Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory

In this paper we argue that theory, method, methodology, and knowledge gains in qualitative field studies are intertwined through the ongoing hypothesis development in the field. We develop our argument through a discussion of specific qualitative field studies in management accounting. We emphasise in particular the distinctive role of theory in qualitative research as relating to expression of a subjective reality more than clarification of an objective one. In considering this subjectivity we discuss the ways in which the doing of qualitative research brings to bear discipline on the researcher allowing us to assess the trustworthiness of their accounts. The intention is to develop a more appropriate basis for judging the plausibility of qualitative field studies than notions borrowed from positivistic methodology.     

Love or Money? The Effects of Owner Motivation in the California Wine Industry

Models that assume only consumer tastes determine the characteristics of supply are restrictive; producers can gain utility from aspects of production and pay for deviating from demand by accepting lower financial returns. We model and measure motivations of California winery owners, and analyze their effects on quality and price. We find utility–maximizers are more likely to produce high quality and set higher quality–adjusted prices. Profit–oriented owners are less likely to produce high quality wines. These results suggest that the presence of hobbyists who enjoy producing high quality may lower financial returns in the segment and discourage profit–maximizers from locating there.     

Managing multiple dimensions of manufacturing performance — an exploratory study

Drawing on qualitative data collected during semi-structured interviews with 36 profit centre managers in manufacturing firms in Victoria, Australia, this study seeks to explore the mechanisms used to manage multiple manufacturing performance dimensions arising from the pursuit of profit centre strategy. Where measures capture potentially conflicting influences on the manufacturing cost function, strategy implementation is facilitated by loosening control reactions to cost variances and through explicit attempts to integrate multiple measures. However, a joint emphasis on performance dimensions relating to manufacturing efficiency and customer responsiveness emerges as problematic. In contrast, a joint emphasis on quality and efficiency is relatively easily managed. It is suggested that in the context of responsiveness strategies, the difficulty of designing complete measures inhibits the effectiveness of performance measurement systems as a facilitator of strategy implementation.     

Risk Arbitrage in Takeovers

This article studies the role of risk arbitrageurs in takeoversand the source of their advantage. We show how the presenceof arbitrageurs affects the value of the target shares, sincearbitrageurs are more likely to tender. Therefore an arbitrageurhas the informational advantage of knowing he bought shares.In equilibrium, the number of arbitrageurs buying shares andthe price they pay are determined endogenously. We also presentseveral empirical implications, including the relationship amongtrading volume, takeover premium, liquidity of the shares, andthe number of risk arbitrageurs investing in one particulardeal.     

Communities of tomorrow

The social spotlight seems to be refocusing to the scale of local community at a time when globalisation of the economy is threatening the authority of nation-states. Certain small communities are in peril of falling out of the global economy while losing local customs to a globalised culture. Globally beleaguered nation-states are being squeezed in a two-pronged grip: from the growing weight of global capital and from local communities rising to global pressures by demanding local solutions. National authority is also being bypassed as new global communities of interest form on the Internet, expanding the meaning of the term community. But, is community more than common interest—a celebration of difference, negotiating symbiosis among diversity of ethnicity, lifestyle and aspirations for the future? This paper explores five scenarios of tomorrow’s communities. One scenario is a nostalgic return to the romantic notion of the white-picket fence. Then there is the drop-out feral community. In another future the fence becomes a fortress wall, or a ring of barbed wire. Yet another is a virtual community beyond place, where people sharing a common interest live in cyber-reality. The viable community is one for the long haul. To be viable in a global world it must make local-global links to create synergies by sharing resources and inspirations throughout a diverse, planetary society. Viable, local-global network communities of tomorrow set a global example for creativity by honouring difference and open exchange. They take responsibility for their own futures.Two powerful images from recent events remain with me, in juxtaposition. After considering the American attacks on Afghanistan, a well-experienced teacher feels isolated at the periphery, and powerless. In addition, she watches, in “quiet despair”, one of her pupils “virtually going crazy” before her eyes. She shares these words with me:

“Neither he nor I, it seems, have anywhere to run except to the graciousness and the care of the other children, that as classroom leader I’m tying daily to coalesce, in order to put a cocoon of community around him. Bit like the planet!”

“We all work to keep our very bright and fairly disturbed ADHD-labelled¹ learner connected to us in genuine relationship. That’s the foundation of authentic learning support. I’m not operating a medical model!”

Our leaders and the babbling mass media ignore this, the first image, and many similar to it.By contrast, the second image gets constant exposure. It gets instant recall from most TV viewers. It is the scramble of screen jockeys, on what is left of Wall Street, playing the casino economy, in a frenzy of greed. Curiously the main media focus emphasizes images that represent the world at the global scale. They largely ignore images of life at the scale of community.Why is this? Why does the second image of the so-called finance community, where the focus is the dollar, override the more basic image of a hometown community where the focus is human life-support? Are the media reflecting our true priorities, and have we got it wrong? Is money more important than community?     

Managerial Ownership, Information Content of Earnings, and Discretionary Accruals in a Non–US Setting

This study employs Danish data to examine the empirical relationship between the proportion of managerial ownership and two characteristics of accounting earnings: the information content of earnings and the magnitude of discretionary accruals. In previous research concerning American firms, Warfield et al. (1995) document a positive relationship between managerial ownership and the information content of earnings, and a negative relationship between managerial ownership and discretionary accruals. We question the generality of the Warfield et al. result, as the ownership structure found in most other countries, including Denmark, deviates from the US ownership configuration. In fact, Danish data indicate that the information content of earnings is inversely related to managerial ownership.     

Are the Best Small Companies the Best Investments?

Previous research finds that large companies previously judged to be excellent growth companies have subsequently been poor investments. We examine small companies selected by Business Week on the basis of multiple criteria used in annual articles featuring highly rated growth companies. We study the investment performance over the three years before eleven annual Business Week publications and the three years after publication. We find positive excess returns in the pre‐publication period, but negative excess returns in the post‐publication period. This reversal in investment performance appears to be due to a mean‐reversion tendency in operating performance, in which the earnings and the past rates of return on capital of such companies subsequently decrease significantly.     

Taxes and the acquisition of depreciable assets: The Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the alternative minimum tax

Analysis of firm investment behavior during 1982–1993 shows that the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA 86) Public Law No. 99-514 substantially affects both purchases and leases of depreciable assets. The changes in the regular corporate income tax rules are shown to lower asset acquisition. The effect of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) is found to vary with the debt share in firms’ capital structure and with the frequency of AMT exposure during the life of the assets acquired. On average, TRA86 depresses asset purchases less for firms that are subject to the AMT: AMT somewhat mitigates the negative effects of the regular tax rules.     

Accounting for Option–based Compensation: The Economic Cost Approach

The intrinsic value approach amortizes over the life of the option, the difference between the stock price on the date of the grant and the exercise price of the option. The fair market value approach amortizes over the life of the option, the market value of stock options on the date of the grant. These approaches do not reflect the changes in the option–based compensation cost after the grant date. This paper proposes an economic cost approach that not only adjusts for the changes in the value of the options during its life but also records the issuance of the stock at fair market value on the exercise date.     

Accounting Policies in Agencies with Moral Hazard and Renegotiation

We emphasize the role of accounting policies, and their audit, in an earnings management setting. We use a two–period agency in which three frictions interact: the agent privately observes action (or effort) supply and output, and the initial contract is subject to renegotiation. This creates a setting in which both players' behavior is of concern, and, importantly, information rationing is efficient. Moreover, this information rationing is directly interpretable as being produced by an accounting policy whose application is ensured by an auditor.