The influence of accountability on overconfidence and resistance to change: A research framework and experimental evidence

This paper presents a research framework and demonstrates how commitment to a particular course of action might lead to information search that is biased in favour of the chosen alternative. The framework also incorporates accountability as a strategy for mitigating overconfidence and resistance to change.An experiment was conducted to test the predictions of the proposed framework. Results of the experiment indicate that commitment to a particular cost allocation system leads to increased desirability of the chosen system and decreased desirability of the rejected alternative. The results also show that managers who are committed to a particular cost allocation system become too conservative and overconfident in their preferred system, which leads to high resistance to change. These effects, however, were attenuated by making the managers accountable for the negative consequences of their decisions.     

产权观下我国企业会计目标构建问题研究

会计目标一直是西方会计界重点关注和研究的问题,近年来,我国会计理论界和实务界也对其投以越来越多的关注。本文试图从企业产权理论和制度变迁的角度,以利益相关者权益保护为主线研究会计目标,理清从受托责任观到决策有用观演进的必然性和合理性,并在分析英美、法德模式会计目标的差异后,结合当前我国会计准则国际趋同的背景,提出我国应确立以利益相关者权益保护为中心、以企业特征为导向、针对不同环境分别选择受托责任或决策有用为核心内容的会计目标构建思想。     

新公共管理理念与政府财务报告的完善

新公共管理是目前世界各国政府公共管理改革的方向,信息透明性是建立新公共管理模式的基础。本文根据新公共管理的特点结合我国政府公共财政管理改革的实际,针对目前我国政府财务报告中存在的问题,提出了相应的改进建议。     

Unfolding institutional plurality in hybrid organizations through practices: The case of a cooperative bank

This paper provides a theoretically informed analysis of how institutional pluralism unfolds in hybrid organizations through practices. Building on Quattrone's (2015) procedural model, the paper studies institutional plurality in the case of an Italian cooperative bank that has experienced enduring success. By reversing the usual approach to logic, defined as a stable set of beliefs, this paper shows that this hybrid organization uses a recursive system of practices in search of social order. This hybrid organization interrogates its organizational imperatives and defines adequate ways to achieve them. This paper then observes that this system of practices is permeable to external pressures, i.e., inspections by the central bank, a reform of cooperative banks, political pressure for mergers and acquisitions, and Italy's sovereign debt crisis. While such an organization appears to be ongoingly accountable to its multiple stakeholders, external pressures undermine its community accountability system and push this hybrid organization towards compliance accountability. Based on our findings, this paper develops a process model for hybrid organizations to navigate institutional plurality and to explain the potential limitations of the accountability system.     

Exploring de-facto accountability regimes in Muslim NGOs

This paper aims to deepen and advance our understanding of the de-facto accountability processes and practices within Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We employ a three-fold accountability framework of felt, imposed and adaptive accountability, supported by insight from the Islamic perspective to elucidate our empirical findings. We adopt this framework because it enables us to localise the notions of accountability, allowing a more complete understanding of the de-facto nature of Muslim NGO accountability to emerge within the context of religious ideals and between accountabilities that are externally imposed and those that are internally generated.     

Have labour practices and human rights disclosures enhanced corporate accountability? The case of the GRI framework

This paper critically evaluates Transnational Corporations’ (TNCs) claimed adherence to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s ‘labour’ and ‘human rights’ reporting guidelines and examines how successful the GRI has been in enhancing comparability and transparency. We found limited evidence of TNCs discharging their accountability to their workforce and, rather, we found evidence to suggest that disclosure was motivated more by enhancing their legitimacy. TNCs failed to adhere to the guidelines, which meant that material information items were often missing, rendering comparability of information meaningless. Instead, TNCs reported large volumes of generic/anecdotal information without acknowledging the impediments they faced in practice.     

New development: Private finance over public good? Questioning the value of impact bonds

This article contrasts the proposed benefits of social impact bonds (SIBs) with the more mixed performance of initial projects, and reviews the early literature, revealing a similar divide between initial optimism and subsequent critique. Despite this, SIBs continue to receive high-level support, while expanding their reach through controversial new ‘development’ and ‘environmental’ impact bonds. This situation deserves more scrutiny in the accounting literature.     

Political competition,tax salience and accountability. Theory and evidence from Italy

This paper argues that electoral competition may hinder rather than foster political accountability, especially when elected officers can choose among a number of tax instruments. We develop a political agency model showing that politicians in more competitive jurisdictions use less salient tax instruments more intensely. Defining salience as visibility or, analogously, as voters' awareness of the costs associated with specific government revenue sources, we argue that voters are less likely to hold politicians to account for the associated tax burden of a less salient instrument. This in turn implies that strategic politicians will more heavily rely on less salient revenue sources when electoral competition is stronger. Using data on Italian municipal elections and taxes over a 10-year period, we determine the degree of salience of various tax instruments, including property taxes (high salience) and government fees for official documents (low salience). We then show that mayors facing stronger competition for re-election use less salient tax instruments more intensely.     

Institutionalising multiple accountability logics in public services: Insights from Australia

This paper reports on a field study of how a range of inter-institutional and inter-organisational forces shape the evolving rhetoric and practice of multiple accountabilities in public services. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, we carried out a qualitative field study in the Australian Commonwealth Public Service involving semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions, and the examination of internal accounting, management reports, and government archival records. The findings suggest that emphasis on conventional instrumental mechanisms and reporting tools, such as budgeting and accrual-based reporting, support managerial (instrumental) accountability through compliance logics. We conclude that an emphasis on public (relational) accountability through public dialogue is central to the public sector accountability debate, and that more attention needs to be paid to the question of how to balance the dual logics (instrumental and relational) in public services. The findings provide practical insights for public sector managers, policymakers and governments responsible for designing and implementing reforms, accounting tools, and accountability practices.     

Organizational management in New Zealand’s public service

This paper explores the extent to which New Zealand’s central government organizations are effectively reporting on, and arguably therefore focusing on, the management of their organizations, as well as their operations. There is widespread concern that new public management reforms have resulted in an over-emphasis on the former at the expense of the latter. A solution to this problem requires a clear and consistent framework for how organizational management should be reported.