Integrated accounting à la française: The perspective of the Système Croisé

This paper examines the way in which cost accounting is decoupled from the financial accounting model that is circumscribed by the framework of the French plan comptable(i.e. comptabilité générale). Some attendant problems are investigated, and the conflicting views of leading commentators on French accounting are brought to bear. In particular, the tension between managerial accounting requirements of enterprise accounting, on the one hand, and the macroeconomic orientation of comptabilité générale, on the other, are analysed. Finally, the paper offers a concise appraisal of the Système Croisé, an integrated accounting model that was designed to resolve problems arising from the gulf between cost accounting and financial accounting in France.     

代理理论、经理层行为与管理会计研究——基于代理理论的管理会计研究综述

本文系统梳理了基于代理理论的管理会计研究经典文献及最新研究成果,这其中既包括代理理论对管理会计总体框架的影响,又包括其对管理会计体系中的预算管理、成本计算与管理、管理控制系统、业绩评价与激励等子系统的影响。作者认为,代理理论与管理会计研究的相互交融巩固了管理会计的经济学理论基础,转换了管理会计的研究视角,增进了管理会计的科学性及研究深度,进而指出未来研究中探讨代理理论各分支相互融合对管理会计的影响,以及关注模型的细节有效性方面,结合实地研究、心理学和行为学的研究成果将是该领域深化研究的重要方向。     

The teaching of transfer pricing: Theory and examples

This paper presents a unified framework for teaching transfer pricing at the advanced undergraduate or Masters levels. The approach is based on the economic transfer pricing model of Hirshleifer [Hirshleifer, J. (1956). On the economics of transfer pricing. Journal of Business, 29 (July), 172–184; Hirshleifer, J. (1957). On the economics of the divisionalized firm. Journal of Business, 29 (April), 96–108] but uses a series of numerical examples to “flesh out” the principles arising from the purely diagrammatic approach taken by Hirshleifer. We also develop numerical examples that illustrate the effects that removing the frictionless markets assumptions (that underscore the Hirshleifer approach) can have on optimal transfer pricing rules. The focus here is on the lack of goal congruence introduced by agency considerations and the role of accounting procedures in alleviating these agency issues. The teaching materials embodied in this article were developed “at the coalface” and have been successfully used by the authors in advanced undergraduate managerial accounting classes.     

Teaching note: Traditional and activity based costing systems

A significant portion of the current managerial accounting literature contrasts the benefits and importance of activity based costing (ABC) systems with the more traditional cost accounting systems. This paper questions this tendency of making such a stark contrast, by placing ABC systems within a wider cost accounting framework. Initially, the framework is developed by providing an overview of the product costing, control and decision making process. Also outlined are the various costing systems in terms of their objectives, advantages and deficiencies. A schema for integrating the costing process with decision making and performance evaluation criteria is then conceptualized. The role of ABC is recognized and integrated within this framework. The link between ‘traditional’ and ABC systems is also studied via an analysis of the conventional wisdom in some of the leading texts in managerial accounting. The analysis demonstrates that there is still much ambiguity in both the contrasting and the linking of ABC with the more traditional costing systems.     

A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF CHANGE IN THE ENGLISH NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal comparative case study of three National Health Service (NHS) hospital Trusts in England, investigating the perceptions of clinical, managerial and accounting professionals towards changing cost accounting and performance measurement practices. It incorporates both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, and is based on a contextualist understanding of change management, utilising the content‐process‐context approach (Pettigrew and Lapsley, 1994) to investigate the influence of receptive versus non‐receptive contexts on change. The analysis reveals limited success in improving performance measurement practices (the content of change) in Trusts. Nevertheless the specific context within which change was operationalised was found to be very important, with central mangers playing a key role in influencing change. The process of change indicated slow shifts in clinical‐accountant‐managerial relations, partly driven by changes in financial flows within the organisations.     

A PROPOSED FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGNING MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS IN NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

A major deficiency of traditional expenditure control systems based on fund accounting is the failure to link expenditures with results. Consequently, periodic evaluation of performance in nonprofit organizations suffer from lack of result-orientation. A fundamental step in strengthening periodic evaluation is to use an integrated control framework based on benefit-cost criteria which are used in ex ante evaluation of program proposals and ex post evaluation of program performance at strategic intervals. This paper presents such an integrated benefit-cost based control framework and shows how a consistent set of performance criteria could be derived for managerial control purposes.     

The measurement of meaning in accounting: A critical analysis of the principal evidence

The process of communication between preparers and users of accounting information involves, in part, the sharing of meaning between those parties. Using the framework of Osgood et al. (The Measurement of Meaning, University of Illinois Press, 1957), Haried [The Semantic Dimensions of Financial Reports, Journal of Accounting Research (1972) pp. 367–391, and Measurement of Meaning in Financial Reports, Journal of Accounting Research (1973) pp. 117–145] provided a first attempt at the ‘measurement of meaning’ in accounting. Haried found that the structure within which meaning in accounting was held was different to the standard structure proposed by Osgood et al. (1957). Based on the results of measurements of meaning within this structure, Haried (1973) concluded that such measurements were not particularly relevant to accounting research. The present paper presents a critical re-analysis of Haried's (1973) own data. The results are inconsistent with Haried's and show that (1) the structure within which accounting meaning is held is, largely, consistent with the seminal work of Osgood et al. (1957); and, (2) the measured meaning of accounting concepts within that structure is consistent with expectations.     

Management accounting systems and the economics of internal organization

The role, function and design of management accounting and control systems (MACS) are subjects that are being given considerable attention in the accounting literature. The theme of this paper is that recent developments in the economics of internal organization provide a useful framework for bringing economic choice problems associated with MACS into clearer focus. General themes already present in the managerial accounting literature (e.g. performance evaluation and control, participation, responsibility accounting and transfer pricing) gain in vitality when rooted in a more substancial theoretical base than is presently the case.     

International managerial accounting research: A contracting framework and opportunities

The objective of this paper is to provide an international managerial accounting contracting-based framework that organizes a broad sample of published research and (based on that sample) identifies research opportunities. Organizations that operate in cross-border markets constantly face contracting challenges that arise because of different factor and product market characteristics. Accounting has a role in defining, implementing, monitoring, and negotiating the implicit and explicit contracts firms use in these markets. Thus, a useful framework for considering international managerial accounting research would incorporate different international market characteristics that impact the contracting role of firms. Using such a theoretical framework, this paper examines the role of managerial accounting by focusing on operating and strategic decisions that require knowledge transfer, decision-rights assignment, and decision-rights control within international organizations.     

基于企业社会责任的管理会计框架重构

企业社会责任(CSR)的概念是不断演进的。无论围绕风险管理关注CSR对企业价值的影响,还是投资者结合社会责任投资(SRI)再造投资管理新模式,以及结合CSR与SRI的相关性来重新定位公司治理的作用等,均需要完善管理会计系统,进而重构管理会计的新框架。当前,从CSR的伦理观考察管理会计的框架结构是一种比较现实的选择。     

Assessing performance and value-creation capabilities in Lean healthcare: insights from a case study

ABSTRACT

Lean thinking is increasingly being applied worldwide. Yet its actual impact is still a puzzle, particularly when a ‘full-implementation approach’—which entails the adoption of a strategic approach to Lean dissemination on policy deployment procedures—is used. Focusing on the healthcare sector, this paper presents and tests a comprehensive measurement framework for Lean interventions. The paper explains how Lean testing can help decision-makers to solve managerial issues related to Lean initiatives.     

Equilibrium earnings management and managerial compensation in a multiperiod agency setting

To investigate how the possibility of earnings manipulation affects managerial compensation contracts, we study a two-period agency setting in which a firm’s manager can engage in window-dressing activities to manipulate reported accounting earnings. Earnings manipulation boosts the reported earnings in one period at the expense of the reported earnings in the other period. We find that the optimal pay-performance sensitivity may increase and expected managerial compensation may decrease as the manager’s cost of earnings management decreases. When the manager is privately informed about the payoff of an investment project to the firm, we identify plausible conditions under which prohibiting earnings management can result in a less efficient investment decision for the firm and more rents for the manager.     

Modes of regulation in advanced capitalism: Locating accountancy in four countries

The paper presents a framework for examining how accounting practices are regulated within advanced capitalist societies. Through the critical use of Streeck & Schmitter's (Private Interest Government and Public Policy, Sage, London, 1985) exploration of models of social order, regulation is theorised as an expression of the combination of the organising principles of Market, State and Community. The analytical framework is then applied to compare modes of accounting regulation in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States of America. The paper highlights the significance of contradictions within and between the organizing principles of advanced capitalism and seeks to display the regulation of accounting as a medium and outcome of the articulation of these contradictions.     

Perspectives on implementing a framework for evaluating effective teaching

The recently published report of the Committee on Promoting and Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness (AAA, Teaching & Curriculum Section) recommends a comprehensive framework for evaluating effective teaching (Calderon, T., Gabbin, A., & Green, B. (1997). Framework for encouraging effective teaching. Harrisonburg, VA: Center for Research in Accounting Education, James Madison University). As part of the framework, the Committee advocates a portfolio approach to fully assess the various dimensions of effective teaching. This paper describes the experience of three accounting departments in their initial application of selected PETE Committee recommendations. Each case describes the department's motivation, how chosen recommendations are applied, information resources required, and the problems and concerns encountered. An evaluation of the lessons learned during the first year in each of these cases is also provided. The material presented in this paper should be of interest to accounting programs that wish to focus attention on the dimensions of effective teaching in assessing faculty teaching performance.     

Product Market Competition,Managerial Incentives and Firm Valuation

This paper contributes to the very small empirical literature on the effects of competition on managerial incentive schemes. Based on a theoretical model that incorporates both strategic interaction between firms and a principal agent relationship, we analyse the relationship between product market competition, incentive schemes and firm valuation. The model predicts a nonlinear relationship between the intensity of product market competition and the strength of managerial incentives. We test the implications of our model empirically based on a unique and hand‐collected dataset comprising over 600 observations on 200 Swiss firms over the 2002–2005 period. Our results suggest that, consistent with the implications of our model, the relation between product market competition and managerial intensive schemes is convex indicating that above a certain level of intensity in product market competition, the marginal effect of competition on the strength of the incentive schemes increases in the level of competition. Moreover, competition is associated with lower firm values. These results are robust to accounting for a potential endogeneity of managerial incentives and firm value in a simultaneous equations framework.     

Development of Accounting Regulatory Framework in China: An Empirical Evaluation

In China, the government has long been involved in directly regulating accounting work. The rule-based accounting regulations have been formulated for different industry and business ownership structure by the central government since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Remarkable changes have, however, taken place in Chinese accounting which have resulted from the wide-ranged economic and accounting reforms in the last two decades. Recently, an accounting regulatory framework based on accounting standards has been introduced, with great efforts to develop a set of practical accounting standards. A survey study was conducted to empirically investigate the prevailing perceptions of the users and providers of business accounting in respect of four major conceptual and practical issues underlying the construction of the accounting regulatory framework in the changing business environment in China. The study results demonstrate that the respondents from various interest groups possessed mixed views. They generally endorsed the current progress in the accounting reforms. On the other hand, the majority of the respondents were supportive of further changes in reshaping accounting regulatory framework to accommodate the growth of market-oriented economy in China.     

On the Optimal Relation between the Properties of Managerial and Financial Reporting Systems

We develop a theoretical model of the firm that links properties (stewardship vs. valuation focus) of financial reporting regimes with the informational properties of optimal managerial accounting systems. We show that, contrary to the standard textbook proposition, properties of management and financial accounting systems are not independent. Significantly, we provide an explicit connection between exogenous and observable properties of a firm's financial reporting system and the quality of the managerial accounting system on which manager(s) base real economic decisions. As the quality of those economic decisions can also be inferred from publicly available data, our theory generates new opportunities for empirical managerial accounting research on large nonproprietary samples. Further, by being able to identify enhanced performance due to improved managerial accounting information, our theory provides opportunities to gain a better understanding of the link between particular managerial accounting practices and the quality of the information produced.