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.     

Interdisciplinarity and tax law: The case of legal autopoiesis

This paper critically evaluates interdisciplinary research in tax law. The strategy I follow runs at two levels of abstraction.First, I examine a concrete example of interdisciplinary research in taxation. More precisely, I examine Hikaka and Prebble's (2010) recent paper where, applying Luhmannian autopoietic theory to tax law, they make a series of claims about the productivity of their research strategy as well as the consistency and coherence of Luhmann's interdisciplinary framework. Whereas my analytical and conceptual critique of Hikaka and Prebble's paper stands on its own, it should also be read as revealing the obstacles that lurk behind interdisciplinary research in using such a complex and idiosyncratic theory as Luhmann's autopoietic account of law and society. Accordingly, my analysis shows how autopoietic theory can indeed prove useful for tax and accounting reform as well as to connect tax theory and notions of public interest.Second, I extrapolate from the analysis of Hikaka and Prebble's paper some general problems that current interdisciplinary tax research needs to give further consideration: (i) how to identify productive research questions and uses of interdisciplinary resources; (ii) the dubious added value of interdisciplinary research, given its tendency to adopt complex theoretical apparatuses in a cursory way with little comparison being made to existing research achievements; and (iii) the risk of using interdisciplinary research as an exercise of confirmatory investigation and/or an exercise of mere translation of one discipline's problems into another discipline's language.     

A rose by any other name? Transdisciplinarity in the context of UK research policy

This paper assesses developments in transdisciplinary research in the UK. While we support the thesis that transdisciplinarity is still not mainstream and is rarely supported per se by funders of research, this paper examines the extent to which UK research policy has embraced the concept of transdisciplinarity. Five empirical case studies provide data about the interrelationship between the interdisciplinary and impact or knowledge exchange aspirations of Research Council UK (RCUK) investments. We find evidence that, to an extent, UK research funding policy is achieving some elements of transdisciplinarity in practice, if not in name.Drawing on broader debates about the limitations of knowledge mobilisation and the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary research, we reflect on how the situation has changed since our original 2004 paper. The evidence suggests that the absence of the ‘transdisciplinary’ label is not necessarily impeding the framing of research funding schemes oriented towards societal issues. Nevertheless, several areas where capacity-building is required, including training for early career interdisciplinary researchers; improved research leadership skills; and the capacity to evaluate the quality of transdisciplinary processes and to learn from such evaluations, are identified.     

Being undisciplined: Transgressions and intersections in academia and beyond

This paper articulates a view of interdisciplinary derived from actual practice. Based on a distinction between different types of interdisciplinary temperament, the paper proposes five characteristic of ‘issue-driven interdisciplinarity’ in the sustainability field: being problem-based, integration, interactivity and emergence, reflexivity, and strong forms of collaboration and partnership. Each of these characteristics is illustrated by examples drawn from a series of interdisciplinary projects undertaken over the past decade. The paper concludes with some views on how best to institutionalize issue-driven interdisciplinarity in the dominantly disciplinary culture of universities.     

Linking international business theory to accounting history: implications of the international evolution of the state and the firm for accounting history research

Accounting is an interdisciplinary subject. We routinely draw insights and models from the base disciplines (e.g. economics, psychology etc.) as a starting point for research on accounting issues. As accounting researchers, and accounting historians in particular, explore the international dimensions of accounting it is appropriate, therefore, to look to the literature on international relations for insights. This paper provides examples of how we could use the literature on the nation-state and international enterprises to frame questions about international accounting history.     

Accounting logics, reconfiguration of ERP systems and the emergence of new accounting practices: A sociomaterial perspective

This paper extends our knowledge on how software-based accounting tools might work effectively within an organization. The empirical data that we focus on are events that unfolded following the introduction of a new ERP system at an Ivy League University. We describe a negotiation process that occurred after roll-out that resulted in a reconfiguration of the ERP to integrate some of the legacy functionalities that were familiar to organizational participants and which were considered by them to provide a more effective way to manage their finances. Our contribution to the literature is not only to show the importance of such post-roll-out modifications for creating a working information system, but also to extend previous accounts of non-linear accounting change processes by emphasizing how these modifications are dependent on the particular entanglement of users and technology (the sociomaterial assemblage) rather than either features of the technology or the agency of the humans involved. Moreover, our analysis of the case data suggests that management accounting in particular may not be easily captured in ERP packages, even where the technology architectures are supposedly designed for a particular industry. The case data also points to issues of affordability and the power of communities of practice as mediating the extent to which these familiar accounting logics may become integrated within the ERP system.     

Strategic organizational conditions for risks reduction and earnings management: A combined strategy and auditing paradigm

Business world is complex and fast changing. This paper brings strategy paradigms to the auditing domain in an attempt to advance existing understanding on the audit risk reduction and firms’ economic performance. Grounded in existing literatures, we establish some crucial convergence points between the external auditors’ audit processes and the firms’ strategic management agendas. A theoretical framework that embeds some proposed strategic organizational conditions, which align organizational internal and external effects for performance, and the theories of the firm is then presented. The literature review suggests that the integration of the audit processes and the organizational conditions is inherently beneficial to both auditors and firms. The routine from such integration can be a tacit knowledge asset or capability hard to be emulated. It shall reduce audit risks and sustain earnings performance. Hence, the practices and leveragabilities of such routine merit further managerial and research attention. We highlight at the end how our works can be tested in future research.     

Data-driven innovation in the social sector in Australasia—data ecosystems and interpretive communities

Much has been made of the potential for government and public agencies to address the challenges and problems they face through the more effective linkage, sharing and use of data. The authors review the opportunities and issues involved, with a particular focus on the social (including human) services sector, where some of the most challenging problems facing government exist and some of the most far-reaching and transformational changes might be achieved. Using recent developments in Australasia as illustration, the paper explores how different stakeholders see the opportunities and challenges involved and the issues and problems to be overcome.     

The construction of calculative expertise: The integration of corporate governance into investment analyses by sell-side financial analysts

This study analyses an emerging form of economic calculation in financial markets, namely, the integration of corporate governance into investment analyses undertaken by sell-side financial analysts. It examines how the expertise of these analysts in corporate governance integration is constructed, with particular attention to the calculative ideas and calculative devices through which it is achieved. Corporate governance integration is shaped by certain ‘calculative ideas’. These relate to ideas about the potential link between corporate governance and financial performance and the ideal of incorporating governance criteria into the investment process. This paper suggests that these calculative ideas have constituted the discursive conditions under which analysts sought to build their expertise in a new domain. The paper also shows that at a time when the quality of traditional sell-side research was scrutinised, the investment professional association and constituents of the investing public, through their arguments and discourses, constructed analysts as the ‘specialists’ having the imperative and credibility to perform corporate governance integration. Furthermore, as the paper demonstrates, analysts have sought to ‘theorize’ calculative ideas. They have normatively deployed certain ‘calculative devices’ to make corporate governance integration operational. Corporate governance integration is conducted in ways that make it receptive to the claims of a particular form of expertise, that of analysts. This paper suggests that it is through the assemblage formed over time between the ideas and aspirations on the one hand, and the tools and devices on the other, that the expertise of analysts in corporate governance integration has gradually been formed.     

Scenarios and design: Scoping the dialogue space

This paper examines the intersections between two futures-oriented domains of practice and research: scenario planning and design. Both are practice-led, with uneasy but productive relationships with theorizing. Exploring their relations offers ways to address challenges faced by interdisciplinary management research, which struggles to connect research and practice. The authors describe how they brought the two fields together. We outline how we convened, designed and facilitated the fourth Oxford Futures Forum held in May 2014. This event brought together leading practitioners and researchers in a collective inquiry based on self-organizing, generative and reflexive making and dialogue. How participants engaged, from responding to the invitation to take part, as well as their practical and discursive encounters with one another during the event, threw up similarities and differences between the two fields. We present nine themes that capture the links and spaces between design and scenarios, yet suggest that they are not a straightforward overlap or a simple relationship, but rather a range of interactions between the fields, including feeding in, bridging, tension and repulsion. The paper's contribution is to suggest how scenario planning can engage with design, resulting in new opportunities for research and projects. These modes of engagement provide a framing to explore dialogues between other management disciplines.     

Not all emerging markets are the same: A classification approach with correlation based networks

Using dynamic conditional correlations and network theory, this study brings a novel interdisciplinary framework to define the integration and segmentation of emerging countries. The individual EMBI+ spreads of 13 emerging countries from January 2003 to December 2013 are used to compare their interaction structure before (phase 1) and after (phase 2) the global financial crisis. Accordingly, the unweighted average of dynamic conditional correlations between cross country bond returns significantly increases in phase 2. At first glance, the increased co-movement degree suggests an integration of the sample countries after the crisis. However, using correlation based stable networks, we show that this is not enough to make such a strong conclusion. In particular, we reveal that the increased average correlation is more likely to be caused by clusters of countries that exhibit high within-cluster co-movement but not between-cluster co-movement. Potential reasons for the post-crisis segmentation and important implications for international investors and policymakers are discussed.     

Political crises and the stock market integration of emerging markets

This paper investigates the role of political crises in explaining the degree of stock market integration in emerging markets over the period 1991-2006. Using the International Crisis Behavior database, which contains detailed information on political crises around the world, and employing data on more than 15,500 firms, we assess whether political crises affect stock market integration in 19 emerging markets in South and East Asia, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe. We conclude that crises with certain characteristics generally reduce the level of stock market integration in these regions. In particular, the beginning of a political crisis, its severity, the involvement of the US in the conflict, and the number of parties involved in a crisis all have impacts on the level of stock market integration in these markets.     

Deadlines and software: disentangling local government accounting reforms in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This paper shows how ongoing accounting reforms in Brazilian local governments were affected by a shift from a universal to a gradual implementation approach. Deadlines being postponed led to a decrease in local governments’ willingness to reform. This effect varied according whether the accountants involved depended on commercial software to operate a particular accounting policy. An important finding from this research was that software providers are to some extent setting the IPSAS implementation agenda in Brazil.     

基于风险管理的国有资本经营预算制度的思考

我国在建立健全国有资本经营预算制度方面进行了一系列的探索和创新性实践,但风险管理仍是我国企业管理中较为薄弱的环节,阻碍了国有资本经营预算制度的进一步有效实施。本文在概述风险管理理念的基础上,阐述了国有资本经营预算制度的内涵,分析了风险管理与国有资本经营预算的有效融合,并对有效构建基于风险管理的国有资本经营预算制度进行了思考。     

Experimental research in financial accounting

This paper uses recent experimental studies of financial accounting to illustrate our view of how such experiments can be conducted successfully. Rather than provide an exhaustive review of the literature, we focus on how particular examples illustrate successful use of experiments to determine how, when and (ultimately) why important features of financial accounting settings influence behavior. We first describe how changes in views of market efficiency, reliance on the experimentalist’s comparative advantage, new theories, and a focus on key institutional features have allowed researchers to overcome the criticisms of earlier financial accounting experiments. We then describe how specific streams of experimental financial accounting research have addressed questions about financial communication between managers, auditors, information intermediaries, and investors, and indicate how future research can extend those streams. We focus particularly on (1) how managers and auditors report information; (2) how users of financial information interpret those reports; (3) how individual decisions affect market behavior; and (4) how strategic interactions between information reporters and users can affect market outcomes. Our examples include and integrate experiments that fall into both the “behavioral” and “experimental economics” literatures in accounting. Finally, we discuss how experiments can be designed to be both effective and efficient.     

Can an Asia Pacific Community,similar to the European Community,emerge?

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether the Asia Pacific region could form a union similar to the one now established in Europe. To this end, it analyses some of the major challenge faced by the US prior to its union in the 19th century and the way countries such as France and Germany contributed to the formation of the EU, despite their past animosity. The paper proposed a two tier system for the emergence of a union in the Asia Pacific region in which all countries could become part of a regional framework for regional security and free trade and some of the more advanced countries in the region could start the process of financial integration and invite other member countries to join them over time. The paper argues that in the 2st century, unlike the claim of the “currency optimum theory,” there is no need for labour mobility amongst Asian countries for the formation of a union in this region and hence Australia should not expect millions of workers from China to migrate there. The paper argues that the role of Japan and China in the process of regional integration has been underestimated, due to the claim that the former is a monoculture and the latter is too nationalistic. The paper highlights how diversity in the region could be seen as a strength in the Asia Pacific region. It also shows how the process of globalisation has already overcome differences in culture, religion and race which used to be stumbling blocks for more regional or global integration. The paper argues that a union in the Asia Pacific region would reduce “home bias” for international capital flows and hence there would be significant financial transformation of countries in this region.     

Get the right mix of bricks & clicks

The bright line that once distinguished the dot-com from the incumbent is rapidly fading. Success in the new economy will go to those who can execute clicks-and-mortar strategies that bridge the physical and virtual worlds. But how executives forge such strategies is under considerable debate. Despite the obvious benefits that integration offers--cross-promotion, shared information, purchasing leverage, distribution economies, and the like--many executives now assume that Internet businesses have to be separate to thrive. They believe that the very nature of traditional business--its protectiveness of current customers, its fear of cannibalization, its general myopia--will smother any Internet initiative. Authors Ranjay Gulati and Jason Garino contend that executives don't have to make an either- or choice when it comes to their clicks-and-mortar strategies. The question isn't, "Should we develop our Internet channel in-house or launch a spin-off?" but rather, "What degree of integration makes sense for our company?" To determine the best level of integration for their companies, executives should examine four business dimensions: brand, management, operations, and equity. Drawing on the experiences of three established retailers--Office Depot, KB Toys, and Rite Aid--the authors show the spectrum of strategies available and discuss the trade-offs involved in each choice. By thinking carefully about which aspects of a business to integrate and which to keep distinct, companies can tailor their clicks-and-mortar strategy to their own particular market and competitive situation, dramatically increasing their odds of e-business success.     

The Internet in the personal finance course

A revolution is occurring as textbook authors struggle with how to effectively incorporate the Internet into the personal finance textbooks and course. This paper considers three questions associated with this revolution. What is the current degree of Internet integration? Where might we be headed with this new technology? Will this integration make for a better course? The current degree of Internet integration is reported in Table 1, Table 2. An argument is made that we may be headed to an eventual elimination of the textbook, as we know it. There is some preliminary evidence that this will make for a better educational experience.     

Approximation methods for piecewise deterministic Markov processes and their costs

In this paper, we analyse piecewise deterministic Markov processes (PDMPs), as introduced in Davis (1984). Many models in insurance mathematics can be formulated in terms of the general concept of PDMPs. There one is interested in computing certain quantities of interest such as the probability of ruin or the value of an insurance company. Instead of explicitly solving the related integro-(partial) differential equation (an approach which can only be used in few special cases), we adapt the problem in a manner that allows us to apply deterministic numerical integration algorithms such as quasi-Monte Carlo rules; this is in contrast to applying random integration algorithms such as Monte Carlo. To this end, we reformulate a general cost functional as a fixed point of a particular integral operator, which allows for iterative approximation of the functional. Furthermore, we introduce a smoothing technique which is applied to the integrands involved, in order to use error bounds for deterministic cubature rules. We prove a convergence result for our PDMPs approximation, which is of independent interest as it justifies phase-type approximations on the process level. We illustrate the smoothing technique for a risk-theoretic example, and compare deterministic and Monte Carlo integration.     

Accounting for privatisation in Africa? Reflections from a critical interdisciplinary perspective

The interrelation of privatisation and accounting constitutes a wide-ranging focus for research that is attractive from a critical theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective. A number of studies may be considered part of this focus in holding themselves out as types of evaluation of – or as an accounting, or accountability, for – privatisation. For us, the evaluation of privatisation programmes is properly a concern of critical accounting research and of those interested in the development of more holistic forms of accounting and auditing for appraisal, such as is envisaged in forms of social accounting and social auditing. Indeed the assessment of privatisation has been deemed within the ambit of the social audit movement. Privatisation in Africa is controversial. In today's context it is often integral to the particular form of the globalisation process and carries related ambiguities. Apparently something of a panacea for its advocates, it is problem-ridden for its critics. How should we account for privatisation in Africa? We promote the delineation of a holistic accounting evaluation model by reflecting on a critical review of research constituting accounts of privatisation in Africa. Of course such research, to the extent that it is holistic or comprehensive, would include attention to the mobilisation in context of various accountings as well as related practices of governance at micro- and macro-levels—in turn reflecting the sense in which accounting, along with related systems of governance, is pervasive in privatisation processes. While we find strengths in the research analysed and acknowledge its contribution, we point to deficiencies and gaps from a critical theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective. These gaps and deficiencies delimit policy discourse and praxis vis-à-vis privatisation in Africa and beyond. They also point to a more holistic accounting model of appraisal. We acknowledge the particularities of Africa, and indeed of the differing nations, cultures and regions of Africa, but also suggest the model's relevance not only for African contexts but beyond.