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Accounting Practices (accounting + practice)
Selected AbstractsORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND THE ADOPTION OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A SINGAPORE STUDYFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2007Yew Ming Chia First page of article [source] ,Between Business and Community': A Rural Co-op and Its Accounting PracticeFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2001Stig Westerdahl A rural co-op in the north of Sweden has grown from a tiny development-group to a small business venture with houses, a shop and an old-age home. This progress is here described focusing on the accounting practice. Field-studies, including participatory methods and interviews, depict a co-op torn between their founding ideas on shaping a good life in the area, and an increasing focus on business. This tension is also reflected in their usage of accounting. The conclusion of the study is that identity and accounting are shown to be mutually inter-linked. It is further argued, drawing on ethnomethodological concepts, that the main asset in the development, a community based on trust, cannot be mirrored in the formal accounts. The alternative is approaches more akin to narratives. [source] The Impacts of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems on Accounting Practice , The Australian ExperienceAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 22 2000PETER BOOTH This paper reports on the enteqbrise resource planning (ERP) systems experiences of Australian companies. It examines the degree of information system integration and associated benefits that respondent companies believe they have achieved, and the impact of ERP systems on the adoption of new accounting practices. The results indicate that while ERP users report high levels of information integration for many functional areas, the pattern is similar to that of non- users. Also, ERP systems seem to perform better in transaction processing and ad hoc decision- support than in sophisticated decision-support and reporting. Finally, ERP systems were found to have little influence on the use of new accounting practices. [source] Converging New Public Management Reforms and Diverging Accounting Practices in Flemish Local GovernmentsFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2001Johan Christiaens This paper aims at presenting a comparative study of the diverging development of accounting reforms in Flemish local governments in terms of accounting from a technical point of view. On the one hand, the objectives and the framework of current governmental accounting reforms aiming at improving New Public Management are currently converging. On the other hand, a conceptual examination reveals that the prescribed accounting practices are widely diverging and apparently this is also the case for the practical implementation of the reformed accounting systems. By way of conclusion, a number of possible reasons for this unsuccessful proliferation are presented. [source] ,Between Business and Community': A Rural Co-op and Its Accounting PracticeFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2001Stig Westerdahl A rural co-op in the north of Sweden has grown from a tiny development-group to a small business venture with houses, a shop and an old-age home. This progress is here described focusing on the accounting practice. Field-studies, including participatory methods and interviews, depict a co-op torn between their founding ideas on shaping a good life in the area, and an increasing focus on business. This tension is also reflected in their usage of accounting. The conclusion of the study is that identity and accounting are shown to be mutually inter-linked. It is further argued, drawing on ethnomethodological concepts, that the main asset in the development, a community based on trust, cannot be mirrored in the formal accounts. The alternative is approaches more akin to narratives. [source] Simulation of the Impact of the Recognition of Stock Options on the Earnings: The case of Canadian Companies,ACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2005SILVA BODJOVA ABSTRACT One of the most controversial accounting issues pertains to stock compensation. In Canada, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) approved section 3870, Stock-based Compensation and Other Stock-Based Payments, on November 13, 2001, to take effect in January 2002. Section 3870 forces companies to "take a look at the real economic cost of most of the stock-based compensation mechanisms" (AcSB Bulletin, October 2001, 1). The adoption of section 3870 was aimed at harmonizing Canadian accounting practice with U.S. standards. The new standard, which was initially based on two American accounting standards - APB Opinion No. 25 and SFAS No. 123 - gave companies the choice of using either the fair value method or the pro forma disclosure of net income and adjusted earnings per share to account for stock-based compensation. The Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) nevertheless recommended that Canadian companies use the fair value method, which consists in estimating and recognizing the value of the stock options at the grant date. [source] Anthropological and accounting knowledge in Islamic banking and finance: rethinking critical accountsTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2002Bill Maurer Accounting for accounting demands renewed attention to the knowledge practices of the accounting profession and anthropological analysis. Using data and theory from Islamic accountancy in Indonesia and the global network of Islamic financial engineers, this article challenges work on accounting's rhetorical functions by attending to the inherent reflexivity of accounting practice and the practice of accounting for accounting. Such a move is necessary because critical accounting scholarship mirrors, and has been taken up by, Islamic accountancy debates around the form of accounting knowledge. The article explores the work that accounting literature shoulders in carving up putatively stable domains of the technical and rhetorical, and makes a case for a reappreciation of the techniques for creating anthropological knowledge in the light of new cultures of accounting. [source] Trust, reputation and corporate accountability to stakeholdersBUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 1 2001Tracey Swift This paper explores the relationship between accountability, trust and corporate reputation building. Increasing numbers of corporations are mobilising themselves to put more and more information out into the public domain as a way of communicating with stakeholders. Corporate social accounting and stakeholder engagement is happening on an unprecedented scale. Rather than welcoming such initiatives, academics have been quick to pick faults with contemporary social auditing and reporting, claiming that in its current form it is not about demonstrating accountability at all, but rather about building corporate reputation. Academics argue that ,accountability should hurt', that if accountability is an enjoyable process, then the organisation isn't doing it right. For organisations that are currently engaging with stakeholders and ostensibly becoming more transparent about their corporate social performance, this kind of critique is likely to be bewildering. This paper argues that central to the notion of accountability and to contemporary social accounting practice is the concept of trust. Accountability is based upon a distrust of corporate management, whereas corporate reputation building is about strategically seeking to establish trust in stakeholder relationships in order to negate formal accountability requirements. Using a split trust continuum, the paper seeks to explain and synthesise what seem to be two very different paradigms of organisational transparency. [source] Nonaudit Services and Earnings Management: UK Evidence,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 4 2004MICHAEL J. FERGUSON Abstract Using a sample of UK firms for the period 1996-98, we provide empirical evidence on the relation between nonaudit services (NAS) purchase and three proxies for earnings management: (1) the likelihood that client firm accounting practices during the sample period were publicly criticized or subject to regulatory investigation; (2) the likelihood that client firms were required to restate prior financial statements or adjust current year results upon adoption of Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) No. 12, which was intended to curb opportunistic use of provisions; and (3) the mean absolute value of client discretionary working capital accruals over the sample period. The level of NAS purchase is measured, alternatively, as (1) the ratio of nonaudit to total auditor fees, (2) the natural log of NAS fees, and (3) the decile rank of a particular client's NAS fees given all NAS fees received by the audit firm practice office. With one exception, we find that all three measures of earnings management are positively and significantly associated with the three measures of NAS purchase. [source] Accounting for suburban tree information systemsCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2006Alistair M. Brown Abstract Suburban trees are things of wonder and of utility, yet accounting has systematically failed to account for them despite the availability of information technologies that could assist in trees' measurement. Taking a utilitarian view of the value of trees, this paper posits a way of accounting for suburban tree information systems, which not only follows the traditional accounting practices of the Australian Standards Setting Board, but also encompasses the idea of sharing ideas from the disciplines of the environmental sciences and computerized informational systems. By using information technologies, local councils and business entities may be able to account for suburban trees as non-current assets, and thereby improve the lot of conscripted investors who seek information for decision-making and accountability. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Accountability and Inaction: NGOs and Resource Lodging in DevelopmentDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2010Matthew Harsh ABSTRACT From the late 1980s, research on NGOs had a normative focus and was vulnerable to changing donor preoccupations. This article contributes a new conceptual approach, analysing the practices through which relationships and resources are translated into programmes and projects. The theoretical justification for this move combines the new ethnography of development practice with a re-agency approach to transactions across time and space. The study is based on data including thirty hours of video ethnography involving interviews and field visits with Kenyan NGOs in a variety of sectors. The analysis focuses on the problem of accountability that emerged through the interactions of donors and state corruption. We argue that NGOs operating in capital cities often provide organizational solutions to this problem. Depending on donor preferences, varying amounts of resources become ,lodged' or absorbed in ,capital NGOs' as they provide accounts of programmes that satisfy donors. However, no matter the donor preferences, capital NGOs provide accountability independently of increased action with communities or increased resources transferred to them. We conclude that the institutionalization of the NGO field as a well-grounded specialization depends in part on the degree to which researchers can sideline the stories generated in inter-organizational contexts such as workshops and policy meetings, and substitute understandings based on accounting practices, resource flows and social ties. [source] EXPLAINING THE UTILIZATION OF RELATIVE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A MULTI-THEORETICAL STUDY USING DATA FROM SWEDENFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009Tobias Johansson One of the more lasting imprints that New Public Management (NPM) has made in the public sector is an increase in the popularity of performance measurement. In Sweden, performance measurement has gained popularity in the public sector, not least at the local government level with the use of relative performance evaluation (RPE). Because utilization of RPE is a decentralized and optional mode of governance, a somewhat heterogeneous practice has evolved. The aim of this paper is to examine the causes of this differentiated practice. We jointly examine economic, political and institutional/cultural explanations in order to account for the utilization of RPE. The empirical material consists of archival data and a questionnaire sent to all Swedish municipalities in late 2005. We show that RPE adoption and use partly has different antecedents and that the institutional/cultural perspective appears to have greater explanatory power than economic and political, not least as a consequence of the potential to explain decoupling and the importance of change facilitating capabilities. The investigation contributes specifically to the literature on the utilization of RPE in local governments and more generally to the literature on why and to what extent management accounting practices are utilized. [source] Conflict and Rationality: Accounting in Northern Ireland's Devolved AssemblyFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005Mahmoud Ezzamel The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of the rationality of accounting thought and practice as a mediating mechanism in the highly-charged, conflict-ridden situation in Northern Ireland (NI). The paper draws on a variety of data sources, including a series of interviews with key actors. There are some indications of accounting information being used to inform discussion and debate at the new Assembly. However, a number of politicians, from a spectrum of political traditions, do not relate to this new language, and the instability of the process (evidenced by frequent suspensions) discourages learning and engagement. Overall, this suggests that, without greater continuity, there is a limitation on the ability of accounting practices to mediate tensions. [source] Converging New Public Management Reforms and Diverging Accounting Practices in Flemish Local GovernmentsFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2001Johan Christiaens This paper aims at presenting a comparative study of the diverging development of accounting reforms in Flemish local governments in terms of accounting from a technical point of view. On the one hand, the objectives and the framework of current governmental accounting reforms aiming at improving New Public Management are currently converging. On the other hand, a conceptual examination reveals that the prescribed accounting practices are widely diverging and apparently this is also the case for the practical implementation of the reformed accounting systems. By way of conclusion, a number of possible reasons for this unsuccessful proliferation are presented. [source] Autopsy of Change: Contextualising Entrepreneurial and Accounting Potential in the NHSFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2000Sue Richardson Set in the context of New Public Management (NPM), this paper uses two NHS Pathology departments to provide a clearer picture of what reforms have really achieved. Contrasting illustrations of management processes, entrepreneurialism and accounting practices are provided in the case studies. The paper seeks to explain these differences and concludes that the impact of NPM, in terms of entrepreneurial management and accounting practices, is not just contingent upon the type of activity undertaken but also upon the ,antecedent conditions of possibility' embedded therein and the personality and competence of individuals managing front line change. [source] Climate for Scandal: Corporate Environments that Contribute to Accounting FraudFINANCIAL REVIEW, Issue 1 2007Claire E. Crutchley G34; G38; K22 Abstract We examine the governance characteristics, earnings quality, growth rates, dividend policy, and compensation structure of 97 firms recently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for accounting fraud. Our results show that the corporate environment most likely to lead to an accounting scandal manifests significant growth and accounting practices that are already pushing the envelope of earnings smoothing. Firms operating in this environment seem more likely to tip over the edge into fraud if there are fewer outsiders on the audit committee and outside directors appear overcommitted. [source] Does accounting conservatism pay?ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 1 2010Raghavan J. Iyengar C21; J33; M41 Abstract We investigate whether or not there is a link between conservative accounting practices and the sensitivity of executive pay to accounting performance. Using several accrual-based measures of accounting conservatism as well as alternative measures of accounting performance, we estimate an econometric model of CEO compensation that incorporates the interaction of accounting conservatism and accounting performance. Consistent with optimal contracting theory, we find that the sensitivity of executive pay to accounting performance is higher for firms that report conservative accounting earnings. These results support the hypothesis that accounting conservatism, by limiting earnings management opportunities and improving the reliability of accounting performance measures, allows firms to formulate contracts that tie executive compensation more closely to accounting performance. [source] Financial Integration in the EU: the First Phase of EU Endorsement of International Accounting Standards,JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2008IAN DEWING In 2002 the EU adopted the Regulation which required European listed companies to prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with international accounting standards from 2005 onwards. A novel set of structures for the endorsement of international accounting standards for use in the EU was put in place. This article examines the first phase of endorsement of international accounting standards in the context of the novel endorsement structures. The article concludes that problems over the endorsement of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement reveals a number of significant policy implications for the EU including the difficulty of forming a European view, the role of private actors in EU regulation, and the issue that international standards largely reflect Anglo-Saxon accounting practices rather than continental European practices. [source] Accounting Choices and Director Interlocks: A Social Network Approach to the Voluntary Expensing of Stock Option GrantsJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 9-10 2008Eugene Kang Abstract:, We adopt a social network perspective of accounting choices and argue that voluntary expensing of stock option grants by firms may be driven by social influence and learning within a network of director interlocks. We find that firms are more likely to expense stock option grants voluntarily when they have inside director interlocks with (1) other firms that do likewise, and (2) institutional investors of firms accused of financial reporting fraud. This study contributes to extant research by highlighting that a social network approach complements a cost-and-benefit approach (or an economic perspective) when examining the accounting practices of firms. [source] Political accountability, public constitution of recent past and the collective memory of socio-political events: A discursive analysisJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Cristian Tileag Abstract This paper presents a discursive analysis of a political news interview as a site for the interactional organization of the public constitution of recent past. In a context of commemoration and finding out the truth about the past, the focus is on how the collective memory of socio-political events and political accountability is managed and what discursive practices representatives of nation-states draw upon to understand and construct ideological representations of socio-political events, namely the Romanian ,revolution' of 1989. The analysis shows how the possibility versus the actuality of knowing the truth about the events, (political) accountability and stake for actions are discussed, framed and given significance by constituting the ,events' of 1989 as ,revolution'. The analysis further reveals how this ascribed categorial meaning is used by the interviewee as background for delegitimizing critical voices and sidestepping responsibility for past actions and knowing the truth. Social and community psychologists can learn more about how individuals and communities construct ideological versions of socio-political events by considering the interplay between questions of political accountability and arguments over the meaning of political categories, and engaging with the accounting practices in which the meaning of socio-political events is being negotiated by members of society Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Making sense of male rape: constructions of gender, sexuality and experience of rape victimsJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2004Kathy Doherty Abstract This study reports a preliminary investigation into accounting practices for male rape in conversation. Thirty men and women, in dyads, were asked to discuss an incident of male rape presented to them in a vignette. The findings showed that two main issues were discussed: the experience of the rape act and societal responses to male victims. In addition, participants established a ,hierarchy of suffering', where rape was judged to be worse for ,heterosexual' men than it is for ,women' or ,gay' men. Hegemonic, phallocentric representations of heterosexuality were mobilized to argue that acts of rape and consensual intercourse are the same for ,gay' men and ,women' and therefore less traumatic than for ,heterosexual' men. This obscures the violence of rape for gay men and women and exonerates perpetrators by minimizing injury sustained. Participants also argued that heterosexual victims are likely to experience ridicule for having departed from hegemonic masculinity. Arguments were constructed to avoid charges of being dismissive towards women and gay men and of victim blaming in relation to heterosexual men. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Provision of Tax Services by Incumbent Auditors and Earnings Management: Evidence from KoreaJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING, Issue 1 2009Won-Wook Choi This study examines the associations between the provision of tax services by incumbent auditors and earnings management. We investigate whether three different effects of tax service provision play different roles in accounting practices. The three effects include the audit independence effect, the knowledge spillover effect, and the tax avoidance effect. If the provision of tax services by incumbent auditors harms auditor independence, firms may exercise greater earnings management (audit independence effect). However, if incumbent auditors gain incremental knowledge by offering tax services, the quality of their audit services could be enhanced, and therefore, reported earnings could be more conservative (knowledge spillover effect). If tax service fee leads to low taxable income, it could depress book income when book-tax conformity is high (tax avoidance effect). We find that the provision of tax services generally improves earnings quality by curtailing opportunistic accounting practices. The results also suggest that the negative association between the provision of tax services and discretionary accruals seems to be primarily driven by the knowledge spillover effect as opposed to the tax avoidance effect. Additional analysis is conducted in examining whether the tax avoidance effect exists in a sub-sample. [source] Critical success factors for modernising public financial management information systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina,PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2005Scott Vickland Abstract This article identifies a number of critical factors that have contributed to the successful implementation of a public financial management information system in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The information system, funded by USAID and implemented by Emerging Markets Group from 1999 to 2004, has revolutionised accounting practices and has contributed to a more transparent and effective public sector. This article describes the project's context and purpose, its main features, challenges and obstacles. It continues by outlining the critical success factors that have contributed to the success of the project in a challenging environment. The project was implemented in a rather unique environment since it was initiated not long after the end of the civil war and the creation of the Republic of BiH. The Republic of BiH inherited the former socialist Yugoslavian payment systems. There were no adequate public financial management systems in place, and the project team could essentially start from scratch. The project team designed and implemented an accrual accounting system, and unlike the situation in many countries, relieved the government from having to transform their financial management system from cash-based accounting to accrual accounting. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Responsibility Budgeting at the Air Force Materiel CommandPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2006Michael Barzelay The case study reported here challenges conventional wisdom about the feasibility of implementing responsibility budgeting and accounting practices in U.S. government. A variant of this practice took root and operated effectively in a large federal agency,the Air Force Materiel Command,during the period of study. Contrary to conventional wisdom, implementing a meaningful form of responsibility budgeting and accounting does not require changes in public management policies or systemic institutional reform. However, the evidence shows that instituting practices of responsibility budgeting and accounting may require considerable administrative ingenuity in adapting the generic practice to the situation at hand. [source] Examining Management Accounting Change as Rules and Routines: The Effect of Rule PrecisionAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 2 2010Rodney Coyte 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. [source] Inter-Organisational Alliances and the Importance of Accounting for Value in Kind Transactions: Exploring the Role of Formal Management Accounting ControlsAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Brian A. Burfitt This article examines the role of management accounting control practices in relation to inter-organisational alliances (IOAs) involving non-cash, ,value in kind' (VIK) transactions. The research is undertaken in the context of a retrospective case study of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games which examines how SOCOG managed and accounted for over $360 million of VIK. The case study is based on both document study and interviews with individuals involved with this aspect of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. On combining previous research concerning both the lifecycle (Das and Teng 2002) and the nature of formal accounting controls (Dekker 2004) in IOAs, a lack of directly transferable expertise from traditional accounting practices in relation to the following aspects of the management and control of VIK , recognition, planning/budgeting, procedures/rules and performance monitoring , becomes evident. Given the potential economic significance of VIK transactions, this suggests a need for both further research and professional discourse in this area to ensure sufficient visibility of, and management planning and control for, VIK transactions. [source] The Impacts of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems on Accounting Practice , The Australian ExperienceAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 22 2000PETER BOOTH This paper reports on the enteqbrise resource planning (ERP) systems experiences of Australian companies. It examines the degree of information system integration and associated benefits that respondent companies believe they have achieved, and the impact of ERP systems on the adoption of new accounting practices. The results indicate that while ERP users report high levels of information integration for many functional areas, the pattern is similar to that of non- users. Also, ERP systems seem to perform better in transaction processing and ad hoc decision- support than in sophisticated decision-support and reporting. Finally, ERP systems were found to have little influence on the use of new accounting practices. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||