Conceptualizing management accounting change: an institutional framework

Starting from the position that management accounting systems and practices constitute organizational rules and routines, this paper describes an institutional framework for the conceptualization of management accounting change. Drawing from (old) institutional economics, the framework explores the complex and ongoing relationship between actions and institutions, and demonstrates the importance of organizational routines and institutions in shaping the processes of management accounting change. The inherent stability and continuity of organizational life is discussed, and three categorizations of institutional change are explored. The framework is offered as a starting point for researchers interested in studying management accounting change, and through such studies the framework will be extended and refined.     

Examining Management Accounting Change as Rules and Routines: The Effect of Rule Precision

This study examines change in management accounting practices as change in rules and routines. Informed by the institutional theory‐inspired framework of Burns and Scapens (2000) , the rules and routines relating to capital expenditure controls in a capital‐intensive organisation are analysed. We explain how preciseness of rules affects not only the coupling of rules to routines, but also the emergence of multiple routines, enhancing the understanding of how management accounting practices remain stable and/or change over time. These results extend and refine recent research relating to management accounting change and offer new empirical insights into practice.     

Institutional contradiction and management control innovation: A field study of total quality management practices in a privatized telecommunication company

The purpose of this paper is to theorise the changes surrounding the introduction of a management control innovation, total quality management (TQM) techniques, within Telecom Fiji Limited. Using institutional theory and drawing on empirical evidence from multiple sources including interviews, discussions and documents, the paper explicates the institutionalization of these TQM practices. The focus of the paper is the micro-processes and practice changes around TQM implementation, rather than the influence of the macro-level structures that are often linked with institutional theory. The change agents used Quality Action Teams and the National Quality Council to introduce new TQM routines. The present study extends the scope of institutional analysis by explaining how institutional contradictions impact to create and make space for institutional entrepreneurs, who in turn, modify existing routines or introduce new routines in fluid organizational environments which also exhibit evidence of resistance.     

Committed to professionalism: Organizational responses of mid-tier accounting firms to conflicting institutional logics

We study how mid-tier accounting firms deal with changes in their institutional environment that resulted in a shift in emphasis from the trustee logic to the commercial logic. We find that these mid-tier firms selectively adopt practices related to the commercial logic, while retaining a principal commitment to the trustee logic. Interviews with high level informants in these firms show how specific strategic choice opportunities serve as independent critical events framing practice-adoption decisions. Main strategic issues for the mid-tier firms relate to the changing role of the accountant and changes in organizational structure and practices. As these issues fundamentally challenge characteristics of their professional identity, there is internal resistance against this transformation. Non-partnered accountants mainly challenge new roles that upset their extant work routines, whereas partners resist changes affecting their autonomy. These types of resistance directly impact the strategic organizational responses of the accounting firms to institutional pressures.     

制度变迁、多元化行为与经营绩效——基于中国银行业的实证研究

按照“制度—行为—绩效”范式构建商业银行多元化分析框架,采用中国上市银行2003～2013年的面板数据,就制度变迁、多元化行为与商业银行经营绩效之间的关系进行实证研究.研究发现:以利率市场化为主要特征的金融制度变迁影响了商业银行的多元化经营行为,利率市场化改革促使商业银行向多元化发展转型;在制度变迁的背景下,利率市场化与多元化的交互作用对商业银行经营绩效的提升起到了一定作用,制度变迁通过影响商业银行的多元化行为,从而影响商业银行的经营绩效.对此,金融监管部门在推动宏观金融调控从以数量为主向以价格为主转变的过程中,应注重宏观审慎监管与微观审慎监管的协调推进,对金融机构实施分类监管,允许商业银行适度开展多元化经营,而商业银行也应根据资本水平和业务实际,审慎选择多元化发展路径.     

What does organizational change mean? Speculations on a taken for granted category

Despite widespread research on why and how organizations change, what constitutes change is often taken for granted. Its definition is avoided. Studies based on individuals’ rational choice imply that change flows from purposive actions in accordance with an objective, external reality whereas contextualism argues that change results from institutional pressures, isomorphisms and routines. But both depict change as the passage of an entity, whether an organization or accounting practices, from one identifiable and unique status to another. Despite their differences over whether reality is independent, concrete and external, or socially constructed, both assume that actors (or researchers) can identify a reality to trace the scale and direction of changes. This reflects modernist beliefs that organizational space and time are unique and linear. The paper takes issue with this and argues that ‘a-centred organizations’ and ‘drift’ should replace conventional definitions of organizations and change. The arguments are inspired by the arguments of the sociology of translation and constructivism, and insights from two case studies of Enterprise Resource Planning system implementations in large multinational organizations. The latter illustrate how defining change is problematic—as new systems gave rise to multiple spaces and times within the organizations. The paper traces the implications of this for control and accounting studies tout court.     

Trust for accounting and accounting for trust

This paper combines insights from the sociology of knowledge and the emerging practice-based literature on learning and knowing to extend the institutional framework of accounting change developed by Burns and Scapens [Burns, J., Scapens, R.W., 2000. Conceptualising management accounting change: an institutional framework. Manage. Acc. Res., 11, 3–25]. In particular, it explores how management accounting systems (MAS) can be implicated in processes of learning and culture change, and used to identify ‘trustworthy’ solutions in the face of organisational crises. A case study of an Italian company, which was subject to massive change following its acquisition by General Electric, is used to discuss how, when crises arise and organisation members find themselves under intense pressure for change, their rationales and routinised behaviour, which are driven by the existing knowledge and cultural assumptions, are challenged. The case illustrates how MAS can act as sources of trust for the processes of change – i.e., accounting for trust; while at the same time being socially constructed objects of trust – i.e., trust for accounting. Drawing on the concept of personal trust and the notion of roles as access points to organisational (expert) systems, the paper discusses how, in this case, finance experts facilitated the acceptance and progressive sharing of new rationales and routines. Clearly, this does not guarantee that change will occur or occur in some ‘desired’ direction in other cases, but it increases the possibility of replacing trust in the predictability of routines with feelings of trust for change.     

Coping with extreme climate events: Institutional flocking

The article explores the governance structures that would be needed to cope with extreme and unpredictable climate change. The impacts on the Netherlands of a Gulf Stream collapse in the Northern Atlantic are taken as a case. This hypothetical situation of serious risks and high uncertainties requires governance arrangements with high potentials for rapid and radical change. Using the metaphor of the flocking of birds, we characterize these arrangements as ‘institutional flocking’. Main features of institutional flocking are: (1) flexible opportunities for actors to swiftly respond to change through creative forms of collaboration and participation; (2) rapid and pervasive processes of learning and institutionalization of new knowledge among actors; (3) strong and institutionalized care for coherence and solidarity, to bind the various parts of the ‘flock’. We illustrate and articulate these features for two sectors in Dutch society, urban infrastructure and rural planning.     

Management accounting change and stability: Loosely coupled rules and routines in action

A problematic practical situation, which had remained unsolved for a long period, was encountered in a case research project. The apparent problem of the case firm was the modest standardisation of its information systems and management accounting reporting. Though problems linked with standardisation seemed to chronically look for solutions in the firm, only few attempts to change the situation emerged. The immediate purpose of the paper is to explain why there appeared to be problems without solutions in the case firm, and, in particular, how it managed to cope with such a situation. The paper contributes to recent literature on management accounting change and stability, primarily by drawing on the framework, based on institutional theory, by Burns and Scapens [Burns, J., Scapens, R.W., 2000. Conceptualizing management accounting change: an institutional framework. Manage. Acc. Res. 11, 3–25]. The notion of loose coupling is mobilised and integrated with the framework, and thereby the many-sided relation between two of its central notions, rules and routines, is refined. Loose coupling between rules and routines was characteristic of the everyday management accounting life in the case firm: well-developed and flexible informal routines and knowledgeable actions by the organisation's participants had the capacity to smooth the frictions of the formal rule systems related to management accounting, saving them from pressure for major change. The findings support the argument of the possible coexistence of change and stability in management accounting, however pointing to the need of keeping clear what aspect of management accounting – formal or informal – we refer to in each instance. They also suggest that the legitimising relation between the formal and the informal domains of an organisation can be an inverse of that typically claimed in the new institutionalist theory.     

‘Pushing the Boundaries’ versus Identifying the Boundaries: An Institutional Perspective on NPM Principles

This paper considers the boundaries of new public management (NPM) principles in the context of the mandate for a commercial approach within a New Zealand state‐owned enterprise (SOE). Investigating a commercial approach to NPM through an institutional theory lens, the case study highlights complexities and potential conflict between structured NPM principles and the more complex reality. Analysis reveals blurred lines and boundaries have implications for public sector organisations such as SOEs, government and other stakeholders, where managers push the boundaries beyond the point where stakeholders are comfortable. Thus, a key challenge involves developing clearer institutional boundaries to balance freedoms with stakeholder acceptability.     

城市商业银行股权结构改革的制度经济学解释

产权结构的优化依然是城市商业银行完善公司治理、提高银行经营效率的决定因素。城市商业银行制度演变的逻辑起点,决定了地方政府对城市商业银行的绝对控制权的掌握,进而决定了城市商业银行产权制度安排的非效率特征,也决定了城市商业银行的产权结构改革的趋势。正是城市商业银行的产权结构的制度安排现状,成为产权制度强制性变迁的路径依赖。"金股"机制前提下的多元化股权制度安排,不失为城市商业银行产权变迁的政策切入点。     

The institutionalization of social and environmental reporting: An Italian narrative

This paper focuses on social and environmental reporting (SER) and investigates, through prolonged fieldwork with an Italian multinational company, the dynamics through which SER, from its first introduction, has modified and developed to become institutionalized. The empirical data has been interpreted through the lens of institutional theories to provide a narrative of a three-step process which has brought about the institutionalization of SER, namely: (i) the construction of a common meaning system around the concept of social and environmental responsibility; (ii) practicalisation involving the emergence of rules and routines; and (iii) reinforcement through the implementation of intra-organizational managerial procedures and structures. The paper highlights that SER, as a result of a recursive and progressive process, has become an established and taken for granted actuality within the case study organization.     

Stability and change in management accounting over time—A century or so of evidence from Guinness

In recent years, much has been written on the nature of management accounting change, and indeed stability. Many researchers have used concepts such as rules and routines to interpret this change and/or stability. Recent research has provided an increasingly clear picture of what rules and routines are, as well as contributing to our understanding of the processes of change and stability in management accounting.Management accounting research has mainly presented rules and routines as related phenomena, but some conceptual work has suggested they are separable and can (and possibly should) be considered independently when studying processes of change/stability within management accounting. However, empirical support for such work has been scarce to date. This paper uses data from the archival records of the Guinness company in an effort to establish whether rules and routines, at least in management accounting research, are best considered separable concepts or not. The archival records are artefacts of rules and routines and thus can be used to trace the interactions of rules and routines over time. Support for the notion that rules and routines should be considered separately is presented. The findings also portray the stable, but changing, nature of management accounting routines over time; a point worthy of further research.     

The implications of reform-oriented investment for regulation and governance

Emergent practices of reform-oriented shareholder engagement are characterised as a professional social movement which gains credibility by influencing the institutional networks imbricating investors. The limitations of structuralist and atomistic tendencies in social movement analysis are resolved with an inductive, dialectical approach which is used to illustrate two cases of internal attempts to change investment policy at pension funds. Linkages are identified between organizational responses to pressure for change, and mobilization strategies of embedded proponents of change. The paper urges the involvement of governing boards in vehicles that promulgate reformist engagement, and identifies institutional networks as warranting greater regulatory attention.     

Anglo-Saxon governance: Similarities,difference and outcomes in a financialised world

The increasing pervasiveness of financial markets across the global economy has been identified in the literature with the spread of ‘Anglo-Saxon capitalism’, reflecting the notion that a common US–UK model of governance and managerial attitudes is becoming increasingly common worldwide. This paper questions the existence of a common US–UK model by exploring how the concept of ‘Anglo-Saxon capitalism’ emerged and by highlighting the institutional differences in governance and managerial routines between the two countries. As the collapses of Lehman Brothers and Royal Bank of Scotland show, common outcomes, driven by international, financialised markets and actors, may mask important differences in managerial routines and attitudes towards risk.     

商业银行实施集中审批贷款模式的缺失与对策

本文从跟踪1998-2009年各商业银行实行风险垂直管理和集中审批贷款情况入手,对集中审批贷款的制度安排及流程设计的合理性、可行性作了深层次分析,揭示了集中审批贷款模式存在理论与实践脱节的缺失,并就弥补该缺失提出了一系列具有实践价值的对策。     

管理会计变革与创新的实地研究

本文在已有文献的基础上提出了管理会计变革的制度化模型,并通过我国上市公司ABC实施的实地研究进行理论检验和发展。该模型从一个全新的视觉,即新的管理会计规则和惯例的制度化的实现来衡量管理会计变革与创新的成功;强调制度化的实现要通过一个进化式的阶段变革过程来完成;每个阶段在不同程度上要受到外部环境、个人特征、组织、技术、任务特征等因素的影响;并通过三种分类方式对制度化后果进行评价。本文研究有助于我们深刻理解管理会计变革的过程本质和后果,并为我国企业引进和实施管理会计创新提供极其宝贵的经验证据。     

Foreign banks and credit in Mexico

The role that foreign banks play in developing countries has been arduously debated. Foreign banks can improve the efficiency of the banking sector in the host country but they can also undermine local banks by selecting only the most trustworthy borrowers. In this paper, I analyze the period between 2005 and 2014 and compare the differences between foreign and domestic banks in Mexico and Colombia. Analyzing Mexico is of great importance given that foreign banks control more than 80% of the banking assets. Also, given the difference in institutional development between Mexico and Colombia, I can control for regulatory environment. After controlling for size, institutional development, and country of origin, I find that foreign banks have not stimulated growth in Mexico through commercial loans. Previous studies suggest that this lack of credit to companies may be due to a weak enforcement of contracts rather than to foreign ownership. However, Colombia has a weaker enforcement of contracts environments and foreign banks also do not provide as many commercial loans as domestic banks. This paper is of particular interest to regulators in developing countries that need foreign capital and those that want to intensify the allocation of commercial credit.     

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.     

上海自贸区建设对商业银行的影响及应对策略

上海自贸区的建设具有重要战略意义,是实现中国奇迹＂第二季＂的更高水平的主动开放措施。自贸区推行的监管模式改变、贸易转型升级、金融体制创新三大＂政策红利＂对我国经济发展将产生＂三大效应＂：改革示范效应、要素集聚效应和区域联动效应。对商业银行而言,上海自贸区为银行提供了新的市场机遇和业务空间,同时有利于商业银行强化业务创新。因此,商业银行必须高度重视自贸区释放出来的政策信号,抢抓金融体制创新的机遇期,通过加强政策持续跟进和研究、跟踪客户的需求、加强区内外联动、强化业务创新等措施,积极应对自贸区建设带来的影响。