The influence of culture on accountants' application of financial reporting rules

The objective of this study is to examine the influence of national culture on accountants' application of accounting rules. Based on a refinement of Gray's (1988 ) framework, this study hypothesizes Greek accountants will be more likely (less likely) to recognize contingent liabilities (assets) than U.S. accountants (H1). It also hypothesizes that Greek accountants will be less likely to disclose the existence of both contingent assets and liabilities than U.S. accountants (H2). The results do not support H1. No significant differences are found between Greek and U.S. accountants' recognition decisions involving both contingent assets and liabilities. However, supplemental analyses show that U.S. accountants consistently exhibited more conservatism than Greek accountants. In line with expectations, Greek accountants are less likely to disclose information (i.e., were more secretive) than U.S. accountants, providing strong support for H2. Implications for both research and practice also are discussed.     

The Role of Local Authority Accountants in Environmental Decision-Making

This research used case studies in decision-making for environmental issues as a means to observe the role of management accountants in English local government. We found that while environmental considerations are important in local authorities, there is a lack of available accounting techniques to address them. The decisions we examined were made through an informal, essentially party political, process in which the accountants' role was limited to legitimising decisions.     

会计伦理决策影响因素研究——基于计划行为理论的检验

诚信建设是社会主义文化大发展大繁荣的重要组成部分,会计诚信是社会诚信的重要基础,会计诚信的建设立足于会计人员高标准的伦理道德水平。本文以计划行为理论为基础,采取情景实验研究法,通过问卷调查的方式探讨了我国会计人员的伦理决策现状以及影响其伦理决策的因素。结果发现,在被调查样本中,只有60%左右的会计人员能做出符合伦理标准的决策,其中,态度和主观规范对他们的伦理意向有显著影响,认知行为控制对伦理意向的影响程度视情景性质而定。本文的研究表明,我国应加强对会计人员的伦理意识和规范意识的教育,同时应注重组织伦理氛围的营造。     

Accountants, Ethical Issues and the Corporate Governance Context

This paper aims to identify the types of ethical issues encountered by accountants, the influence of such experience on accountants' ethical perceptions and the effect of situational factors—the field of employment and the accountans position in the organisation—on accountants' perceptions of ethics. Differences were found in perceptions about ethical issues among accountants in different fields of employment. The study also confirms the inverse relationship between hierarchical position and ethical perception among top, middle and junior staff, with higher-ranked accountants perceiving most ethical issues as less important than their subordinates.     

开展会计硕士(MPAcc)教育质量认证的研究

会计人才是我国人才队伍的重要组成部分,是维护市场经济秩序、推动经济发展的重要力量。本文从我国会计人才总体发展目标和会计人才职业能力要求着手,探讨了我国会计人才发展现状及与发展目标间的差距,分析了我国会计硕士(MPAcc)的发展现状及与国外的差距,提出发展会计人才教育、推行MPAcc教育质量认证是促进我国会计人才发展、保障会计人才培养、落实我国会计人才发展战略的重要举措。     

An empirical study of the usefulness of human resources turnover costs in australian accounting firms

This paper reports the results of a laboratory experiment designed to evaluate the usefulness of applying Human Resources Accounting (HRA) to the problem of labour turnover management decision making in a sample of Australian accounting firms. Useful was defined as a reduction in uncertainty and an increase in relevance and sufficiency. Using a pretest-post-test research design, 57 volunteer accountants responsible for personnel decisions were individually administered (1) a two-part pilot tested case study with and without Human Resources Turnover Costs (HRTC); (2) a questionnaire which measured subjects' response to levels of uncertainty, relevance and sufficiency of the information. Three specific hypotheses tested warranted the conclusion that HRTC information significantly reduced accountants' levels of uncertainty and increased their levels of relevance and sufficiency.     

Quantitative skills: is there an expectation gap between the education and practice of management accountants?

The extent to which management accountants are receiving appropriate training in quantitative methods is examined. It finds a disparity between the wide range of quantitative techniques covered within the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants' syllabi and the limited use made of many of the techniques in practice. It also reports a rich picture of differing expectations of the role of quantitative skills in the work of a management accountant. The study finds that quantitative skills are seen by both employers and accounting educators as contributing to the portfolio of skills required by management accountants. Also, they give a rigour to the examination process that is seen as a challenging ‘rite of passage’ into the profession. It is concluded that knowledge and understanding of the range of quantitative techniques available to organizations is a powerful differentiator for the accounting profession, even if the occasions upon which accountants are required to draw upon much of that knowledge are few and far between.     

The influence of conservatism and secrecy on the interpretation of verbal probability expressions in the Anglo and Latin cultural areas

We use Gray's [Gray, S.J. (1988). Towards a theory of cultural influence on the development of accounting systems internationally. Abacus, 24 (1), 1-15.] theory of the influence of culture on accounting to develop hypotheses about the effect the interaction of the accounting values of conservatism and secrecy and the context in which probability expressions are used in accounting standards will have on accountants' interpretations of those expressions. Specifically, we expect accountants in a high conservatism country to assign a higher (lower) numerical probability to verbal probability expressions that determine the threshold for the recognition of items that increase (decrease) income than accountants in a low conservatism country. We expect accountants in a high secrecy country to assign higher numerical probabilities to verbal probability expressions that establish the probability threshold for the disclosure of information than accountants in a low secrecy country. We survey professional accountants in Brazil (higher conservatism and higher secrecy) and in the United States (lower conservatism and lower secrecy) to test our hypotheses. We obtain some support for the first conservatism hypothesis related to the recognition of income-increasing items, but no support for the second conservatism hypothesis related to income-decreasing items. We obtain stronger results in support of our hypothesis related to secrecy and disclosure. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the impact of culture on interpretation of verbal probability expressions in the Latin cultural area and by testing Gray's theory, especially the secrecy hypothesis, at the individual-accountant level.     

A stochastic model of professional accountant turnover

High turnover rates have tended to characterize the public accounting profession. Probabilistic estimates that generate duration models have been often used in engineering and to a lesser extent in business fields. This study suggests a stochastic model and methodology to be used in professional accountants' turnover analysis. The model is simple, can help evaluate numerous policy implications and allows for future turnover prediction. A set of published data is utilized to illustrate the use of the model. This illustration describes turnover patterns for accounting staff broken down by admission year and sex. The stochastic model also predicts the number of accountants that will quit in 5 yr.     

The Effect of the Introduction of GST on Accountants' Job Satisfaction and Burnout

The introduction of the goods and services tax in Australia saw a fundamental shift in the working conditions and type of work performed by public accounting practitioners. This paper explores the impact of the introduction of GST on working conditions, job satisfaction and burnout, using data from a survey of 71 public accountants. The study finds that the introduction of the GST has caused accountants' burnout levels to increase while job satisfaction remains unchanged. An unexpected finding is that accountants' propensity to leave the profession has dramatically increased as a result of the introduction of the GST     

Benign sacerdotalist or pious assailant. The rise of the professional accountant in British management

Matthews et al.'s The Priesthood of Industry [Matthews, D., Anderson, M., & Edwards, J.R. (1998). The preisthood of industry. The rise of the professional accountant in British management. Oxford: Oxford University Press] charts the encroachment of professional accountants into the realms of management in Britain. It is suggested in this review essay that the brand of economic determinism employed by the authors offers a partial explanation for that fundamental occupational shift. The functionalist and evolutionary foundation of Matthews et al.'s analysis invite a more critical interpretation of the accountants' stratagem. A reading of The Priesthood of Industry also indicates several issues which require the attention of accounting historians. Among these are the shifting character of the professional ideology; responses to entrepeneurialism; the social derivation of professionals; the manner of jurisdictional capture; a fuller understanding of the inter-war climacteric; and the contribution or otherwise of accountants to British economic decline.     

Management accounting as normal social science

The publication of “Management accounting change: Approaches and perspectives” (Wickramasinghe, D., & Alawattage, C. (2007). Management accounting change: Approaches and perspectives. London, New York: Routledge) provides an occasion for considering the extent to which management accounting has become a normal social science. This review essay argues that management accounting is a social science defined by a pluralism of approaches, and it identifies the generalization of social perspectives on management accounting, and particularly their ability to transcend technical and economic aspects of accounting practice, as crucial components in reproducing this specific form of expertise. Contrary to Kuhnian expectations, this social science hosts a multiplicity of paradigms, and its scientists are not exclusively concerned with the subtlest and most esoteric aspects of the phenomena under study. Instead, as social scientists management accountants are generalists as much as they are specialists.     

Management accounting information and the needs of managers: Perceptions of managers and accountants compared

The study builds on prior research on information user perceptions and the roles of management accountants. Perceptions of management accountants and managers in the same organisations regarding information supplied by the management accounting function were compared and differences highlighted. Perceptions of managers were also sought regarding desired changes in the information supplied and desired future roles of management accountants.Consistent with prior literature in MIS and accounting, the findings showed evidence of preparer–user perception gaps. Major contributors to those perception gaps were identified as an imbalance between technical and organisational validity, functional differentiation and an inherent tension between the simultaneous requirements of independence and involvement. Managers' views of desired future roles for management accountants provided consistent indicators as to how those gaps can be narrowed. The study also exposes inaccuracies in management accountants' perceptions and sets out implications for the design and reporting of future research.     

ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING IN IRELAND: BARRIERS TO,AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR,CHANGE

This paper considers the state of managerial accounting in Ireland and argues that it is “marginalised”. As evidence, the study examines the adoption of one innovative technique, Activity-Based Costing (ABC), in Ireland and reports that the rate of adoption is lower in Ireland than in Anglo-American countries. This is a puzzling phenomenon given that management accounting practices such as ABC are more transferable across national boundaries, particularly across countries that share a common language, than country-specific Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. This paper posits that the marginalisation of managerial accounting in Ireland may be due to both supply and demand barriers. In particular, Ireland lacks a supply of innovative managerial accountants due to a lack of compulsory continuing professional education, practitioner journals devoted specifically to management accounting, and executive MBA programmes. Furthermore, neither the Irish business community nor academia in Ireland have demanded sweeping changes in the accounting curricula. Changes in the supply and demand of innovative management accountants will allow managerial accountants in Ireland to become agents of change rather than marginalised recorders of the past.     

AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE COMMUNICATION OF AUTHORITATIVE PRONOUNCEMENTS IN ACCOUNTING

The cloze procedure, a psycholinguistic technique, was used to empirically evaluate the communication of authoritative pronouncements in accounting. Three of the most recent pronouncements of five different authoritative bodies were tested via a random sample of 750 certified public accountants, 750 academic accountants, and 600 private accountants. Using the cloze procedure's 57% criterion level, evidence was found (contrary to expectations) that communication problems do not exist with either authoritative bodies or classes of accountants. However, evidence was found (as expected) that communication problems do exist with two of the fifteen authoritative pronouncements tested. I want to express my sincerest appreciation to the City University of New York PSC-BHE Research Award Program for the grant that made this project possible.     

Professional judgment and accounting standards

This essay explores relationships between accounting standards and people's inferences and judgments. Acknowledging that Demski's impossibility theorem implies that the standards will be “social-preference incomplete”, the paper shows that they are also “decision-procedure incomplete” on three levels. These levels correspond to three kinds of professional judgment: semantic, pragmatic and institutional. The investigation facilitates understanding of (1) how accountants exercise judgment and deduction in applying incomplete standards; (2) how financial statement readers use the incomplete standards to draw deductive inferences from financial reports which are based on accountants' judgments; (3) the special kinds of judgment required of standard setters; and (4) the meaning and extent of professional liability, given the relationships identified between accounting standards, inferences and judgments.     

Measuring the Marketing Knowledge of Accounting Professionals

The accounting profession advocates that its member professionals and practitioners have not only specialist accounting knowledge but also management and marketing skills. This paper reports a study of the level of marketing knowledge of three samples of Australian accountants of various seniority and experience. The results show that marketing knowledge of accountants increases with seniority. However, there is also evidence that accountants lack, in particular, conceptual marketing knowledge.     

Accountants as Emotional Wellbeing Counsellors in Rural Areas

The role of accountants in dealing with the social, emotional and stress‐related problems of their clients is explored using semi‐structured interviews with owner‐accountants and regional development workers. Findings indicate the importance to rural communities and the related public of accountants acting as ‘emotional wellbeing counsellors’; a role they are pressured to accept by their clients and community, and for which they are neither formally educated nor trained. Implications are drawn for effective counselling preparation of accounting graduates and practising accountants by educators and professional associations.     

Utilising Accounting and Accountants in the Management of Water Efficiency

This paper explores how five Australian organisations utilised accounting techniques and accountants as they developed an increasing focus on water efficiency during a period of drought. In those cases where top management were responsive to developing community logics that argued for the importance of efforts to maximise water efficiency, non‐accountants found space to experiment with a diversity of decision‐useful accounting initiatives. While initially bypassed, accountants ultimately became important for their ability to link evolving initiatives to core organisational concerns. Alternatively, in those organisations where senior responsiveness to evolving community concerns about water efficiency was limited, accountants dominated from the outset, presiding over a limited range of responses that offered an appearance, but little substance, of change.     

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.