Casemix Management in a New Zealand Hospital: Rationalisation and Resistance

This paper discusses the use of a 'casemix' information system to rationalise and scrutinise clinical activity in a corporatised New Zealand hospital. The implementation of the casemix system was part of a management strategy to influence clinician behaviour by making visible the financial implications of clinical decisions. Clinicians were able to resist the application of this comparative surveillance system by challenging or diverting the information produced.     

The Cascade of Fear: Policy Implementation and Financial Management Reform in the European Commission

The complexity of managing European Union (EU) spending programmes is the subject of much comment but relatively little academic analysis. Using a multi‐disciplinary analytical framework drawn from the management, policy and social sciences, this fieldwork‐based case study examines the reform of financial management within the European Commission. In constructing an agent focussed narrative of a specific reform episode, it contributes to a growing literature on public management reform analysed from this perspective and also to the lightly developed field of EU financial management.     

政府部门预算支出绩效管理改革框架分析

政府部门预算支出绩效管理改革框架分析是以公共部门理性人和制度契约假设为理论研究前提,突出组织实施系统构建、部门预算分析员设置、绩效信息审计约束等制度体系创新,同时配合以必要的技术手段,使政府部门能够在科学的制度保障下,在产出、效率、结果和生产率四种不同层次绩效评定间进行理性选择,并最终为建立适应市场经济需要,以提高支出绩效水平为根本目标的现代政府部门预算支出管理模式奠定基础。     

Management control systems in inter-agency collaboration: a case study

This paper explores the nature of management control systems in an inter-agency collaborative arrangement. A Western Australian case study (the PECN project) highlights strategies for successfully providing services to people with highly complex needs, which could not be achieved by siloed attempts by individual agencies. This paper makes a significant contribution by providing evidence on multiple control systems which combine both horizontal and vertical controls to achieve better outcomes. The authors found strong evidence of trust-based relationships among the agencies which appeared to have a positive effect on inter-agency working.     

The Real and Accrual-based Earnings Management Behaviors: Evidence from the Split Share Structure Reform in China

This paper investigates the earnings management activities in Chinese listed firms and the impact of the split share structure reform (SSSREF). We demonstrate that Chinese listed firms exhibited a long-term positive relationship between real and accrual-based earnings management activities over the 2002–2011 period. This reflects the environment of weak investor protection and lack of effective corporate governance in China. Our results also indicate that the SSSREF in China has not fundamentally improved firms' quality of financial information. This may be because ownership concentration remains high. However, it is of interest that the reform has created an incentive alignment effect exogenously. We find that firms' use of discretionary accruals was constrained, and they have consequently shifted to less detectable and under-scrutinized real earnings activities after the reform. This shift is similar to that seen with the direct regulatory changes in accounting reporting rules on firms' earnings behaviors in developed countries where the investor protection environment is strong. We suggest that firms' shifting between the accrual and real-based earnings methods is an overlooked area for investors to consider in the emerging market context, and may require the attention of regulators.     

Management Control Systems in NPOs: An Italian Survey

This paper tries to point out the role and the characteristics of management control systems (MCS) in organisations whose main goal is not for profit (NPO). Are MCS a necessary or (at least) a useful tool to manage these organisations? How have they to fit the typical nature of NPOs? Are the traditional control processes (planning, programming, budgeting, reporting) effective in NPOs? What kind of information do they use? What is the 'state of the art' and the degree of sophistication of MCS in NPOs? To address these issues, a survey has been conducted among 76 Italian NPO top managers, and the results are reported in this paper.     

IPSAS in Latin America: innovation,isomorphism or rhetoric?

ABSTRACT

Over the past 30 years, many initiatives have been undertaken to reform public administration in Latin American countries. Among other aspects, the reforms seek to improve the transparency and accountability of the public sector by modernizing public accounting and budgeting systems. The adoption of accrual accounting in the public sector has been seen as an innovation and it is driven by the implementation of IPSAS. This paper sheds light on the process of reform of public financial management in Latin America and the state of implementation of IPSAS. The paper analyses the driving forces for adopting or adapting IPSAS, as well as the obstacles and challenges in doing so.     

Accounting and the Development of Management Control in the Cultural Sphere: The Case of the Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale, founded in 1893, is situated within the cultural sphere, covering work ranging from art, architecture, dance, music and theatre to cinema (the world-known 'Venice Film Festival'). Throughout its life, the Biennale has experienced very troubled times, being involved in controversy, as well as undergoing significant legal and organisational changes, in particular, the transition from a public body to private one at the end of the 1990s. Dramatic changes have also affected the accounting data collection system utilised by the Biennale, which has developed from a system concerned with providing information for fulfilling specific legal provisions to one comprising a subsystem which has progressively evolved to aid the corporate strategic decision-making process.

This paper critically and systematically reviews the evolution of the accounting system and management control within the Biennale. It will examine how new information requirements over the years have driven the information-accounting system to change and, in turn, how the system has been influenced by the historical setting within which the decisions were made. We also provide some thoughts regarding the future development of such systems.     

论中国政府预算管理改革的优先序--兼议绩效预算在中国的适用性

绩效预算是西方国家实践证明了的先进的预算管理模式。但绩效预算的实行需要社会相关制度环境的配套。中国目前尚不具备实施绩效预算的基本条件。中国预算制度改革的当务之急是建立控制取向的预算管理模式,解决财务合规性问题。待相关条件具备后,再选择绩效预算管理模式。     

Assessing the Social Impact of Corporations: Evidence from Management Control Interventions in the Supply Chain to Increase Worker Wages

This study examines an initiative by a large multinational garment retailer (H&M Group) to increase wages at its supplier factories by intervening in their wage-related management practices. Difference-in-differences estimates based on eight years of data from over 1,800 factories show that the interventions were associated with an average real wage increase of approximately 5% by the third year of implementation. Our estimates suggest that the intervention-associated wage increase was many times greater than if the retailer's cost for the program was instead paid directly to affected workers. We find that the wage effects were driven by factories with relatively poorer supplier ratings and do not find significantly different wage effects depending on the presence of trade unions. We also examine several nonwage outcomes such as factory orders, supplier price competitiveness, overtime pay, and total employment to probe the mechanisms underlying the wage increases. These findings offer new evidence on corporate social impact in global supply chains.     

Financial Accounting Reform in Flemish Universities: An Empirical Study of the Implementation

This paper presents an overview of the current accounting reform towards accrual accounting in Flemish universities. The focus is on the concept of the reformed accounting legislation and on the empirical outcomes of implementation based on an examination of annual accounts. An important issue is the unsuccessful mixing up of the traditional budgetary accounting system with the new financial accounting system. The empirical examination reveals a lot of accounting problems in the area of the reformed regulations as well as in the accounting practices and that the comparability of the annual reporting is not guaranteed even after years of experience.     

公共管理类专业人才培养模式存在的问题及改革路径分析——新情境下学生就业前景分析视角

公共管理类专业的人才培养模式及与之相关的学生就业问题,直接影响着该学科及专业的持续生存和进一步发展。本文认为我校现行公共管理类专业人才培养模式存在的主要问题是教育提供者的人才培养预期、学生的从业发展意愿和社会需求主体吸纳毕业生的条件要求三者之间不相调适,并从中国现实情境下学生就业前景分析视角提出了解决此类问题的我校公共管理类专业人才培养模式改革的基本思路和路径。     

Management accounting practices in Europe: a perspective from the States

I provide a perspective from the States on four questions primarily based on information inManagement Accounting: European Perspectivesedited by Al Bhimani (1996). First, seven factors are identified as having shaped management accounting practices in European nations—academics, education, government, professional associations, consultants, technology, and the inter-nation transfer of information. Second, evidence supports the view that, across European nations, more changes are occurring in management accounting practice terminology and techniques than in the purposes and styles of using management accounting techniques. Third, evidence indicates that there is convergence across European nations in management accounting practices, especially in terminology and techniques, but less convergence in the purposes and styles of using techniques. Fourth, management accounting practices in European nations, particularly terminology and techniques, is converging on a global management accounting practice model. I propose that management accounting practices—particularly terminology and techniques—is converging across nations (at least for those firms that are affected by the global economy)anddiverging across industries both within and between nations.     

Budgetary Stewardship,Innovation and Working Culture: Identifying the Missing Ingredient in English and Welsh Local Authorities’ Recipes for Austerity Management

Drawing on fieldwork with 70 local authorities in England and Wales, this paper builds on previous studies of austerity management by highlighting the importance of organisational cultures to achieving strategic objectives. It finds that, in line with their prevailing ‘belief system’ of budgetary stewardship, local authorities in both countries are holding down input costs to deal with austerity. However, the scale of funding cuts means that this strategy is unlikely to be successful over the longer term. Instead, they need greater freedom to generate revenue, in order to facilitate innovation and develop more sustainable business practices and service models.     

Management accounting texts in New Zealand: the need for a paradigm shift

This paper questions the dominance in textbooks of a management accounting grounded largely in neo-classical economics and scientific management. In New Zealand the most popular textbook used in introductory management accounting courses is Horngren and Foster's Cost Accounting - a Managerial Emphasis.The current seventh edition of the text, although extensively used, is not regarded as adequate for the purpose by many New Zealand educators. The text is seen as being rootd firmly in the traditional understandings of the role of management accounting which are subject to increasing challenge. Other popular texts which are influencing the content of management accounting courses also are reviewed. We conclude that, despite much criticism over many years, modern textbooks have failed to evolve; change is overdue.     

Cost Management in the Public Sector: Legitimation Behaviour and Relevant Decision Making

This paper presents a case study where a cost management project was implemented using action research methodology at two Finnish organizations working in a purchaser–provider relationship. While the study demonstrates the efficiency‐seeking motive behind the implementation of the management accounting tool, subsequent investigation found that tool remained partly unused despite showing its potential relevance for practice through user involvement. However, this does not necessarily signal legitimation‐seeking behaviour. Reasons for not using some parts of the tool point to an overestimation of the functionality and an underestimation of implementation problems during the design process. The case also highlights the relationship between relevance and decision making.     

The use of performance measurement systems in the public sector: Effects on performance

We study the use of performance measurement systems in the public sector. We hypothesize that the way in which these systems are being used affects organizational performance, and that these performance effects depend on contractibility. Contractibility encompasses clarity of goals, the ability to select undistorted performance metrics, and the degree to which managers know and control the transformation process. We expect that public sector organizations that use their performance measurement systems in ways that match the characteristics of their activities outperform those that fail to achieve such fit. We test our hypotheses using survey data from 101 public sector organizations. Our findings indicate that contractibility moderates the relationship between the incentive-oriented use of the performance measurement system and performance. Using the performance measurement system for incentive purposes negatively influences organizational performance, but this effect is less severe when contractibility is high. We also find that an exploratory use of the performance measurement system tends to enhance performance; this positive effect is independent of the level of contractibility. The effectiveness of the introduction of performance measurement systems in public sector organizations thus depends both on contractibility and on how the system is being used by managers. These findings have important implications, both for practice and for public policy.     

改革退休年龄的时机和方案设计——基于陕西省基本养老保险省级统筹运行效果分析

本文从陕西省养老保险省级统筹基金的运行效果入手,说明在现行制度下未来养老基金缺口较大。通过设计改革退休方案,结合未来陕西的退休人口数量,运用定量的分析手法来论证改革退休年龄方案的可行性,希望通过推迟参保职工的退休年龄来增加缴费人数、降低在职人口抚养老年人口的系数,这种减少未来养老金支付压力的做法主要是依靠退休年龄的延迟从而达到纵向的扩面,实现调整,通过循序渐进的方式来逐年缓解基金缺口。     

Management accounting change in small technology companies: towards a mathematical model of the technology firm

The primary purpose of this paper is to explain management accounting (MA) change in 93 small Finnish technology firms in terms of their organizational characteristics and motivation patterns. Factor analysis identifies four motivation patterns among the companies. Hence four types of companies emerge called ‘change-oriented’, ‘stable and conservative’, ‘performance-contented’ and ‘discontent resourceless’ organizations. A mathematical model of the technology firm as an adaptive organism with a certain probability to survive, is constructed to obtain expectations for the differences in MA change between the identified types. The model shows that the MA systems (MASs), which help management in large organizations to identify directions for future action (for example, short-term budgeting) may be ineffective in small technology companies. The probability of the company’s survival is sensitive to the intensity of competition and cost efficiency. In an environment where an identified, innovative project cannot be undertaken with certainty, the length of the strategic planning period has a limited optimum level. Moreover, the four types of companies examined have significantly different motivation levels to change their MASs. The change-oriented company must improve its MASs remarkably to compensate for the large negative effect, especially, of high competition, whereas the stable and conservative company has little or no pressure for improvements in its MASs. The performance-contented company has no real motivation to change its MASs because there is no competition. But the discontent resourceless company, which functions in an atmosphere of high competition with shorter customer relationships, is compelled by its environment to adapt its MASs although it has, otherwise, low motivation for change and is acutely resource constrained. These expectations were supported by correlation and regression analyses applied to explore the relationship of the four types to MA change.     

Accounting and Competitive Tendering in UK Local Government: An Institutionalist Interpretation of the New Public Management

The paper applies institutional theory to analyse the changing role of accounting and contracting in UK local government as the compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) regime was extended to white-collar activities such as housing management, finance, legal services and information technology. Employing an organizational fields model, accounting changes were seen to be influenced by a combination of legal coercion, normative and competitive forces, the resistance and manipulation of the large local authorities together with the facticity of the new accounting and contracting regimes. The theoretical framework is applied to field-work carried out in a large metropolitan authority in the north of England where CCT methodologies directly affected housing management but not other services such as finance. Although resisting CCT for finance, the authority subsequently introduced a radical scheme of voluntary competitive tendering for selected finance processes. The paper examines how accounting and contracting may be adapted to emerging trends in the New Public Management associated with Best Value policies.