Agenda Entrance Complexity in International Accounting Standard Setting: The Case of IFRS for SMEs

Features of rational decision making (such as agenda entrance criteria and statement of jurisdiction) barely conceal the complexity of international accounting standard setting. In 2003, when the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium‐sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs) project achieved agenda entrance, the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) jurisdiction was to develop, ‘a single set of … accounting standards … to help participants in the world's capital markets’. Drawing on interviewees' recollections and other material, this study of how the project achieved agenda entrance finds within‐IASB opposition to the project, arguing it was outside the IASB's jurisdiction that dissolved with the realisation that the IASB's jurisdiction would be changed to encompass the project.     

Harmonization of Accounting in France and Britain: Some Evidence

The European Community's accounting harmonization initiative is intended to create harmonized reporting by Community companies. If the Community's programme is successful, measurement practices in each member state should be such that the same transactions receive broadly comparable treatment irrespective of the country where the accounts are prepared. This study sets out to test whether this is the case in France and Britain and the application of the Fourth Directive, and whether in practice there is any consensus even within each jurisdiction. An empirical test for harmony and uniformity is made by asking accountants within each jurisdiction to compile financial statements from a common set of data.
The results of the test show that in this sample there is relatively little harmony within each national group, let alone between one jurisdiction and another.     

An Interpretive Inquiry of Accounting Practices in Religious Organisations

This paper reports the study of accounting practices as embedded in two religious organisations in Malaysia. The research is an attempt to study accounting practices in a cultural setting that has not been the subject of previous interpretive accounting research. The study also makes a contribution towards the need for accounting research to become more explanatory of accounting as social practice wherein theory is both informed, and is developed by observation. This is achieved by developing grounded theory from the data and is in accordance with recent calls for case studies in accounting research to be more concerned with producing social theories of accounting practice.     

Governmentality in accounting and accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain

This paper examines how the introduction of sustainability accounting has been used by an organization as a means to seek to govern social, economic and environmental issues relating to suppliers. The concept of governmentality and four analytics of government are proposed as a means to examine systematic ways of exercising power and authority. This theoretical framework illuminates the specific rationales and practices of government that enable particular aspirations of reform – such as sustainability – to be constituted. The analysis is informed by the discussion of the implementation of sustainability-orientated regimes of practice in the context of a single supply chain within a major supermarket chain in the UK against the theoretical analytics of government. The paper provides novel empirical insights into how sustainability accounting shaped forms of power, rationales and practices in a supply chain. It explores the extent to which senior decision-takers frame and use sustainability accounting to foster disciplinary effects based ostensibly upon social and environmental goals. These are found in practice to be reformulated primarily according to an economic (rather than social or environmental) regime of practice.     

Casemix accounting systems: new spaces for action

This paper discusses the implementation of a casemix accounting system within a large New Zealand public hospital. In the context of healthcare, casemix accounting systems are involved in attempts to increase the cost-consciousness of clinicians through the rationalization and codification of clinical activity. The paper considers the power effects of casemix accounting using a perspective that views such information and control systems as disciplinary technologies. The complex and contradictory setting of the hospital characterized by a negotiated order meant that while the casemix accounting system did appear to provide some controlling influence, it also produced forms of resistance on the part of clinicians. Our experience suggests that such systems are best thought of as making possible a new discursive space within which all organizational participants, in this case both management and clinicians, can act.     

Accounting history and theorising about organisations

Historical accounting research has a substantial track record of using a variety of theoretical insights to better understand how and why accounting has contributed to, and been affected by, organisational change and development. The article outlines the emergence of a range of theories that have been employed by accounting historians, against the background of the development of accounting history as a significant disciplinary field within accounting research. From its investigation of accounting historians’ approaches to studying accounting as a central practice in organisational processes, it reveals how historical accounting studies have been informed by and contributed to theorisation of such organisational phenomena. The article concludes that theory is largely used to provide conceptual frameworks for historical narratives, with historical accounting research often focused on case studies of single organisations or organisational settings. However, theory has also been mobilised at more general levels, to provide meta-narratives of the rise of capitalism and the emergence of managerialism. Far from treating accounting as technical practice, accounting historians are revealed as conceiving accounting as social practice, impacting both human behaviour and organisational and social functioning and development. As social practice, accounting emerges deeply embedded and pervasive in organisations and societies.     

Beyond just desserts: The gendered nature of the connection between effort and achievement for accounting students

The paper evaluates gender differences in the achievement of accounting students using data from students at a large public institution in the USA. Whether one gender outperforms the other is a question that has remained open in the literature, primarily because measures have been confounded by rewards for effort. This paper finds that in an environment where effort is not materially rewarded per se, but serves as a significant means to prepare for grade-bearing evaluations, females do not significantly outperform males. Female student do, however, exert a greater amount of effort. Measures used in this study were assembled by the computer software that managed the student interface, providing practice questions, quizzes, and examinations. Implications for educational choices made by accounting instructors are offered.     

医保医疗款会计核算方法探讨

现阶段,我国基本医疗保险覆盖率达95%,全民医疗保险的制度框架已经建立,医保业务收入占业务收入的实际比重越来越大,未来或将取代现金医疗收入成为医院医疗收入核算的主体,因此,对这部分医保医疗款如何更清晰地核算成为了医院财务管理工作中一个重要的环节,正确、清晰地对这部分医疗收入进行会计核算,会有利于加强医院对医保医疗款的管理。     

Virtual Office Hours (VOH) in accounting coursework: Leveraging technology to enhance an integrative learning environment

For at least the past two decades, accounting educators have been faced with increasing demands to keep pace with imperatives from the profession and with changes in the practice environment. Rapid changes in information technology applications, both in accounting practice and in academe, have added to the complexity of accounting educator responsibilities. This paper reports on the development and use of a “Virtual Office Hours” (VOH) platform to enhance opportunities to engage students in their learning beyond the classroom environment. This approach has been developed as a result of instructor experience with adding technology applications in the accounting classroom to better reflect practice environment needs. VOH has been implemented in auditing and intermediate accounting courses to develop clear and assured lines of communication between the student and instructor, and to foster the use of information technologies as a normal and expected characteristic of the course learning environment. In so doing, the approach uses tools that students will likely apply in the practice setting to interact with clients and colleagues. This can be seen as an extension of the model conveyed by the AICPA in its Core Competency Framework to leverage technology for student skill building. Student feedback, insights from accounting course experiences with VOH, and suggestions on applicability to other accounting educators are considered in the paper.     

A hybrid profession—the acquisition of management accounting expertise by medical professionals

This paper argues that medical expertise in Finland was “hybridised” in the first half of the 1990s. It examines the willing adoption of management accounting techniques by medical professionals in the context of the New Public Management reforms in Finland. It documents this process of adoption, charts some of its effects for the set of practices and legitimated competencies that make up the domain of medical expertise, and seeks to understand these by reference to the position of management accounting within the Finnish pedagogic and institutional setting. As a counterpoint, it notes the contrast with the UK, where medical professionals have been seen to resist the intrusion of accounting practices into the medical domain.     

25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future

Twenty five years ago, Giddens’ structuration theory (ST) was introduced into accounting research as a reaction to the history-less, apolitical and technical-efficiency focus of traditional functionalist research. A quarter of a century later, this growing stream of research consists of some 65 published papers and has become one of the dominant alternative approaches used to explore accounting as an organizational and social practice. We review this literature based on the following two research questions; (i) what are the major achievements of this literature, and in what respects has it contributed to our understanding of accounting in relation to other alternative streams of accounting research, such as those grounded in critical theory, actor-network theory (ANT), new-institutional sociology (NIS) and practice theory? and; (ii) what are the limitations of the ST strand and, considering these (and its relative strengths), how should it be advanced in the future? Overall, we find that the mobilization of ST as a general ontological framework has generated three major and largely unique contributions, namely; (i) the introduction of a duality perspective; (ii) the conceptualization of accounting as an interwoven totality comprised of structures of signification, domination and legitimation, and; (iii) an ontological basis for theorizing how, when and why socially embedded agents may produce both continuity and change in accounting practices. However, we also conclude that it is difficult to identify a particular and distinctive empirical imprint of the ST literature, and that some of the theory’s ‘competitive advantages’ are far from fully exploited. Based on these identified strengths and weaknesses of the ST perspective, we consider an array of directions for future scholarly effort.     

An ethnographic study of culture and performance in the UK lingerie industry

This paper examines a particular case of organizational culture, its nature within the work environment, the impact it has on motivation and its interaction with a novel framework of performance measurement. It extends the extant empirical domain of such studies to include a retail unit in the UK lingerie industry. The work is an ethnographic study, and uses participant-observation to focus on the performance framework used and the culture in the unit examined. The evidence shows that a strong culture, in tandem with the innovative package of performance measures in this organization, together lead to enhanced performance. The paper makes an empirical contribution to the literature by using ethnographical evidence on accounting practice, as moderated by organizational culture in this unique setting. From a practical standpoint, it proposes that managers pay more attention to the influence of accounting on organizational culture (and vice versa), when setting performance targets and goals.     

Structuration theory in accounting research: Applications and applicability

Ever since Giddens’ structuration theory (ST) was introduced into the accounting literature some 25 years ago, it has strengthened its position as one of the major schools of thought used to explore accounting as organizational, social and political phenomena. The purpose of this study is to review how ST has been applied, and can be applied, in this sizeable literature. Overall, the review of some 65 published papers, suggests that not only has ST contributed to challenge the assumptions of ‘inherent and functional’ features of accounting systems per se characterizing mainstream research, but also to develop other alternative theoretical perspectives. However, our review also suggests several limitations. These include that the accounting community has not really worked as a collective to develop a structurationist understanding of accounting practices, and that most researchers remain largely uncritical to ST as a theory. We also find that accounting scholars have not yet developed a mutual understanding of how to interpret ST (i.e. there are conceptual unclarities and even inconsistencies), or how to apply ST methodologically in empirical research. Based on these limitations, and the identification of a number of ‘black spots’ in the literature, we suggest several directions for future scholarly effort.     

Resource Accounting and Executive Agencies

Executive agencies have had several years' experience of the introduction and development of accruals based accounting systems. Senior agency managers therefore provide an authoritative source of information on the problems that could follow from introducing it more widely across government. A survey of senior managers revealed that, despite major improvements in accounting information systems, agencies still face difficulties in implementing accruals accounting. Government departments also seem unlikely to accept easily the switch from cash accounting to accruals accounting without extensive training. The effort and resources required for this should not be underestimated.     

Cross‐Firm Real Earnings Management

Our analysis is rooted in the notion that stockholders can learn about the fundamental value of any firm from observing the earnings reports of its rivals. We argue that such intraindustry information transfers, which have been broadly documented in the empirical literature, may motivate managers to alter stockholders’ beliefs about the value of their firm not only by manipulating their own earnings report but also by influencing the earnings reports of rival firms. Managers obviously do not have access to the accounting system of peer firms, but they can nevertheless influence the earnings reports of rival firms by distorting real transactions that relate to the product market competition. We demonstrate such managerial behavior, which we refer to as cross‐firm real earnings management, and explore its potential consequences and interrelation with the practice of accounting‐based earnings management within an industry setting with imperfect (nonproprietary) accounting information.     

ACCOUNTING FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLLS ROYCE RB.211 PROJECT

There is evidence that standard setting bodies see the promotion of uniformity of accounting practice as a major objective in setting accounting standards. However, recently issued standards in respect of the accounting treatment of research and development costs allow corporate managers considerable choice in accounting for these costs. An examination of the circumstances surrounding the development of the RB.211 engine by Rolls Royce Limited during the years 1967-70 is undertaken to determine the extent to which different practices may be employed in accounting for research and development costs under the U.K. and International accounting standards. Evidence adduced from this examination suggests that the management of Rolls Royce Limited could have complied with the requirements of these accounting standards and still have been free to expense or capitalise the costs incurred on the RB.211 project.     

Repricing of executive stock options

The main purpose of this paper is to extend the model of Acharya et al. (J Financ Econ 57:65–101, 2000) to examine the ex-ante optimality of repricing of executive stock options while considering dilution effects and the tax effects of new accounting rules associated with repricing. Although there has been a body of empirical literature on repricing, the optimality of repricing after considering the economic impact of changing accounting rules has not been addressed in an ex-ante contracting setting. We find that traditional repricing loses its ex-ante dominance over the do-nothing strategy after we incorporate the tax effects of new accounting rules. The theoretical predictions of our paper shed light on this controversial practice and lay a foundation for evaluating repricing alternatives.     

Accounting Reform in Australia: Contrasting Cases of Agenda Building

On 4 March 1997, the Department of Treasury of the Australian Government announced sweeping measures to reform standard setting arrangements in Australia ( CLERP Paper No.1 , Commonwealth of Australia, 1997 ). The Government's agenda is profoundly reformist as it recommended the wholesale adoption of International Accounting Standards by Australian reporting entities, as well as advocating the introduction of market (selling) price accounting both nationally and internationally. While the notion of market value accounting is not new, this recommendation appears to be a historical first from a government, regulatory or standard setting body. Against this background, our study draws on a framework of 'political agenda building' proposed by Cobb and Elder (1972 ) and Cobb et al . (1976 ), in order to compare and contrast the competing standard setting reform agendas adopted by the Australian accounting profession and the Government. Using the Cobb and Elder framework, we discuss potential reasons why the CLERP agenda has supplanted that of the Australian accounting profession as well as some implications of these developments for the future of standards harmonization.     

Toward a normative model of rational argumentation for critical accounting discussions

This article is based on the premise that the primary goal of a critical discussion in the accounting standard setting due process should be to reach conclusions by means of reasoned arguments. A normative model for achieving this goal is applied to some arguments made in recent accounting standard setting debates in the U.S. The model consists of eight maxims for advancing and defending arguments in a critical discussion in general and five presuppositions for a critical discussion about external financial reporting topics in particular. The normative model provides criteria for evaluating the validity of arguments, but it also is recognized that like all other language games the model does not (and cannot) carry within itself its own legitimation. The article concludes by considering how the standard setting debates can yield not only technical accounting outcomes but also changes in the nature of due process itself.     

The Informational Effect of Corporate Lobbying Against Proposed Accounting Standards

Accounting standard setting has been described as a highly political process. Different interest groups are often quite ready to criticize any proposed accounting standard and lobby the accounting standard setting body. This study explores the possibility that certain information might be revealed through corporate lobbying behavior. A game-theoretic model is formulated to examine the implications of a proposed accounting standard which, if passed, would require the financial statement recording of some previously undisclosed liabilities. In this model, management has incentive to lobby against the standard and prevent the mandatory reporting of the liabilities. Lobbying against the standard, however, may itself reveal to the market information about the liabilities. Results of the equilibrium analysis show that, because of this informational effect, a company may choose not to lobby even though the company may have a high liability and can be adversely affected by the proposed standard. On the other hand, a company may avoid revealing its liability level if it can adopt the "always-lobby" strategy. Furthermore, a company may not have to lobby at all if it can "free-ride" on other companies' lobbying effort. Companies may even be able to enjoy "free-riding" at least some of the time if each company can share the responsibilities and lobby on a probabilistic and what otherwise may seem like a random basis.