A Masterclass in interdisciplinarity: Research into practice in training the next generation of interdisciplinary researchers

This paper draws on evaluations of a number of interdisciplinary studentship and fellowship schemes to discuss some of the challenges of developing interdisciplinary research skills in early career researchers. It describes efforts to support such capacity-building in the UK through a series of Interdisciplinary Masterclasses which used workshop-based elicitation techniques to develop smallscale studies in order to synthesise experiential knowledge and foster mutual learning. This has enabled us to build important bridges between research and practice, thereby supporting and developing the interdisciplinary careers of early- and mid-career researchers, as well as research managers and leaders. This paper describes an approach to interdisciplinary capacity-building derived from actual practice. Based on learning from these activities, we offer some suggestions for improved supervision and mentoring of interdisciplinary graduate students and young postdoctoral researchers. If we are to develop effective, future interdisciplinary capacity, we advocate that supervisors/mentors need to focus, not just on the research, but on the particular forms of professional support and mentoring required by inexperienced interdisciplinary researchers in terms of career guidance, the development of publications strategies and network building.     

Benefits management beyond the adding machine: using integrated, worker-specific analysis

Modern employee benefits practices have not taken advantage of modern information technology largely because of an implicit reliance on "adding machine" approaches to health care benefits. This article argues that an integrated, worker-specific approach to benefits management is needed in a modern benefits environment. Quantitative illustrations of the integrated approach are provided in terms of a benefits Pareto analysis. The empirical results presented suggest that human resource/risk management practices can have a significant impact on worker benefits costs.     

Behavioural normative economics: foundations,approaches and trends

This article summarises the theoretical foundations, main approaches and current trends in the field of behavioural normative economics. It identifies bounded rationality and bounded willpower as the two core concepts that have motivated the field. Since the concepts allow for individual preferences to be context-dependent and time-inconsistent, they pose an intricate problem for standard welfare analysis. The article discusses the ways in which two prominent approaches – the preference purification approach and the opportunity approach – have tackled the problem. It argues that shortcomings in each of these approaches motivate an agency-centric perspective. The article presents two concrete policy proposals of the agency-centric approach. While this approach is promising, the article argues for pluralism in normative economics since an exclusive focus on agency can likely not do justice to the multifarious concerns that citizens hold.     

Engagement Research in Public Sector Accounting

Abstract: This paper argues for the value of engagement research in order to encourage public sector accounting academics to take such an approach. Given that there is little evidence about the practice or value of engagement research, however, we set out to explore, evaluate and establish the lessons learned from a specific episode of engagement research. In outlining a project carried out between 2003 and 2005 by Amanda Ball and Vernon Soare, which sought to promote sustainability reporting in public service organisations, we argue that this form of research may positively impact government, public policy, professional accounting institutions and others involved in regulating or otherwise standardising public sector accounting practice.     

Development costs and funding of extra care housing

This article reports findings from an indepth evaluation of extra care housing (a form of assisted living positioned between sheltered housing and care homes) for older people in the UK. The information presented is a significant improvement on that previously in the public domain. The authors conclude that a careful reappraisal of cost components and a more integrated approach across housing, health and social care is required, particularly in a climate of public funding cuts.     

Transdisciplinarity and its challenges: the case of urban studies

This article clarifies the distinction between unidisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research about environment and human behaviour. One objective is to consider the challenges and opportunities transdisciplinarity offers in terms of the emergence of new ideas for theory and application. The costs and benefits, as well as the advantages and constraints of a transdisciplinary approach in the field of urban studies are then considered, and compared with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. First, a brief history of the concept of transdisciplinarity is presented. Second, the scientific context (the unit of analysis, application and theoretical goal) is identified. Third, conclusions are drawn about the perspective that researchers need to adopt if a transdisciplinary approach is to be effective (looking for coherence versus paradoxes). All of these reflections on transdisciplinarity are supported by the research experience gained in studies on Canadian (Quebec) and French (Strasbourg) suburbs. The paper focuses on the representation and perception of urban space.     

Other lives in accounting: Critical reflections on oral history methodology in action

This paper critically evaluates the nature and practice of oral history as a narrative research methodology in accounting. Oral history allows individual subjectivity and experience to be central to the empirical data. The paper argues that such an approach allows the voices of those who have arguably been ignored, marginalised or silenced within particular contexts to be heard. Drawing on feminist approaches to research methodology, it also evaluates and problematises some of the ethical issues within an oral history methodology, arising from the interpretation and ownership of research, disclosure and reciprocity within the research relationship, and the use of friends and strangers as research participants. The paper concludes that, when approached critically and reflexively, oral history provides a sound epistemological and methodological base for understanding the meaning of events and experience to individuals, and the impact of accounting institutions and practice on their lives.     

Housing Policy in Developing Countries: Conjectures and Refutations

This article discusses housing policy in developing economies.It examines recent research findings in light of earlier argumentsas to the benefits of more market-oriented approaches. It alsolooks at whether the recommendations of earlier work have beenrefuted or developed in subsequent analyses and policy measures.In particular, it reviews the empirical analysis of the effectsof policy on housing supply, the richer understanding of theeffects that land market regulations have on housing affordabilityand the functioning of urban areas, and the alleged mysteriouseffects that researchers claim effective property rights haveon housing policy and on development more generally. It alsoexamines the effects of the increased emphasis on communityparticipation, showing how it helps to more fully reconcilethe incentives faced by beneficiaries of housing policy anddonors. Finally, it examines recent literature on the welfareeffects of rent control. The article shows that some of theconjectures as to the likely benefits of more market-based policyhave been refuted, but large welfare gains for poor people canstill be realized by adapting this approach. Furthermore, thisapproach appears to be gaining ground as the consensus approachto effective housing policy.      

Mapping tax compliance: Assemblages,distributed action and practices: A new way of doing tax research

Tax compliance denotes the act of reporting and paying taxes in accordance with the tax laws. Current social science scholarship on tax compliance can almost entirely be divided into behavioural psychology analyses and critical tax studies. This article, which presents two cases of how tax compliance is constructed, challenges the explanatory reaches of today's social science approaches, arguing that an alternative approach to understanding tax compliance is worthwhile exploring. This other choice of approach, inspired by actor–network theory (ANT), adopts a more practice-oriented focus that studies tax compliance where it takes place as well as what it is made of. Consequently, this article argues that tax compliance is a socio-material assemblage and that complying is a distributed action. The article concludes by highlighting how an ANT approach contributes to the further theoretical development of social science studies of taxation.     

Should Policy-Based Lending Still Involve Conditionality?

Traditional conditionality in policy-based lending is oftencriticized as being ineffective, intrusive, and corrosive. Disillusionmenthas led to proposals to replace ex ante conditionality withex post conditionality and to focus on ownership, selectivity,and partnerships. This article reviews experiences with conditionalityin the World Bank's policy-based lending and explores the benefitsand drawbacks of various approaches. It argues that conditionalityshould play a central role in policy-based lending—butcannot substitute for country ownership and good policies. Moreover,an exclusive focus on conditionality based on ex ante commitmentsor ex post results may not be practical or useful for the Bank'spolicy-based lending. Thus a key recommendation is to use conditionalityselectively, tailored to country circumstances. Indeed, an eclecticmix of traditional and new approaches is already being used—withprogrammatic policy-based lending offering a particularly promisingway to reconcile the debate between the traditional ex anteapproach and the aspirations of a results-based approach toconditionality.      

Performance Management Systems in the Public Housing Sector: Dissemination to Diffusion

This article examines a case study of the implementation of a performance management system in public sector housing in Fiji. The aim is to explore and provide interpretations of why performance management and measures were introduced and implemented and reveal if the indicators were appropriate to serve the strategies of the organisation. The article draws on diffusion of innovation theory and explores the effectiveness of performance management. The research approach is qualitative in nature and uses a case study strategy. Interviews and documentary evidence provide the empirical basis for the research. The organisation has established formal objectives at both institutional and departmental levels and has a performance management system at both levels. With growing pressure for commercialisation from donor agencies, the accounting and managerial practices seem to contradict the organisation's original purpose to provide housing needs for the poor. The case study extends the literature on performance management in developing countries and illuminates the deficiencies within the performance management system. This study has implications for practitioners and researchers as it promotes a better understanding of a new public management practice technique which, in this case, was inadequate to satisfy local housing needs.     

Information-sharing in health and social care: Lessons from a socio-technical initiative

Advances in information technology have led to new and innovative approaches in data-sharing, analysis, interpretation, and the potential for real-time responses to changes in health and social care status. However, health and social care information is not only complex but often socially and personally sensitive in ways that do not apply in other domains. This requires adoption of a tailored interdisciplinary (social, ethical, legal, technical and data science) and intersectoral (health and social care, academic and commercial institutions and citizens) approach to technology development. The authors present some important lessons to date from ongoing development of an innovative infrastructure for sharing health and social care data.     

Will employee choice and defined contribution health plans salvage the embattled managed care system?

Defined contribution or consumer-driven health approaches will shift to employees not just the risks and rewards of the managed care system, but also decisions that will determine whether that system can survive. This article reviews the current state of the employer-sponsored health care system, describes defined contribution and consumer-driven health plan concepts, and outlines the approaches and steps employers can take to implement them. The author argues that, if fully implemented, such approaches could salvage the embattled managed care system by giving employees a financial stake in controlling medical costs while educating them to wisely take control of health plan spending decisions.     

Two-earner households and housing demand: The effect of the wife's occupational choice

This article analyzes the impact of the occupational choice of married women in two-earner households on the level of housing expenditures. In recent years married women have chosen professional and managerial occupations with increasing frequency. Because entry and exit from such occupations is costly, households will tend to view the incremental income as permanent. To analyze the housing market impact of this trend, a housing expenditure function is estimated using a national data set for the 1979 to 1987 period. The results indicate that households in which the wife is employed in a professional or managerial occupation spend considerably more on housing for given levels of current income. Furthermore, the effect is most pronounced among move-up homebuyers. To the extent that recent trends in female occupational choice continue, the impact on the housing market may be substantial.     

保险人才培养模式创新策略探究

本文从保险人才需求的新变化入手,分析了现行的高等保险教育不能满足我国保险业发展需要的原因,提出对复合型人才和专业型人才进行差异化培养,引入校企互为基地+设立专业研究中心的高等院校与保险业界合作模式等对策,从而创新保险教育,突破人才培育瓶颈,提升中国保险业的核心竞争力。     

What have we learned from a decade of empirical research on growth? Growth Empirics and Reality

This article questions current empirical practice in the studyof growth. It argues that much of the modern empirical growthliterature is based on assumptions about regressors, residuals,and parameters that are implausible from the perspective ofboth economic theory and the historical experiences of the countriesunder study. Many of these problems, it argues, are forms ofviolations of an exchangeability assumption that implicitlyunderlies standard growth exercises. The article shows thatthese implausible assumptions can be relaxed by allowing foruncertainty in model specification. Model uncertainty consistsof two types: theory uncertainty, which relates to which growthdeterminants should be included in a model; and heterogeneityuncertainty, which relates to which observations in a data setconstitute draw from the same statistical model. The articleproposes ways to account for both theory and heterogeneity uncertainty.Finally, using an explicit decision-theoretic framework, theauthors describe how one can engage in policy-relevant empiricalanalysis.     

Back to the Future: The Broadening Accounting Trajectory

Contemporary accounting practice has shown signs of a broadening scope of activities being undertaken both from within and as a service provided to organizations. Based upon a historiographic linking of past and present, this paper examines the past 100 years of broadening professional practice in the discipline as a basis for offering a presentist examination and critique of contemporary accounting education and research opportunities. The scope of what constitutes accounting work is found to have been expanding for over 100 years, becoming increasingly at variance with accountants’ traditional beancounter image. Recent professional accounting association investigations reveal an array of contemporary environmental factors that have accelerated this broadening of the profession’s scope into financial planning, assurance services, strategic, risk, knowledge and change management, and management advisory services. This has called for an expanded accounting skills base which has gained momentum towards the end of the 20^th century. The elements of some of these developing areas of professional work and their implications for contemporary and future education and research are examined.     

Competency‐Based Education and Assessment for the Accounting Profession: A Critical Review*

In recent years many professional accounting associations have become interested in establishing competency‐based professional requirements and assessment methods for certifying accounting professionals. A competency‐based approach to qualification specifies expectations in terms of outcomes, or what an individual can accomplish, rather than in terms of an individual's knowledge or capabilities. This idea has an obvious appeal to many practitioners and administrators of professional qualification programs. However, there is limited knowledge about competency‐based approaches in the accounting profession and among accounting academics, which is constraining discussion about the value of these approaches and about the strengths and weaknesses of the different competency models that have sprung up in various jurisdictions. In this paper we review and synthesize the literature on competency‐based approaches. We identify a number of theoretical benefits of competency‐based approaches. However, we also find many alternative definitions and philosophies underlying competency‐based approaches, and a variety of visions of how competencies should be determined and assessed. We note that there is limited evidence supporting many competency‐based approaches and we identify 14 research questions that could be used to help policy makers to more effectively address policy matters related to competency‐based education and assessment.     

审计职业怀疑研究综述

职业怀疑是注册会计师从事审计工作应有的重要素质,也是影响审计质量的重要因素,尤其是审计职业界日益强调在审计计划和执行工作中应该保持职业怀疑态度的今天,这一问题就显得更为重要。然而,国内外关于这一问题的研究都相对比较薄弱。本文首先对已有的关于审计职业怀疑内涵的不同观点进行了分析,按照时间脉络介绍和分析了在发展过程中逐步形成的四个审计职业怀疑模型,在此基础上从审计职业怀疑与审计人员的个体特征、审计职业怀疑与职业怀疑行为两个方面,梳理和评述了目前国外对审计职业怀疑的研究成果,最后结合上述研究成果和审计实践,指出了这一领域未来可能的研究方向,以期为我国审计职业怀疑的理论研究和实践活动提供借鉴和参考。     

The Construction of Residential Housing Price Indices: A Comparison of Repeat-Sales,Hedonic-Regression,and Hybrid Approaches

This article examines a number of hypotheses that underpin the repeat-sales and hedonic approaches to the construction of housing price indices, as well as the practical problems associated with the implementation of either approach. We also examine a hybrid procedure that combines elements of both the repeat-sales and hedonic-regression techniques. For our sample of individual home sales in Oakland and Fremont California over an 18-year period, repeat-sales methods are subject to sample selection bias; the maintained assumption of time constancy of implicit prices of housing attributes is violated; the repeat-sales estimator is extremely sensitive to influential observations; and the usual method used to correct for heteroskedasticity in repeat-sale housing returns is inappropriate in our sample. Hedonic techniques are better suited to contend with index number problems per se, as they can accommodate changing attribute prices over time. They also appear to give rise to more reliable estimates of price indices, as unusual observations have less effect on estimated price indices. Drawbacks of the hedonic approach include the usual concern with omitted attributes, and their effect on the estimated price index.