scorecards in a performance evaluation process relied almost solely on common measures and virtually ignored unique measures. Other studies have found certain situations in which measures that are unique to a particular division are not completely ignored. However, no study has addressed whether outcome feedback over a period of time can motivate evaluators to rely more on unique measures that are predictive of future financial results. Our study involving executives with varying levels of prior evaluation experience examines two factors that may lead to increased use of unique measures: task outcome feedback and broad domain evaluation experience. Results provide evidence of increased reliance on unique measures after multiple periods as evaluators receive outcome feedback showing the predictive value of these unique measures. Further, results indicate that unique measures are used more over time when the prior evaluation experience of the participants is relatively high.     

Conditionally fitted Sharpe performance with an application to hedge fund rating

We define a battery of Sharpe performance measures, which differ by the information taken into account in their computation, but also by the potential use of the fund by the investor. Four advantages of Sharpe performance based rating are especially important for the investor. First, the performance measures correspond to the standard measures used for mutual funds and known by retail investors. Second, we can compare the numerical results, even if they are obtained with different assumptions. Third, the rankings are based on regression analysis and easy to compute. Fourth, we can easily use these performance measures in the design of an optimal basket of hedge funds. Finally, we can use the performance measures to partition the set of funds into homogenous segments.     

Environmental turbulence and the functions of budgetary control

While budgetary control is a potentially significant tool when the economic environment is unstable and unpredictable, the analysis of its development demonstrates that its use has dramatically expanded over the time since companies have been able to run forecasts. In order to help them develop budgetary control, companies have implemented strategies that have reduced risks and hence improved their ability to make accurate forecasts. Such strategies have taken many forms and varied from one firm to another. They materialized as various types of agreement, including cartels, through strategies to effect market leadership, or via policies of nationalization. In those companies where the environment was stable and risk limitation was not important, budgetary control could be used for various internal purposes. In this respect, the analysis of the management of companies helps us to identify the purposes for which budgetary control is utilized. It is found that budgetary control allows for greater expansion opportunities and provides the means to strengthen the control of management within major companies. Our observations highlight a contradictory aspect of budgetary control: while it is relevant within an unstable environment, it performs best in an environment which is highly managed.     

A horse race of models and estimation methods for predicting bankruptcy

We use a comprehensive set of performance metrics to analyze the improvement in the classification power and prediction accuracy of various bankruptcy prediction models after adding governance variables and/or varying the estimation method used. In a sample covering bankruptcies of U.S. public firms in the period 2000 to 2015, we find that the addition of governance variables significantly improves the performance of all bankruptcy prediction models. We also find that the additional explanatory power provided by governance measures improves the further the firm is from bankruptcy, which suggests that governance variables may provide earlier and more accurate warning of the firm's bankruptcy potential. Our findings show that the performance of any bankruptcy prediction model is significantly affected by the estimation method used. We find that regardless of the bankruptcy model, hazard analysis provides the best classification and out-of-sample forecast accuracy among the parametric methods. Furthermore, non-parametric methods such as neural networks, data envelopment analysis or classification and regression trees appear to provide comparable and sometimes superior classification accuracy to hazard analysis. Lastly, we use the dynamic panel generalized methods of moments model to address concerns raised in prior studies about the susceptibility of similar studies to endogeneity issues and find that our findings continue to hold.     

Performance persistence of closed-end funds

Studies of performance persistence of closed-end funds (CEFs) use two measures of persistence; autocorrelation and rank correlation of performance. The autocorrelation measure offers limited information because it cannot separate persistence relative to the market and to the industry. The rank correlation measure is generally applied to two periods, disregarding multi-period persistence. We investigate performance persistence of CEFs in terms of both market price return and net asset value return using contingency tables and multiple regression models. Jensen’s alpha and the Sharpe ratio are used as measures of risk-adjusted performance. We test three hypotheses: (i) CEFs performing better than the industry median will do so persistently, (ii) CEFs outperform the market persistently; and (iii) performance persistence can be partly explained by dividend yield. The findings are fivefold. First, the number of persistent years varies with the models used to calculate risk-adjusted performance. Second, with 4-index unconditional beta fixed variance model, CEFs persistently beat their industry for six out of 10 years in terms of both market price return and net asset value return. Third, with a 4-index unconditional beta fixed variance model, we find performance persistence relative to market for 6 and 7 years, out of the 10 years considered, in terms of market price return and net asset value return, respectively. Fourth, the disaggregate sample tests show that performance of municipal bond funds is more persistent than equity funds and taxable bond funds. Fifth, dividend patterns can partially explain persistence with liquidity as control.