The relationship between self-disclosure style and attitudes to responsibility accounting

This study investigates the relationship between self-disclosure and attitudes to responsibility accounting. The results indicate that (1) factor analysis of an existing self-disclosure instrument replicated a five factor solution and (2) reported self-disclosure was directly related to the attitudes to a responsibility accounting system because such a system requires making public one's performance. More specifically, the attitudes to responsibility accounting were found to be positively related to the amount and control of depth factors of self-disclosure and to be negatively related to the positive-negative, honesty-accuracy and intended disclosure factors.     

Issues in the relationship between theory and practice in management accounting

In recent decades the interest of academic researchers in the practical aspects of management accounting has waned. This editorial explores some of the reasons of this development. Over the past few decades we have witnessed the establishment of management accounting in academia as a social science. This has increased the credibility of the accounting academics. However, it has also meant that academic researchers have neglected the technical core of their discipline and its problems and issues which have a direct practical relevance. It is concluded that there is a need for academic researchers to have a stronger focus on the technical core of the subject and to harness the findings of empirical research so that they can be used to develop and support practice.     

摇摆于利益与职守之间--透视美国银行业公司与会计师事务所关系现状

不光彩的角色 与其它行业的大多数公司一样,数十年来,美国众多银行业公司也与其各自的会计师事务所建立了密切的业务联系,并且这种业务联系已不仅仅局限于单纯的账务审计范畴,而是扩展到了越来越多的服务与咨询领域.     

The relationship between returns and unexpected earnings: A global analysis by accounting regimes

Numerous studies have documented a long-term association between earnings and returns. Surprisingly, few attempts have been made to internationally examine market reactions to earnings releases over return windows less than 12 months. This paper globally explores the market reaction to unexpected earnings defined by both the change in earnings per share (EPS) and analyst forecast errors (AFE) using a 1-month return window. First, the existence of the earnings-returns relationship is examined using a sample of firms from 32 countries grouped into accounting regimes. Accounting regimes represent groups of countries that exhibit similarities in accounting standards, stock market characteristics, corporate governance mechanisms, and economic conditions. Thus, similar reactions to earnings are expected within regimes. Next, the incremental information content of analyst forecasts, a proxy for investors’ earnings expectations, is examined. Finally, changes in the structure of the earnings-returns relationship over time are investigated. Results support the existence of a relationship between earnings and returns in all accounting regimes. In addition, analyst forecast errors appear to be incorporated into earnings expectations in most developed countries. Finally, evidence suggests that the significance and explanatory power in the earnings-returns relationship has increased in recent years.     

The importance of state accounting practices for creditor decisions

This paper examines the association between state government accounting practices and creditor decisions. Creditor decisions were surrogated by yield premiums and variances of the premiums on general obligation debt securities. Accounting practices were summarized from the Council of State Governments Survey. In addition to these practices, accounting ratios and bond ratings were included as independent variables in regression models. The results demonstrated that accounting practices were not directly associated with the bond risk and return measures but may have been indirectly related as a result of their effect on bond ratings.     

Visualizing the negative space: Making feminine accounting practices visible by reference to Japanese women's household accounting practices

This study explores the nature of feminine accounting practices by examining the household accounting practices of Japanese women in the second half of the twentieth century. Household accounting in Japan provides an excellent research site to understand the nature of feminine accounting practices. The social significance of the Japanese household and the country's cultural emphasis on interdependence mean that accounting has a different meaning in the life of Japanese women, compared to what has been identified in Anglo-Saxon-based studies. The study finds that their accounting practice is characterized by the integration of masculine and feminine qualities, as illustrated by Dillard and Reynolds (2008), and is more enabling in nature. Women use ‘hard’, objective accounting figures both to foster the long-term development of the family and to contribute to Japanese society. Accounting has been a vehicle for women to express their motherhood and construct their identity as women. The distinctive nature of Japanese women's accounting practice and the role this practice plays in facilitating feminine values highlight how important it is to further investigate feminine accounting practice in different social and cultural contexts in order to develop gender research in accounting.     

Cloud-based client accounting and small and medium accounting practices: Adoption and impact

Cloud accounting represents a major disruptive technology for the accounting industry. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to collect data from eight small and medium accounting practices (SMPs) to test a preliminary model of the determinants and impact of cloud-based client accounting adoption by SMPs. Accordingly, the SMP was the unit of analysis. The complex triadic relationship between SMPs, their clients and cloud accounting provider necessitated an interorganisational perspective. Four factors contributed to SMPs’ adoption decisions: perceived benefits of cloud-based client accounting, perceived benefits of partner programs, organisational readiness (IT sophistication and client readiness), and external pressure (client and competitive pressures). Subsequent to adoption, SMPs experienced a decline in the levels of traditional (statutory) services provided. However, most noted increases in income from business advisory. All firms were at least as well off after adoption. Improvements in client relationships and the perceived value of accountants’ services were also noted. An adoption/impact typology predicted and found positive impacts for cloud initiators, in particular. The findings have implications for owners of SMPs, their SME clients, and for accounting professional bodies.     

Management accounting and control practices in a lean manufacturing environment

A lean strategy is rapidly becoming the dominant paradigm in manufacturing. Kennedy and Widener (2008) use a case study to develop a theoretical framework of management accounting and control practices for firms following a lean manufacturing strategy. We build on Kennedy and Widener (2008) by examining a structural equation model that provides evidence on the extent to which a lean manufacturing implementation is related to five management accounting and control practices. Using survey data from 244 US companies with an interest in lean manufacturing, we find a direct positive relation between the extent of a lean manufacturing implementation and a simplified strategic reporting system, value stream costing, visual performance measurement information, and employee empowerment. We find a direct negative relation with inventory tracking; however, we find it is conditional on the extent of top management support for change in production strategies such that firms decrease reliance on inventory tracking in the presence of strong management support. We also conclude that the management accounting and control practices work together as a package in a lean manufacturing environment as evidenced by the many direct associations among the five management accounting and control practices.     

The role of multiple values in developing management accounting practices in hybrid organisations

The aim of this study is to investigate how multiple values in non-profit hybrid organisations influence the adoption of management accounting practices. The empirical analysis centres on hybrid organisations established as co-production and co-management initiatives in social care. Pragmatic constructivism, centred on the role of values, informs the empirical analysis. This research shows that management accounting practices can develop without conflicts when only some actors are interested in management and their values predominate, despite the coexistence of multiple and conflicting values. However, in this situation, where conflicts are eliminated, the validity of accounting is compromised, as it does not represent all values. The evidence of this lack of validity is clear when considering the poor development of management accounting practices and the inability to develop some relevant measures, such as outcome measures. When only some values predominate, the opportunity provided by the multiplicity of values to the development of management accounting practices is lost, and possible inefficiencies may emerge. The use of pragmatic constructivism shows that this lack of validity, determined by the non-integration of values, would be reduced by increasing the discussion among conflicting actors’ values. Findings suggest that the presence of conflicting values, that at first glance may be interpreted as an impediment, would, on the contrary, be useful to support accounting validity, when stimulating discussion. In this respect, conflicting values should work alongside communication, to include dimensions of reality.     

Management accounting practices in Europe: a perspective from the States

I provide a perspective from the States on four questions primarily based on information inManagement Accounting: European Perspectivesedited by Al Bhimani (1996). First, seven factors are identified as having shaped management accounting practices in European nations—academics, education, government, professional associations, consultants, technology, and the inter-nation transfer of information. Second, evidence supports the view that, across European nations, more changes are occurring in management accounting practice terminology and techniques than in the purposes and styles of using management accounting techniques. Third, evidence indicates that there is convergence across European nations in management accounting practices, especially in terminology and techniques, but less convergence in the purposes and styles of using techniques. Fourth, management accounting practices in European nations, particularly terminology and techniques, is converging on a global management accounting practice model. I propose that management accounting practices—particularly terminology and techniques—is converging across nations (at least for those firms that are affected by the global economy)anddiverging across industries both within and between nations.     

State regulation of accounting practices and municipal borrowing costs

This article examines the association between state regulation of accounting practices and municipal borrowing costs. The results demonstrate that stringent accounting regulations do have an effect on borrowing costs after abstracting the effects of other explanatory variables. The direction of the observed effect is difficult to assess due to presence of multicollinearity in the model. However, lower borrowing costs are suggested by the analysis.     

The influence of funding source and legislative requirements on government cost accounting practices

This paper provides preliminary evidence on the determinants of cost accounting practices in government agencies. Drawing on institutional and contingency theories of management accounting choice, we examine two potential influences on the design and use of government cost systems: legal requirements to be self-funding and mandated requirements for cost accounting data. We test these hypotheses using survey data from the U.S. General Accounting Office. The empirical evidence indicates that organizations using cost system output to satisfy external requirements tend to implement more “elaborate” cost accounting systems than units without external requirements, but are no more likely to use cost system data for internal purposes. In contrast, government organizations that are required to “pay their own way” by fully recovering costs through revenues or fees not only implement more elaborate systems than units funded by appropriated budgets or reimbursement of expenses by other government units, but also tend to make more extensive use of cost system output for a wide variety of internal purposes ranging from pricing to management control.     

Evidence on the relationship between procedural and distributive justice in performance appraisal and accounting faculty attitudes and performance

This study examined the relationship between procedural and distributive justice in performance appraisal and accounting faculty attitudes and performance. Data were gathered with a mail survey of nonadministrative accounting faculty at U.S. colleges and universities and analyzed with regression analysis. Procedural justice was more strongly associated with commitment to the institution, trust in department head, and intent to stay with the institution than was distributive justice. Conversely, distributive justice was more strongly associated with performance. We discuss the implications of our results to persons responsible for performance appraisal of accounting faculty and to researchers.     

Determinants of changes in accounting practices: Accounting and the UK Health Service

This paper uses the Social Forces Model to investigate the interplay between accounting change, institutional evolution and organizational transformations in UK healthcare delivery since 1800. At the same time, the catalytic role of individuals and events is highlighted. The reflexive organizational-accounting interactions are charted to reveal the changing nature of healthcare provision from communitarianism, through etatism to the (etatist inspired) market-based structure which, in turn, is now giving way to service provision based on local planning. By using a long time span it is possible to identify the modes of accounting which were present during the different phases of the development of healthcare. This analysis contributes to our understanding of the historical interplay of social forces by showing accounting as a technical instrument within an institutional setting, by highlighting the interactive nature of accounting and institutional change, by illuminating the role of individual action and by identifying the role of outside agencies.     

会计目标与会计环境逻辑关系剖析

本文在剖析了政治、经济、文化、教育、法律等几大环境因素对会计目标的具体影响后指出 ,会计环境对会计目标的影响是分层次、分程度的 ,政治因素和法律因素主要影响会计目标的存在 ,经济因素主要影响会计目标的定位。当一个国家决定构建本国的会计目标时 ,应主要考虑经济因素。本文在最后粗犷地勾勒了会计环境因素与会计目标之间的逻辑关系 ,并简要描述了我国经济环境的特征及我国会计目标的定位     

The accounting practices of a sixteenth-century pastel merchant from the French region of Toulouse

Until the end of the sixteenth century the French region of Toulouse was an important centre for the export of pastel, the plant used at that time to produce blue dye. What does the ledger belonging to the factor of a Toulouse pastel producer (pastelier) teach us about the role played by accounting in the relationship between the factor and the commissioning merchant? Under what accounting methods did the agent carry out his business mission? Was the accounting technique used double entry or that which we could call the factors' accounting system?     

税务会计与财务会计差异比较与协调

随着会计制度与税务制度改革,财务会计与税务会计差异逐渐增多,而且制度差异不但没有产生其预期的积极效果,反而伴生了很多负效应.税务会计与财务会计协调的总体思路应是税务会计向财务会计靠拢.     

Contingencies influencing the management accounting practices of Estonian manufacturing companies

Having regained independence in 1991, Estonia has undergone fundamental political and structural changes over the last decade, which have also affected the operation of its companies. This paper examines the management accounting practices of Estonian manufacturing companies, exploring the main impacts on them within a contingency theory framework. The methodology comprises an analysis of 62 responses to a postal questionnaire survey carried out among the largest Estonian manufacturing companies. It is comparatively infrequently that Estonian manufacturing companies have made improvements in their cost accounting methods, although the majority of respondents appear to acknowledge the importance of these practices in finding and lowering real product costs and modernizing the cost accounting systems. The effectiveness of an accounting systems’ design depends on its ability to adapt to changes both in external circumstances and internal factors. We have found some evidence that changes in cost and management accounting practices are associated with shifts in the business and accounting environment as external contingencies, and with those in technology and organizational aspects as internal contingencies. This research aims on the one hand to confirm earlier findings related to the ‘contingent factors’ that influence management accounting and on the other, to identify possible new factors, such as, for example, the legal accounting environment and shortage of properly qualified accountants.     

The interaction between national and organizational cultures in accounting firms

This paper reports the results of an empirical study of the interaction between national and organizational cultures at the firm level. Using Hofstede's Value Survey Module, the concept of culture was operationalized in six accounting firms in The Netherlands. Three of these firms were local offices of international “Big Eight” accounting firms with a strong U.S.-orientation in their organizational philosophies and policies, whereas the other three firms were Dutch in origin and organization. All six firms work virtually entirely with Dutch employees. We were specifically interested in any influences of the U.S. culture upon the Big Eight firms. For two Hofstede's four cultural dimensions, i.e. Uncertainty Avoidance and Masculinity, significant effects of the U.S. culture upon the organizational cultures of the Big Eight firms were found. Further analysis showed that these results may rather be due to (self-)selection than to socialization mechanisms.