The missing link? Understanding the relationship between individual and organisational learning

This article recognises that individual learning plays a key role in organisational learning. It identifies that there has been little empirical research to date exploring the interaction between individual and organisational learning. New research is presented from a company engaged in organisational learning, by a case study investigation utilising qualitative and quantitative research methods. The article explores key issues in training and development related to the interaction of individual and organisational learning, and concludes that individual learning is related to organisational learning through a range of factors including positive learning climate, active informal learning by individuals, and effective communication of skills and knowledge.     

Exploring employee engagement in Scottish nursing at a time of multi-faceted change: developing a research agenda

Given the unprecedented levels and pace of change being experienced in the UK's National Health Service, it is critical to maximize the engagement of key staff. This paper identifies the most important issues that need to be addressed for nurses (the largest group of NHS employees). The case study for this paper on Scottish nurses in a new hospital focused on the interaction between feeling valued, involved and having a voice; and line management support. Themes and challenges for future empirical research are identified. Lessons from the case study will find application internationally.     

The determinants of audit fees—evidence from the voluntary sector

Given the growing demand for accountability in the public sector, there is a need to begin to investigate audit pricing issues in this sector. This study makes three contributions. First, it develops and estimates, for the first time, a model of audit fee determinants for the charity sector. As in previous private sector company studies, size, organisational complexity and audit firm location are the major determinants. A positive association between audit fees and fees for non-audit services is also observed. Charity sector factors of empirical significance include the nature of the charity (i.e., grant-making or fund-raising), its area of activity and the importance of trading income. Separate models for grant-making and fund-raising charities reflect the relative complexity of the audit of fund-raising charities. Second, the lower auditor concentration in the charity sector market, compared to the private sector market, permits a more powerful test of whether large firms and/or auditor expertise are rewarded with a fee premium. In the more complex audit environment of fund-raising charities, the results show that Big Six audit firms receive higher audit fees (18.5%, on average) than non-Big Six firms. Also, non-Big Six audit firms with charity expertise are rewarded with a fee premium over other non-Big Six firms. Finally, the study demonstrates that the charity audit fee rate is significantly lower than that of private sector companies; in fact it is approximately half. A change in the reporting of charity audit fees is proposed to reflect any element of ‘charitable giving’ by the audit firm.     

Audit market structure,fees and choice in a period of structural change: Evidence from the UK – 1998–2003

This paper presents evidence on audit market concentration and auditor fee levels in the UK market in the crucial period of structural change following the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) merger and encompassing Andersen’s demise (1998–2003). Given the current interest in auditor choice, analysis is also undertaken at the individual audit firm level and by industry sector. There is evidence of significant upward pressure on audit fees since 2001 but only for smaller auditees. Audit fee income for top tier auditors (Big 5/4) did not change significantly while the number of auditees fell significantly, consistent with a move towards larger, less risky, clients. A decomposition analysis of the aggregate Big 5/4 concentration ratio changes over the period identifies the impact of four distinct consumer-based reasons for change: leavers; net joiners; non-par auditor switches; and (only for the audit fees measure) audit fee changes. Andersen’s demise markedly reduced the level of inequality among the top tier firms but PwC retained its position as a ‘dominant firm’. On switching to the new auditor, former Andersen clients experienced an initial audit fee rise broadly in line with inflation, with no evidence of fee premia or discounting. They also reported significantly lower NAS fees, consistent with audit firms and auditees responding to public concerns about perceptions of auditor independence. There is no general evidence of knowledge spillover effects or cross-subsidisation of the audit fee by NAS. The combined findings provide no evidence to indicate that recent structural changes have resulted in anticompetitive pricing; the key concerns remain the lack of audit firm choice and issues concerning the governance and accountability of audit firms.     

The determinants of audit committees: evidence from the charity sector

Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of agency theory, institutional theory and resource dependency theory, this study finds that board attributes (consisting of the number of trustees and board structure), charity size, the nature of charitable activities, and external influences (namely proportion of restricted funds, presence of government funding and auditor quality) are all significantly positively associated with the annual report disclosure of audit committee existence. No relationship was found with either organizational legal form or donor dependence.     

Corporate Financing Decisions: UK Survey Evidence

Abstract:  Despite theoretical developments in recent years, our understanding of corporate capital structure remains incomplete. Prior empirical research has been dominated by archival regression studies which are limited in their ability to fully reflect the diversity found in practice. The present paper reports on a comprehensive survey of corporate financing decision-making in UK listed companies. A key finding is that firms are heterogeneous in their capital structure policies. About half of the firms seek to maintain a target debt level, consistent with trade-off theory , but 60% claim to follow a financing hierarchy, consistent with pecking order theory . These two theories are not viewed by respondents as either mutually exclusive or exhaustive. Many of the theoretical determinants of debt levels are widely accepted by respondents, in particular the importance of interest tax shield, financial distress, agency costs and also, at least implicitly, information asymmetry. Results also indicate that cross-country institutional differences have a significant impact on financial decisions.     

The Impact of Graph Slope on Rate of Change Judgments in Corporate Reports

The use of graphs to disclose financial information in annual reports represents a significant dimension of financial disclosure management. Statistical graphics studies demonstrate that the accurate visual decoding of a graph is contingent upon the graph's slope parameter . This article reports two related studies into the slope parameter in a financial reporting context. A laboratory experiment indicates that sub-optimal slope parameters produce distorted judgments of corporate performance and an examination of the graphical formatting choices of 240 large U.K. companies indicates material departures from the optimal slope parameter. Policy implications are discussed.     

The Ethics of In-company Research: An Exploratory Study

This paper seeks to advance ethical practice in business and integrate ethics with management curricula. It focuses on the ethical dimensions of in-company research conducted by human resource practitioners who are part time students on a postgraduate research degree award (M.Sc. in HRM). These dual roles of academic researcher in HRM and HR practitioner can become blurred and present particular ethical considerations. Beyond ethical perspectives of HRM, the paper investigates the ethics of in-company research in terms of conceptual and operational factors. The main conclusion is that ethical guidelines need to be developed for M.Sc. in HRM students. Draft guidelines are offered as the basis for development.     

A new method for ranking academic journals in accounting and finance

Given the many and varied uses to which journal rankings are put. interest in ranking journal ‘quality’ is likely to persist. Unfortunately, existing methods of constructing such rankings all have inherent limitations. This paper proposes a new (complementary) approach, based on submissions to RAE 2001. which is not restricted to a pre-defined journal set and, importantly, is based on quality choice decisions driven by economic incentives. For three metrics, submissions to RAE 2001 are compared with the available set of publications to provide evidence on the perception of journal quality, a fourth metric is based on the overall RAE grades, and an overall ranking is produced.