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1 – 10 of 10Jacob Christian Plesner Rossing, Lars Hemling and Andreas Hoffjan
This paper aims to study the management of international transfer pricing (ITP) tax risks in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Specifically, the authors examine how in-house tax…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the management of international transfer pricing (ITP) tax risks in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Specifically, the authors examine how in-house tax departments interact with business managers to implement tax strategies for ITP.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on the case study method. The main empirical data consists of interviews with in-house accounting and tax professionals. The authors use social network theory and the notion of coercive versus enabling management styles as a lens for explaining the dynamic between centralized tax departments and local business managers.
Findings
The authors find that tax departments are not merely technocratic silos that mechanically administer and enforce the organizational implementation of ITP policies. Rather, tax departments are actively working to market themselves as enabling business partners to local business managers by using deliberate schemes of relationship building to accomplish tax strategy objectives.
Social implications
Corporate taxes are a vital component for financing critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, water and electric systems. The work contributes to a contemporary discussion on MNEs’ tax strategies, including how they organize tax risk management processes for ITP.
Originality/value
Accounting research has mainly focused on the technical and regulatory details of ITP while ignoring the interpersonal aspects of tax risk management in MNEs. The authors argue that today’s tax department professionals must possess not only technical expertise but also interpersonal skills. Such skills are critical for building intraorganizational relationships with business managers to facilitate the bottom–up information flows needed to manage ITP tax risks.
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Christoph Endenich, Andreas Hoffjan, Anne Krutoff and Rouven Trapp
This paper aims to study the internationalisation of management accounting research in the German-speaking countries and to analyse whether researchers from these countries rely…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the internationalisation of management accounting research in the German-speaking countries and to analyse whether researchers from these countries rely on their intellectual heritage or adapt to the conventions prevailing in the international community.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a research taxonomy of 273 papers published by management accounting researchers from the German-speaking countries between 2005 and 2018 in domestic and international journals with regard to topics, settings, methods, data origins and theories of these papers. The study also systematically compares these publications with the publications by international scholars as synthesised in selected prior bibliometric studies.
Findings
The findings suggest that German-speaking researchers increasingly adapt to the conventions prevailing in the international management accounting literature. Indicative of this development is the crowding out of traditional core areas of German-speaking management accounting such as cost accounting by management control topics. The study also finds that German-speaking researchers increasingly rely on the research methods and theories prevailing internationally.
Research limitations/implications
The paper documents considerable changes in the publications of management accounting researchers from the German-speaking countries. These changes raise the question how other national research communities internationalise and whether these processes lead to a greater homogenisation of international management accounting research, which might impair the advancement of management accounting knowledge.
Originality/value
This paper provides first empirical evidence on how management accounting research conducted in the German-speaking countries has changed in the course of the internationalisation of the research community and builds an important basis for future research in other geographic settings.
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Mathew Tsamenyi and John Cullen
This paper sets out to introduce the special issue on management controls and new organisational forms. It summarises and reflects on themes and findings raised in the papers in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to introduce the special issue on management controls and new organisational forms. It summarises and reflects on themes and findings raised in the papers in the issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings reported in the paper are based on desk research and review of the papers contained in the issue.
Findings
The paper finds that management control systems can perform various coordinating and governance roles in managing new organisational forms. However, management control systems designers must be aware of the complexities of these new organisational arrangements.
Originality/value
The paper is a summary of studies exploring the roles of management controls in new organisational forms. The issues addressed in these studies are important in furthering our understanding of the changing roles of management control systems.
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Jan O. Piontkowski, Andreas Hoffjan, Maik Lachmann and Lukas D. Schuchardt
Purpose – Interorganizational cost management among companies can lead to significant cost reductions. However, the determinants of the implementation and long-term use of open…
Abstract
Purpose – Interorganizational cost management among companies can lead to significant cost reductions. However, the determinants of the implementation and long-term use of open book accounting as a tool in interorganizational cost management still remain unclear. We contribute to the academic literature by examining the influence of different determinants on the propensity to use open book accounting.
Design/methodology/approach – We conduct an experiment and use a covariance-based structural equation model to analyze the influence of the amount of the initially offered cost information, the offer of a relation-specific asset, and the relative power structure. The model introduced in this paper also integrates aspects of user acceptance that are derived from the Technology Acceptance Model.
Findings – The results demonstrate that both groups of variables have a significant effect on the willingness to use open book accounting. We also show that users of a management device are influenced in their choice by the perceived ease of use of the instrument; yet the extent to which open book accounting can help them achieve their goals (perceived usefulness) has an even stronger influence.
Research limitations/implications – Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the determinants that lead to the successful implementation of open book accounting as an interorganizational cost management tool, and help companies to avoid pitfalls during the implementation process.
Originality/value – This is the first study to analyze the simultaneous influence of different situational and attitudinal determinants on the propensity to engage in interorganizational cost information exchange.
Christoph Endenich, Andreas Hoffjan, Teresa Schlichting and Rouven Trapp
The purpose of this study is to explore if and how companies strive for a harmonization of management accounting systems in their international business units to support…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore if and how companies strive for a harmonization of management accounting systems in their international business units to support company-wide consistent strategy implementation and to analyze the underlying drivers and pitfalls. Our paper is motivated by the tension between the need for consistent strategy implementation in the different international business units of multinational companies and the traditional differences in management accounting practices across countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The field study comprised semi-structured in-depth interviews with management accounting experts in selected German and Spanish business units of 15 major German multinational companies.
Findings
The authors identified strong efforts for company-wide harmonization of management accounting practices and found that beside explicit initiatives set by corporate headquarters, more implicit pressures such as the education of management accountants, the work of global consultancies and the use of standardized ERP-systems constitute strong drivers of the identified harmonization.
Practical implications
The findings highlight implicit pressures as important drivers of the harmonization of management accounting systems in the international business units of multinational companies. Taking these implicit pressures into consideration can help multinational companies striving for a harmonization of business unit management accounting for consistent strategy implementation.
Originality/value
Building on a unique sample of pairs of German and Spanish business units of 15 major German companies, the field study explores harmonization practices and its drivers in multinational companies.
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Michael Brandau and Andreas H. Hoffjan
The paper seeks to explore the extent of involvement of management accounting in strategic inter‐organizational decisions and control in the context of offshoring of services.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to explore the extent of involvement of management accounting in strategic inter‐organizational decisions and control in the context of offshoring of services.
Design/methodology/approach
For the present study, a multiple case study field research design was selected. A data‐bank media search identified companies actually offshoring their services. In total, 17 semi‐structured interviews with management accountants/managers were conducted in 14 of the identified companies. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis techniques.
Findings
Management accounting is involved in offshoring activities to a much lower extent than expected. The reasons range from contractual agreements between the different parties, which substitute in part for management accounting interventions, to competence problems in accounting departments. Therefore, management accounting often fails to provide support for strategic planning and coordination.
Research limitations/implications
The data obtained through the qualitative research approach have a low‐scaling level, which limits subsequent analysis to descriptive statistics only.
Practical implications
The paper identifies risks and actual problems associated with offshoring, which indicate an increased need for coordinated planning and information processing. Furthermore, it raises the question of how management accounting can overcome existing competence problems with respect to the support of strategic decision making, in order to fulfil its function within the company more efficiently.
Originality/value
Literature does not provide convincing evidence of the practical significance of management accounting in the context of strategic decisions and inter‐organizational relations. This paper shows that management accounting currently remains far removed from its function as a developer of strategic decisions and as a support function for corporate planning and coordination processes.
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Andreas Taschner and Michel Charifzadeh
Despite growing interest in the intersection of supply chain management (SCM) and management accounting (MA) in the academic debate, there is a lack of understanding regarding…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite growing interest in the intersection of supply chain management (SCM) and management accounting (MA) in the academic debate, there is a lack of understanding regarding both the content and the delimitation of this topic. As of today, no common conceptualization of supply chain management accounting (SCMA) exists. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the research foci of SCMA in the scholarly debate of the past two decades. Additionally, it analyzes whether and to what extent the academic discourse of MA in SCs has already found its way into both SCM and MA higher education, respectively.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis is conducted including 114 higher education textbooks written in English or in German language.
Findings
The study finds that SC-specific concepts of MA are seldom covered in current textbooks of both disciplines. The authors conclude that although there is an extensive body of scholarly research about SCMA concepts, there is a significant discrepancy with what is taught in higher education textbooks.
Practical implications
There is a large discrepancy between the extensive knowledge available in scholarly research and what we teach in both disciplines. This implies that graduates of both disciplines lack important knowledge and skills in controlling and accounting for SCs. To bring about the necessary change, MA and SCM in higher education must be more integrative.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors knowledge, this study is first of its kind comprising a large textbook sample in both English and German languages. It is the first substantiated assessment of the current state of integration between SCM and MA in higher education.
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Florian C. Kleemann, Andreas Glas and Michael Essig
Faced with reduced budgets and rising service expectations, public authorities are increasingly cooperating with private businesses. This paper examines an alternative…
Abstract
Faced with reduced budgets and rising service expectations, public authorities are increasingly cooperating with private businesses. This paper examines an alternative procurement- and service delivery concept, Performance-based Logistics (PBL). It has been introduced by the US and UK armed forces. However, other nations, such as Germany, are still reluctant to follow. This article has two aims: First, to identify the conceptual characteristics of PBL, and second, to analyze potential reasons why although PBL is popular in some nations, others are so reluctant to introduce it. This will be done using a mixed method approach. The concept of PBL will be introduced by deductively developing a conceptual model of PBL using a business model framework. The analysis of PBL application will be performed using an in-depth case study from the German defense sector. This will be framed by a literature review and concluded by managerial recommendations.