Search results
1 – 10 of over 68000Tri Jatmiko Wahyu Prabowo, Philomena Leung and James Guthrie
This paper examines whether public sector reforms in a developing country is consistent with the principles of new public management (NPM). It examines whether Indonesian public…
Abstract
This paper examines whether public sector reforms in a developing country is consistent with the principles of new public management (NPM). It examines whether Indonesian public sector reforms from the late 1990s to 2015, specifically the adoption of accrual accounting, are motivated by NPM philosophy. Reviewing and analysing Government regulations and reports, the study finds that the reforms are an attempt to implement NPM, specifically in relation to five financial management aspects (i.e. market-oriented, budgeting, performance management, financial reporting and auditing systems). However, the reforms are inconsistent with the NPM philosophy of efficiency and effectiveness in public service provisions. By requiring the use of the existing system, the reforms actually created inefficiency. This research is novel in investigating the gap between 'ideal concepts' and examining practices in an emerging country context.
Jelena Poljašević, Vesna Vašiček and Tatjana Jovanović
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of budgeting and accounting bases and their relation to financial accounting reporting systems through a comparative survey…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of budgeting and accounting bases and their relation to financial accounting reporting systems through a comparative survey of three South-Eastern European countries (Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Entity of the Republic of Srpska).
Design/methodology/approach
The in-depth analysis based on the study of related literature and comprehensive review of existing indicators of accounting systems leads to the identification and characterization of the most important components of the government accounting systems’ focusing also on the information usefulness in the decision-making processes.
Findings
Dual reporting based on different bases is the main feature of the accounting information system of selected countries. Budgetary reports based on a cash basis represent the primary source of information for decision making. Selected jurisdictions started with the preparation and presentation of financial reports based on the accrual/modified accrual basis which was not the result of the informational needs of decision-makers, so the information themselves have become their own purpose.
Practical implications
By exploring the opportunities and obstacles in the implementation of the accrual basis in the selected countries, the paper contributes to the development of the EPSAS project.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on the application of various budgeting and accounting bases, with an emphasis on research of the similarities and differences of the reporting methods, for the purpose of distinguishing more easily two basic types of reports and, consequently, identifying their appropriate use.
Details
Keywords
Per Nikolaj Bukh and Anne Kirstine Svanholt
This paper examines how a public sector organization combined management control systems (MCS) to comply with increased uncertainty and conflicting objectives of tight budget…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines how a public sector organization combined management control systems (MCS) to comply with increased uncertainty and conflicting objectives of tight budget control, flexibility, and quality care simultaneously. It also analyzes how middle managers interpret management control intentions and manage conflicting objectives, and how locally developed MCS are coupled with top management goals.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a case-study approach, based on interviews with top and middle managements, as well as document studies conducted at a medium-sized Danish municipality.
Findings
Both constraining and enabling control systems empower middle managers and facilitate tight budget controls. Furthermore, middle managers play a crucial role in the use of MCS, develop local control systems, adjust existing control systems and influence the decisions and strategies of top management.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is context-specific, and the role of accounting in professional work varies due to the specific techniques involved.
Practical implications
This paper shows how MCS, including budgeting and planning systems, can be applied in social services to help middle managements obtain tight budget controls while also improving service quality.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the limited extant research on the role of middle management in a control framework and demonstrates how MCS can balance conflicting goals in social services when uncertainty increases. Furthermore, this paper shows how the vertical coupling of MCS is tight when budgeting is employed for planning purposes.
Details
Keywords
David Ray, John Gattorna and Mike Allen
Preface The functions of business divide into several areas and the general focus of this book is on one of the most important although least understood of these—DISTRIBUTION. The…
Abstract
Preface The functions of business divide into several areas and the general focus of this book is on one of the most important although least understood of these—DISTRIBUTION. The particular focus is on reviewing current practice in distribution costing and on attempting to push the frontiers back a little by suggesting some new approaches to overcome previously defined shortcomings.
Nizar Mohammad Alsharari and Mayada Abd El-Aziz Youssef
The purpose of this paper is to explain the processes of management accounting change (MAC) in the Jordanian Customs Organization (JCO) within its social context following public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the processes of management accounting change (MAC) in the Jordanian Customs Organization (JCO) within its social context following public sector reforms. It focuses on the regulative way in which a new accounting system of government financial management information system (GFMIS) was implemented throughout three levels of an institutional framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses an interpretive case study in which the GFMIS was imposed by the government. It draws on a framework that comprises three institutional approaches: old institutional economics; new institutional sociology; and power mobilization.
Findings
In the JCO case, the GFMIS contributed effectively to the development of a comprehensive approach to the preparation of the budget while it works to facilitate the estimated process of expenditures and revenues. The study recognizes that the implementation of GFMIS may have emerged primarily as a response to external political and economic pressures. The MAC was carried out in the “from-top-to-bottom” level of institutional analysis, which confirms the “path-dependent” and evolutionary nature of the change. It concludes that the evolutionary MAC in the JCO case study was not only a decorative innovation in management accounting, but was also represented in the working practices. It has produced comprehensive and timely information about strategic planning, chart of accounts and classification of assets, liabilities, and revenues and expenses at all levels of management and programs. The study also confirms that management accounting is not a static phenomenon but one that changes over time to reflect new systems and practices.
Research limitations/implications
The need for having an integrated GFMIS in the authors’ case arises from two key dimensions: increasing pressures from the International Monetary Fund to improve fiscal management and reporting, and the government needs to respond to the demand of better information disclosure. GFMIS has provided an integrated solution for public financial management through the automation of the entire life cycle of budget preparation, budget execution, and financial reporting. The system operates across all budget organizations to ensure transparency and accountability in all public resources transactions, including allocation, use, and monitoring. Hence, it has important implications for policy decision makers through linking all budget organizations, for the purposes of supporting the process of decision making in an informed manner. The study has important implications for the ways in which change dynamics can emerge, diffuse, and implement at three levels of institutional analysis. It also explains the interaction between the external origins and internal accounts, which identified that GFMIS is both shaped by, and is shaping, wider socio-economic and political processes.
Originality/value
This study fills a gap in the literature, as it explains the processes of MAC associated with the introduction of GFMIS in the JCO within its social context. It recognizes the institutional pressures that affected the emergence and diffusion of GFMIS and how they interacted through three levels of institutional analysis.
Details
Keywords
Nizar Mohammad Alsharari and Hoda Abougamos
The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence processes of accounting change in the Jordanian Ministry of Finance as well as the Jordanian public sector within its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence processes of accounting change in the Jordanian Ministry of Finance as well as the Jordanian public sector within its socio-economic contexts, as brought about by public and fiscal reforms. The study explains the ways in which accounting change dynamics can emerge on the basis of interaction between “external” origins and “internal” accounts; which identifies that accounting is both shaped by, and shaping, wider socio-economic and political processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses an interpretive case study approach. The study adopts institutional and structuration theory as a theoretical lens and uses triangulation in data collection, including interviews, observations and documents and archival records.
Findings
The paper concludes that the new budgeting systems together with the Results-Based Management emerged as a result of interaction between “external” origins and “internal” accounts. It also highlights the interaction between these levels from one side, and the accounting and organizational change from the other side. The study confirms that factors other than economic may also play an influential role in the emergence of accounting change. It also concludes that there is a radical change of accounting systems in the case study (Ministry of Finance), which is not only a cosmetic change in accounting but is also represented in the actual working practices. The study also confirms that accounting is not a static phenomenon, but one that changes over time to reflect new systems and practices.
Research limitations/implications
The paper has important implications for institutional research on accounting change and public sector reforms in responding to recent calls to bridge the gap between the extra- and intra-organizational levels of analysis. Hence, it has essential implications for the way in which successful change can be defined in accounting and organizational change literature. It also identifies that management accounting is both shaped by, and shapes, wider socio-economic and political processes, which has important implications for the methods of studying management accounting change.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the few case studies in the accounting literature to analyze the practical issues organizations face when changing their method of budgeting as influenced by public sector and fiscal reforms. The study contributes to both accounting literature and institutional theory by providing further understanding and “thick explanation” of the dynamics of accounting change in the public sector.
Details
Keywords
Gordon Wills, Sherril H. Kennedy, John Cheese and Angela Rushton
To achieve a full understanding of the role ofmarketing from plan to profit requires a knowledgeof the basic building blocks. This textbookintroduces the key concepts in the art…
Abstract
To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.
Details
Keywords
Nicolas Berland, Emer Curtis and Samuel Sponem
The Beyond Budgeting movement has argued that traditional budgets failed to contribute to the management of tensions associated with the increasing complexity of business models…
Abstract
Purpose
The Beyond Budgeting movement has argued that traditional budgets failed to contribute to the management of tensions associated with the increasing complexity of business models. The literature has reported a range of budgeting practices developed to address these problems, which the authors refer to collectively as “non-traditional (NT) budgets.” The purpose of this paper is to consider how the design and use of a NT budgeting system facilitates the management of multiple organizational tensions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reports the findings of an in-depth case study on three business units (BUs) of the French chemical giant SSB, a company that implemented a NT budget inspired by the Beyond Budgeting Round Table model.
Findings
The authors provide detailed empirical insights into the design and use of a NT budgeting system and analyze the manner in which the new system exposes organizational tensions across multiple axes.
Research limitations/implications
It is a limitation of the study that only three of SSB 21 BU’s which implemented the NT budget project were examined in depth. This limitation is mitigated to some extent by the review of audit reports in respect of the implementation of the NT budget in a total of 15 BU’s.
Practical implications
The study contributes a means of analyzing NT budgets in terms of the different types of organizational tensions generated, which should be of use to both researchers and practitioners in researching, designing, and evaluating NT budgets.
Originality/value
This study provides detailed empirical insights into the design and use of a NT budgeting system and evidence of the success of this system in exposing organizational tensions across multiple axes. The study illustrates how productive tensions can be generated through the analysis of discrepancies between alternative views of organizational performance.
Details
Keywords
Carl R. Borgia and Randolph S. Coyner
A survey of the chief academic officers at comprehensive colleges and universities in the United States reveals a move toward more rational budgeting systems in higher education…
Abstract
A survey of the chief academic officers at comprehensive colleges and universities in the United States reveals a move toward more rational budgeting systems in higher education over the last 20 years. Systems with a traditional approach to budgeting are still one of the major systems, but they no longer dominate. Three other major systems found in higher education are rational systems: planning, programming, and budgeting systems (PPBS); combination PPBS and zero-base systems; and combination PPBS, zero-base, and performance systems. These three systems are more prevalent, appropriate and satisfactory than traditional systems.