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The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has justified the simplification of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in several ways, but no effective justification for this simplification has been made based on the information needs of users. This study aims to provide empirical evidence of the decision usefulness of IFRS for SMEs from a prominent user group of SME financial statements – the banks.

This study uses a mixed-method approach. First, a survey was conducted on commercial bank lending officers to assess the usefulness of different disclosure items included in the SME financial statements. Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted with commercial bank lending officers to gain an in-depth insight into the appropriateness and economic consequences of the requirements of IFRS for SMEs on their lending decisions.

The findings show that commercial bank lending officers did not consider all the disclosure requirements presented to them to be equally important. Hence, to facilitate the actual needs of the users’ decision usefulness, it is imperative that when given the opportunity, users participate in the development of accounting standards.

The findings of this study will be of interest to accounting regulators for evaluating the successful implementation of IFRS for SMEs and planning the next review of IFRS for SMEs. The IASB and SME Implementation Group are presently considering ways to increase user involvement for the next review of IFRS for SMEs, and the findings of this study signify the need for user involvement in the standard setting process.

This paper aims to investigate the consequences of the coercive regulations for performance measurement and comparability that strengthened regional health authority’s control over organizations’ activities on management accountants’ relationship with clinician managers, who are the recipients of accounting information for decisional processes in health-care organizations. To achieve this aim, the research focuses on management accountants’ perception of their role and whether they perceive role conflict and role ambiguity.

A case study was undertaken in a public university hospital in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy; 9 management accountants and 11 clinician managers were interviewed and secondary data analyzed.

Management accountants show low capabilities to support clinician managers’ decisional processes. Following the enactment of regulations, management accountants perform their role with a primary focus on functional responsibility. The focus on the provision of information to address regulations influenced management accountants’ capability to act as business partners in the organization. Because of the conflicting information needs from regulations and clinician managers, management accountants experience role conflict and ambiguity.

The paper has implications for policymakers, underlining the consequences of strict regulations on management accountants’ role. It also emphasizes the importance of revising accounting techniques to satisfy both regional requirements and clinician managers’ needs for decision-making.

The article contributes to knowledge related to the role of management accountants in health care. It explores, in particular, the consequences of coercive regulations in health-care organizations, adding knowledge to a field that remains quite unexplored.

The paper's purpose is to explore and describe the interface between the customer component of a market orientation and the accounting information used in making product‐level decisions.

Exploratory/descriptive organisational case study of a multi‐function product decision‐making setting. Development of a model of the customer‐accounting information requirements of a market orientation.

Describes how customer‐orientated product decisions are guided by managers' shared understanding of product‐attributes and conceptions of a “product” as a “bundle of attributes, benefits or characteristics”. Describes the limited accounting function involvement in product‐decisions and the use of customer‐orientated and non‐financial decision criteria.

A market‐orientated approach to business has been associated with increased business performance. The identification and integration of information from the management accounting discipline facilitates the understanding of the resource costs of satisfying individual customer needs and assists in operational level decisions. The authors highlight potential barriers to the integration of customer‐orientated accounting information in product decisions.

There remains a scarcity of marketing and management accounting interdisciplinary case research at the product‐attribute decision‐making level. The organisational study provides an insight into the decision‐making information and processes at the market orientation and management accounting interface. A framework and suggestions for the further development of interfunctional product‐level decision‐making are provided.

How do cognitive aspects influence the use/non-use of accounting information by the politicians? The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and theorize the readiness to use and the actual use of accounting information in relation to the human and social agency involved.

Applying cognitive fit theory and social cognitive theory, the authors explain how cognition of accounting information producers and users relates to their tasks and their environment. Analyzing cognitive matching, the authors develop accounting information usefulness as a function of the cognitive match between the accounting information producers and users.

The theoretical findings posit that cognitive fit increases with the degree of matching between the cognition of accounting information producers and the cognition of accounting information users. The theory proposes that enriching and matching the various cognitive factors lead to formation of more aligned mental representations to govern the processes of accounting information production and use as a prerequisite for the accounting information usefulness.

By theorizing human cognition, behavior and learning, the authors seek to contribute to the explanation and prediction of accounting information use. Future research needs to empirically validate and/or further develop the propositions.

Practically, the conceptualization can be used to align individual and collective learning on both sides and to introduce information use audit as an instrument for supporting collective learning.

The theory of accounting information usefulness is the first attempt in public sector accounting literature to explain the relation of production and consumption of accounting information in relation to the cognition of the actors involved.

Analyze the importance of sustainable innovation strategy applied in manufacturing companies in Indonesia which affects the company's financial performance through several mediating variables.

The population in this research was medium and large manufacturing company business units in East Java. Business units are part of a company considered as the profit center. The business unit as the unit of analysis in this research is part of the organization that: (1) is responsible for the production and marketing of a product or set of products; (2) is formed by product type; (3) has its own competitors which are different from competitors of other business units or divisions within a parent company; (4) has a manager who is responsible and has authority over the planning and implementation of strategies to achieve the specified profit target.

Innovation strategy has a significant effect on financial performance. Human capital does not significantly mediate the relationship between innovation strategy and financial performance. Capital performance and internal performance do not mediate the relationship between innovation strategy and financial performance. Management accounting information system does not mediate the relationship between innovation strategy and financial performance. Internal process performance mediates the relationship between innovation strategy and financial performance. Management accounting information system and internal process performance mediate the relationship between innovation strategy and financial performance.

The difference in findings confirms that this research needs to be conducted. On the other hand, there is no research that has comprehensively tested the mediating effects of Human Capital and Management Accounting Information System in the relationship between Innovation Strategy and Internal Process Performance and the Impact on Corporate Financial Performance. The originality of this research can be seen in the use of contingency theory which narrows the gap between the industrial organization (I/O) paradigm and the resource-based view (RBV) regarding competitive advantage and performance. Specifically, this research introduces innovation strategy, human capital, management accounting information system, and internal business process performance as the contingency factors that affect financial performance. Second, empirically, this research tries to reduce the gap in empirical research by offering new research model and new research establishment at the level of strategic business units (SBU) in manufacturing companies in East Java. This research is expected to be useful for policy decision making, especially for managers who want to improve strategic business unit's financial performance.

The purpose of this paper is to research the use of accounting information by politicians. Based on the Portuguese Parliament setting, it seeks to understand how useful politicians consider this information to be, what type of budgetary and financial information they use, and for what purposes. Finally, the research also seeks to find out whether politicians resort to expert intermediaries or advisors help them in the use of this information.

Following a qualitative and interpretative methodology, the study draws upon interviews with Members of Parliament in Portugal (and their technical advisors (TAs)) from all political parties, in particular the members of the Budget, Finance and Administrative Modernization Committee (COFMA) of the Parliament.

Research shows that, due to the general lack of knowledge and the complexity of the accounting information, politicians in the Parliament do not use it frequently, only occasionally. To be better or worse informed for the debates and other activities depends on each Member of Parliament’s personal willingness to prepare oneself, notwithstanding some aggregated and previously analyzed information made available by official technical support units. Parliamentarians may also resort to TAs, who prepare the information at their request. Both intermediaries and TAs are deemed important to support parliamentarians’ understanding of more technical budgetary and financial issues.

This paper shows that politicians acknowledge there is room for improving the role of information intermediaries and advisors, who would support them to better understand and use accounting information. Parliamentary groups incharge of hiring advisors, as well as accounting professionals, in Portugal and in other countries, must be aware of the very useful role accountants play in this process.

While allowing to understand whether and how politicians use accounting information, this research contributes to the process of public sector accounting reforms in Portugal, and at an international level, inasmuch as public sector accounting and reporting standards should better address these users’ information needs. Assuming that these reforms would foster more accurate, transparent and useful information for accountability and decision making, it is essential that politicians acknowledge and become real users of accounting information, in order to accomplish those objectives.

This study contributes to the general knowledge of how politicians use accounting information. Academic studies so far have not gathered enough evidence about the type of accounting information that is actually important for politicians. This paper highlights that use of such information by politicians depends on individual skills and their willingness to receive the appropriate advice.

This paper aims to explore how the introduction of new accounting information influences the understandings of cost-consciousness. Furthermore, the paper explores how managers use accounting information to shape organizational members’ understanding of changes, and how focusing on cost-consciousness influence professional culture within social services.

The paper is based on a case study, drawing on sensemaking as a theoretical lens. Top management, middle management and staff specialists at a medium-sized Danish municipality are interviewed.

The paper demonstrates how accounting metaphors can be effective in linking cost information and cost-consciousness to operational decisions in daily work practices. Further, the study elucidates how professionalism may be strengthened based on the use of accounting information.

The study is context specific, and the role of accounting in professional work varies on the basis of the specific techniques involved.

The paper shows how managers influence how professionals interpret and use accounting information. It shows how cost-consciousness can be integrated with social work practices to improve service quality.

The paper contributes to the literature on how accounting information influences social work. To date, only a few papers have focused on how cost-consciousness can be understood in practice and how it influences professional culture. Further, the study expands the limited accounting metaphor research.

This study aims to explore the state of environmental management accounting practice and the motivations for its use with a view to improving waste and recycling management by local government. The focus is on practice in local governments situated in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Prior studies suggest the need for environmental management accounting as a supporting tool for waste management.

An exploratory case study method was applied in 12 NSW local government organisations. In each local government interviews were conducted with managers responsible for waste and recycling issues.

Contrary to prior research this study found that, in the local governments investigated, an increasing amount of environmental management accounting information is being made available. The case studies found two main motivations encouraging the development of environmental management accounting in local government: first, social structural influences, such as regulatory pressures from different environmental regulatory bodies, environmental expectations from local communities, and pressures from peer councils; second, organisational contextual influences reflecting situational needs in the organisational contexts, such as complex waste operations and service designs, changes and uncertainties in waste and recycling management, and the council's strategic position for waste management.

The results imply that institutional theory and contingency theory provide different but complementary explanations for the development of environmental management accounting in waste management. Although previous environmental studies are overwhelmingly in favour of social system‐based theories, such as institutional theory, to explain environmental changes in organisations, an organisation's contextual dynamics seem to be equally important.

The findings about motivations provide useful information for environmental strategists and government regulators to make policies that improve accountability and the efficiency of waste and recycling management as well as promote future development of environmental management accounting to support sustainable waste management solutions.

This study investigates the perceived suitability of the international accounting standards among the Jordanian preparers, users and auditors. Multivariate analysis and non‐parametric statistics are applied to test hypotheses. The t‐test was used to measure the suitability of IAS to the Jordanian environment. The results indicated that IASC is a neutral body and therefore is capable of producing neutral and relevant accounting standards that might be applied by developing countries. The ANOVA and the Chisquare tests were applied to test variation in the perceived suitability of IAS to the Jordanian environment. The results indicated that the type of audit firm, years of experience and type of experience affected the respondents’ views towards the suitability of IAS to Jordan. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the most influential factor affecting the adoption of IAS in Jordan. The results indicated that the local need for foreign investments and international audit firms were the most influential factors while local and foreign investors in addition to the international audit firms are the biggest beneficiaries of that adoption. Finally, this study found that no attempt had been made by the Jordanian regulators to benefit from the past experience of other developing countries. The respondents believed that in order to increase the reliability of Jordanian financial information IAS were quickly adopted without any discussion as to whether each IAS was suitable to the Jordanian context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore accountability from the perspective of charity donors.

The research utilises semi-structured interviews with a range of donors. In addition, it summarises the main findings from key related research (that uses document content analysis and questionnaire surveys) as a basis for better appreciating donor engagement.

This research offers evidence that while donors are viewed as the key stakeholder to whom a charity should be accountable, the relevance of the information commonly disclosed in formal charity communications is questionable. This is viewed as significant in terms of small dependent donors, although less critical in the case of non-dependent large donors who have power to demand individualised information. However, although all donors do not particularly engage with these formal communications, they are viewed by them as having significance and their production and publication serves as an important legitimising tool in the sector (enhancing trust and reputation).

This research is based on semi-structured interviews with individual small donors and large institutional donors to large UK charities and therefore any generalising of the conclusions beyond large charities, and beyond the UK, should be undertaken with care. In addition, it focuses solely on the perceptions of donors, and other stakeholder groups are also important in this process.

Despite the widespread acceptance that charities have a duty to discharge accountability to their stakeholders, there is limited knowledge of their information needs and whether the performance information currently being disclosed fulfils them. This study provides a unique insight into the perspective of a key stakeholder group (donors) with respect to accountability.