Priorities for the development of vocational skills in management accountants: A European perspective

In recent years there have been many calls for a re-orientation of accounting education in order to include the development of competencies such as communication, group working, and problem solving skills. However, concern has been expressed that the proposed changes are possibly biased towards the interests of public accounting employers. This paper presents and compares the opinions of the employers of management accountants in Spain and the UK, and then by using a weighted importance indicator determines vocational skills development priorities. The factors that the Spanish and UK employers identified as major constraints to the development of vocational skills are also compared.     

Spreadsheet usage by management accountants: An exploratory study

Spreadsheets play an important role for managerial accountants. For these practitioners, spreadsheets are necessary tools for traditional responsibilities such as planning, budgeting, forecasting as well as newer decision-making responsibilities. Responsibilities for managerial accounting practitioners have shifted from a transaction-based focus to an emphasis on decision support, planning, and control. Managerial accountants are expected to be key members of decision making and cross-functional teams outside the accounting area. Spreadsheets are major tools for meeting these new responsibilities.     

Improving the curriculum for aspiring management accountants: The practitioner's point of view

Although prior research has identified ranked lists of cost/managerial accounting topics that may approximate a common body of knowledge for management accounting, these topics must exist within a specific educational context. The context, or educational framework, could include attributes other than technical accounting topics. This study, which provides the practicing management accountant's point of view, focuses on those other attributes.     

Enterprise Resource Planning and a contest to limit the role of management accountants: A strong structuration perspective

The implementation and use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems raise fundamental questions about the role of management accountants in an organisation. The case studied here, involving an attempt to establish an ERP system in an organisation funded by both the European Union (EU) and the Egyptian government, is an exploration of conflicting beliefs about the role of management accountants. Elements of strong structuration theory (a reinforced version of Giddens’ structuration theory) are used to analyse how the contest over the role of the management accountant in a new organisation was played out during the partially successful attempt to establish ERP in conjunction with a system that was felt to better support the requirements of the EU for performance-based budgeting. Despite the forward-looking dispositions of key actors within the organisation and from the EU, the role of the management accountant here became compressed to the traditional one of cost information collector and provider.     

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.     

Role conflicts of management accountants and their position within organisation structures

The research examines accountants' and managers' perceptions of management accounting roles under conditions of centralisation and decentralisation of the management accounting function. Decentralization was associated with greater interaction between accountants and other managers and with the provision of accounting information perceived as being more pertinent to managerial needs. However, whatever the structural relationship, there were criticisms of the accountants' passivity in management. Contrary to expectations neither interpersonal relationships nor excessive power of accountants were problematical, nor did many accountants show bureaucratic orientations. Their inability to meet service expectations were perhaps, related to ambiguity and stress emanating from the accounting workflows.     

“Holier-than-thou” perception bias among professional accountants: A cross-cultural study

Theoretical conceptions of culture in accounting research are controversial, ranging from highly deterministic, quantified and componential perspectives (such as Hosfstede's five dimensional model) to those that suggest continual changes in cultural values brought about by forces of acculturation. This paper makes a contribution to cross-cultural accounting research by examining the influence of competing theoretical perspectives of culture and acculturation on “holier-than-thou” perception bias. “Holier-than-thou” perception bias leads to individuals perceiving themselves as acting more ethically than comparable others when confronted with ethically uncertain work-related behaviours. This study contributes to cross-cultural accounting research by surveying Australian and Indian professional accountants from big four accounting firms. We firstly seek to establish the prevalence of “holier-than-thou” perception bias in both cultural settings. Secondly, we examine the differential and competing influences of culture and acculturation on perceptions of accountants from the two countries on measures of this bias. Data was collected through a survey questionnaire administered to samples of senior accountants from the big accounting firms in Australia and India. The questionnaire comprised an auditor-client conflict and two whistle-blowing scenarios and used two questions to measure the magnitude of the bias. The results show that “holier-than-thou” perception bias exists among accountants within each of the two countries. However, the magnitude of the bias was not significant between the countries. The results support the theory of acculturation in big accounting firms. Our findings have implications for accounting research where the presence of “holier-than-thou” perception bias needs to be considered in cases where respondents are questioned on socially sensitive issues. The findings may be useful to accounting researchers, managers of multinational enterprises in general, and big-four accounting firms in particular. Our conceptual framework applied in this study is innovative and provides a template for assessing current controversies in cross-cultural accounting research.     

注册会计师监盘的难点与对策

监盘是注册会计师执业过程中常用的审计策略和手段.监盘的对象通常包括现金、票据、交易性金融资产、存货和固定资产等在内的实物资产.通过对实物资产的监盘,能获取判断监盘对象存在性、完整性、权利性、估价或分摊、分类与披露的认定是否恰当的审计证据.     

A work role perspective of accountants in local government service departments

In most of the largest U.K. local authorities the financial control function is highly centralised with no qualified accountant or controller located in each spending department. There now may be the beginnings of a trend towards employing accountants within service departments. The paper analyses how this new segment of public sector accounting appears to be becoming established, how the role of these accountants is being developed and the contrasting occupational values of accountants in service departments and those in the finance department. It is also shown how the existence of a strong accounting profession in local government can lead to different aspects of both the financial control structure and process in comparison with central government such that research results on the latter may not automatically hold at local level.     

The behavioral sciences and concepts and standards for management planning and control

This article reviews behavioral research on the individual, small groups and organizations and the implications of this research for management accounting. Also, opportunities for accounting research are identified and, where appropriate, extant accounting research is discussed. The conclusion is that studies of individual and group behavior are inseparable from studies of complex organizations and vice versa. Furthermore, fundamental research into personal, oragnizational, and environmental variables and their impact on effective management planning and control systems is urgently needed.     

Irish women accountants and career progression: a research note

This article presents the findings of research into the career progression of Irish Chartered Accountants which compares the career progress of men and women and examines the obstacles to progression encountered by women. The research indicates that women face obstacles that are not encountered by their male counterparts and that career progression is frequently made at substantial cost to their personal lives.     

In defence of triangulation: A critical realist approach to mixed methods research in management accounting

The notion of triangulation constitutes a key component of mixed methods research but has been contested on ontological and epistemological grounds, especially where this entails integration of theories and/or methods rooted in different philosophical assumptions (or paradigms). Drawing on critical realism, this paper addresses two criticisms of the use of triangulation in mixed methods research straddling between the functionalist and interpretive paradigms, namely (1) its propensity to suppress variations in situated meanings and (2) its treatment of empirical observations as objectively verifiable rather than inherently theory-related. The modified notion of triangulation advanced in this paper counters these criticisms by re-conceptualizing it as firmly grounded in abductive reasoning. This provides a foundation for maintaining researchers’ sensitivity to context-specific variations in meanings in efforts to derive theory-related explanations. The possibilities of using such a modified notion of triangulation in management accounting research are illustrated through a review of two empirical studies straddling between the functionalist and interpretive paradigms.     

Gemini Communications: A case applying revenue recognition standards

Gemini Communications (Gemini) is a case study on revenue recognition criteria. You will take on the role of an audit manager for the public accounting firm that audits Gemini. Your client, Gemini, is a US company that recently expanded operations into China through the acquisition of Apollo Man. Gemini prepares its financial statements in accordance with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) while Apollo Man prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS GAAP). Your assignment is to research, compare and contrast the technical criteria for revenue recognition under US GAAP, IFRS GAAP, and the proposed revenue standard. You will apply the various criteria to an Apollo Man sales transaction to determine the timing and amount of revenue Apollo Man should recognize. The case is designed to develop your research and written communication skills.     

Traditional accountants and business professionals: Portraying the accounting profession after Enron

Society’s perception of the legitimacy of the accounting profession and its members is grounded in the verbal and visual images of accountants that are projected not only by accountants themselves but also by the media. The paper uses the critical literature on stereotypes to examine how books written for a general readership on Enron and other recent corporate failures portray accountants and accounting, and the implications their authors draw for corporate governance and the survival of the financial system. The paper explores how commentators have analyzed the changing activities of accountants (including the rise of consulting) and have contrasted the personalities of “founding fathers” of the US accounting profession with their early 21st-century successors. The paper concludes that changing stereotypes of accountants are evidence of “negative signals of movement” for accounting as a profession.     

Recent long-wave theories: A critical survey

The author gives a critical overview of some recent long-wave theories, which, although not complete, does seek to diminish the present confusion in the literature and to emphasise the complementary character of the different approaches. A classification scheme is developed, based on the alternating scarcity and abundance of production factors in the upswing and downswing phases of the long wave. In this way theories have been classified as: those which consider the role of innovation (ie entrepreneurship) as crucial (Schumpeter and Mensch); the capital theories (Mandel and Forrester); the labour theory (Freeman); and the raw materials and food-stuffs theory (Rostow). The importance of institutional and social changes is emphasised.     

Retiree health benefits in the United States: a strategic critical management review

This article provides a critical review of studies associated with retiree health benefits in the United States. An attempt is made to determine if logical conclusions or trends could be identified regarding this issue of health care policy debate. The forms of retiree health benefits are covered, as is a discussion of Medigap policies and insurance coverage for the elderly. Employer-sponsored retiree benefits and the effects of supplemental coverage on the use of services are also reviewed. Lastly, a discussion and conclusion regarding this research agenda is presented with a critical analysis of the health care policy management debate for the future.     

Employers' accounting for pensions: A theoretical approach to financial accounting standards no. 87

The extensive disclosure mandated for defined benefit pension plans by FAS 87 resulted in part from the ongoing controversy concerning the nature of the pension plan obligation. Based on a review of the pension chapters of seven intermediate accounting texts, conflicting perspectives of the nature of the plan obligation have not been thoroughly and appropriately integrated in textbook discussions of FAS 87 reporting requirements.The objective of this article is to present a teaching method which interprets the reporting requirements of FAS 87 as a reconciliation of the conflicting perspectives concerning the pension obligations. Examples are provided demonstrating how FAS 87 reconciles the opposing perspectives in the basic financial statement presentation, and how the perspectives are useful in understanding the reporting requirements related to the minimum liability and actuarial gains and losses.