Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework of external accounting communication in the form of a typology based on perspectives, traditions, and theories from the discipline of communication studies. The focus is accounting communication with external audiences via public written documents outside the audited financial statements, i.e., annual reports, press releases, CSR reports, websites, conference calls, etc.

The theoretical framework is based on two broad research perspectives on accounting communication: (A) a functionalist-behavioural transmission perspective and (B) a symbolic-interpretive narrative perspective. Eight traditions of communication research are introduced which provide alternative ways of conceptualising accounting communication, namely (1) mathematical tradition, (2) socio-psychological tradition, (3) cybernetic/systems-oriented tradition, (4) semiotic tradition, (5) rhetorical tradition, (6) phenomenological tradition, (7) socio-cultural tradition, and (8) critical tradition. Exemplars of each tradition from prior accounting research, to the extent they have been adopted, are discussed. Finally, a typology is developed, which serves as a heuristic device for viewing similarities and differences between research traditions.

Prior accounting studies predominantly focus on the role of discretionary disclosures in accounting communication in the functioning of the relationship between organisations and their audiences. Research is predominantly located in the mathematical, the socio-psychological, and the cybernetic/systems-oriented tradition. Accounting communication is primarily viewed as the transmission of messages about financial, environmental, and social information to external audiences. Prior research is mainly concerned with the communicator (e.g. CEO personality) and the message (e.g. intentions and effects of accounting communication). Research from alternative traditions is encouraged, which explores how organisations and their audiences engage in a dialogue and interactively create, sustain, and manage meaning concerning accounting and accountability issues.

The paper identifies, organises, and synthesises research perspectives, traditions, and associated theories from the communication studies literature in the form of a typology. The paper concludes with an extensive agenda for future research on accounting communication.

The purpose of this paper is to longitudinally analyse the evolution of multiple narrative textual characteristics in the chairman’s statements of Guinness from 1948 to 1996, with the aim of studying impression management influences. It attempts to contribute insights on impression management over time.

The paper attempts to contribute to external accounting communication literature, by building on the socio-psychological tradition within the functionalist-behavioural transmission perspective. The paper analyses multiple textual characteristics (positive, negative, tentative, future and external references, length, numeric references and first person pronouns) over 49 years and their potential relationship to profitability. Other possible disclosure drivers are also controlled.

The findings show that Guinness consistently used qualitative textual characteristics with a self-serving bias, but did not use those with a more quantitative character. Continual profits achieved by the company, and the high corporate/personal reputation of the company/chairpersons, inter alia, may well explain limited evidence of impression management associated with quantitative textual characteristics. The context appears related to the evolution of the broad communication pattern.

Impression management is likely to be present in some form in corporate disclosures of most companies, not only those companies with losses. If successful, financial reporting quality may be undermined and capital misallocations may result. Companies with a high public exposure such as those with a high reputation or profitability may use impression management in a different way.

Studies analysing multiple textual characteristics in corporate narratives tend to focus on different companies in a single year, or in two consecutive years. This study analyses multiple textual characteristics over many consecutive years. It also gives an original historical perspective, by studying how impression management relates to its context, as demonstrated by a unique data set. In addition, by using the same company, the possibility that different corporate characteristics between companies will affect results is removed. Moreover, Guinness, a well-known international company, was somewhat unique as it achieved continual profits.

This research aims to examine and understand the rationales and modalities behind the use of disclosure before, during and after a corporate governance scandal involving CPA Australia (CPAA).

Data beyond CPAA's annual reports were collected, such as news articles, media releases, an independent review panel (IRP) report, and the Chief Operating Officer's letter to members. These disclosures were manually coded and analysed through the word counts and word trees in NVivo. This study also relied on Norbert Elias' conceptual tool of power games among networks of actors – figurations – to model the scandal as a power game between the old Board, the press, concerned members, the IRP and the new Board. This study analysed the data to reveal a collective and in fieri power balance that changed with the phases of the scandal.

A mix of voluntary, involuntary, requested and absent disclosures was important in triggering, managing and ending the CPAA scandal. Moreover, communication and disclosure fulfilled a constitutive role since both: mobilised actors, enabled coordination among actors, contributed to pursuing shared goals and influenced power balances. Such a constitutive role was at the heart of the ability of coalitions of figurations to challenge and restore the powerful status quo.

This research introduces to accounting studies the collective and in fieri dimensions of power from figurational theory. Moreover, the research sheds new light on using voluntary, involuntary, requested and absent disclosures before, during and after a corporate crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG) using Smart PLS. Couched within an institutional theory framework, it explores a conceptual model developed to explain the hypothesised relationships between technical and organisational factors and the development and use of performance indicators and accountability practices.

Surveys were sent to senior finance officers in all local governments (457) across Indonesia with a response rate of 21.4 percent being achieved. Smart PLS was used to assess the quality of the data and analyse the research model proposed.

Findings revealed that ILGs developed performance indicators more to fulfil regulatory requirements than to make their organisation more effective and efficient. As a way of increasing the success of PMS implementation management commitment through good leadership was found to be a major contributor. Coercive pressure from central government impacted on the result as did normative isomorphism by way of widespread training by universities (and others) and the subsequent sharing of this knowledge.

The findings will assist Indonesian central government formulate future government policy as well as design appropriate strategies for implementing the second wave of (bureaucratic) reform.

Set in a local government environment in a developing country, this research is original and makes three major contributions. First, it provides an understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures in the ILG context. Second, the use of Smart PLS is original in this context and fills a gap in the literature examining local government PMS. Last, the existence of institutional isomorphism reaffirms that this theory is still applicable in the twenty‐first century and relevant as an explanator of the results in the context examined here.

This paper aims to identify, discuss and provide suggestions for how the phenomenon of business analytics and its elements may influence management accounting and the accountant.

This paper not only identifies a number of studies from academic journals but also reports from professional consultancies and professional accounting bodies concerning future opportunities and implications for management accounting in combination with business analytics.

First, it was found that both academic articles and professional accounting bodies suggest changes for management accounting. Second, it shows that topics such holistic views, fact-based decisions, predictions, visualization and specific hard core skills are the most important for the accountant. Finally, the paper demonstrates that there are different ambition levels for the management accountant, depending on if s(he) wants to be on a descriptive, on a predictive or on a prescriptive level.

Even though the paper is general in nature, the paper discusses a phenomenon that for some reason has been ignored by practitioners and researchers. The true value of the paper therefore lies in making practitioners and researchers more aware of the possibilities of business analytics for management accounting, and through that, making the management accountant a real value driver for the company.

Herbert Simon's major contribution to decision‐making theory is the concept of “satisficing”. This was first posited in Administrative Behavior, published in 1947, and the book, concerned as it was with establishing a scientific approach to administrative theory, puts forward an adjustment of then‐current economic theory, which viewed administrative choice as a process of maximising. While, over the ensuing decades, Simon adjusted his definitions of both “economic man” and of “satisficing” in several subsequent publications, the original exposition of these was a major contribution to the area of administrative theory. An attempt has been made here to explore what circumstances might have led Simon into putting forward the concept of “satisficing”.

This paper aims to explore the perceived drivers behind the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG). It analytically assesses Indonesia’s attempt to introduce PMSs by addressing three research questions: Do organisations in developing countries actually use PMSs to aid decision-making and help plan for future performance improvement? (RQ1) Do the three isomorphic pressures exist in the development and use of PMSs? (RQ2) and If institutional isomorphism is evident, can accountability exist within the development and use of PMSs given these pressures? (RQ3).

This research explores the perceived drivers behind the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG). It analytically assesses Indonesia’s attempt to introduce a PMS by addressing three research questions: RQ1 Do organisations in developing countries actually use PMSs to aid decision-making and help plan for future performance improvement? RQ2 Do the three isomorphic pressures exist in the development and use of PMSs? and RQ3 If institutional isomorphism is evident, can accountability exist within the development and use of PMSs given these pressures.

Results determined that although employees perceived coercive isomorphism as being a driver of ILG compliance with President B.J. Habibie’s presidential instruction (Inpres No. 7/1999), the Laporan Akuntabilitas Kinerja Institusi Pemerintah/Performance Accountability Report of State Apparatus (known as LAKIP), many councils were still not reporting and those who were, were not doing it well. Many councils lacked management motivation, with some choosing to merely mimic (mimetic isomorphism) what others were doing. Better-resourced councils made use of external consultants or local universities where knowledge was shared (normative isomorphism).

An understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures, in turn, can be used not only to improve PMSs in the future but to improve the quantity and quality of LAKIP reporting.

The theoretical development and interpretation of this research is drawn from institutional theory with a major contribution being that it provides an in-depth conceptual overview and understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures. Further, it fills a gap in the literature exploring PMSs and accountability in a developing country – in this case, Indonesia.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the new Budget Act (2015) and the new budget cycle influence and were influenced by the contextual environment of the Tanzanian parliament and how this changed parliamentarians’ (MPs) budgetary oversight roles.

The paper employed analytical concepts explained in the contextual framework proposed by Alsharari et al. (2015) to explore changes in budgetary oversight roles after the implementation of the reforms. Interviews, video clips and document review were employed in the data collection. Data were analyzed using the thematic approach.

The values of the new Budget Act and the new budget cycle were in conflict with the prevailing institutions, political and power aspects. The MPs modified a few provisions in the new Budget Act and in the new budget cycle. Legitimating budgetary oversight roles as a result of institutional pressure emerged but stopped. Although there was a change in MPs formal powers and MPs involvement in budgetary oversight, there was stability as the change was ineffective.

The paper only extracted relevant aspects of the contextual framework, which were sufficient to achieve the objective of the paper. Moreover, the study was conducted only a few years after the implementation of the reforms. Therefore, it might be too early to reach conclusions. Yet, the paper serves as the basis for further studies investigating changes in budgetary oversight roles after the implementation of the reforms.

In order for the parliament to hold the government accountable to the electorate, there is a need for reforming the nature of the government system, improving MPs capacity, harmonizing Budget Act with prevailing constitution and demonstrating the political will to use MPs’ formal powers. The findings suggest that effective change in budgetary oversight by focusing on formal institutions only is unlikely.

This paper provides a more robust explanation on how the integration of institutional, political and power aspects shape budgetary oversight roles in parliaments. It is the first paper to explore accounting change using the contextual theoretical framework in an organization of a parliamentary nature. The paper responds to Kim’s (2018) call for conducting case studies to explore changes in budgetary oversight roles by investigating potential attributes of institutions when operating in practice.

Bullying affects at least one-third of the workers through either direct exposure or witnessing, both of which lead to compromised health, and as a result, reduced organizational effectiveness or productivity. However, there is very little evidence that organisations provide effective protection from bullying, and in fact, the converse appears to the case. The purpose of this paper to explore the role of both individual and organisational power in the creation and maintenance of the problem. Such an approach moves away from the specific practice of identifying “bullying” that typically engages targets and perpetrators in a dance that is really just around the edges (Sullivan, 2008) of a larger problem; a culture that permits the abuse of power and ill-treatment of workers, in both practices and through organisational politics.

This paper elucidates key problems with organisational response as identified in the literature and critically examines weak organisational response to workplace bullying using the power theory, arguing that while overt approaches to addressing bullying appear to be underpinned by a simplistic, functionalist understanding of power, practices on the ground are better explained by more sophisticated “second-dimension” theorists.

There is a need for organisations to move beyond the current individualistic understanding of bullying towards a more nuanced understanding of how anti-bullying policies and procedures are themselves an exercise in institutional power protecting and reinforcing dominant power structures.

The literature from which this paper is drawn is limited to studies published in English.

The authors advocate a realistic assessment of the role of both individual and organisational power in the creation and maintenance of workplace bullying, as a way forward to plan appropriate intervention.

Workplace bullying is problematic for organisations at several levels, and therefore for society.

That power is relevant to workplace bullying has been apparent since the work of Brodsky in 1976 and Einarsen's early work, this paper builds on a the more nuanced work of McKay (2014), D'Cruz and Noronha (2009), Liefooghe and MacDavey's (2010) and Hutchinson et al. (2010), exploring the organisational response to the raising of bullying issues by individual employees as an exercise of power.