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1 – 10 of over 79000This paper examines the effect of job‐relevant information on the relationship between management accounting systems (MAS) and task uncertainty affecting managerial performance…
Abstract
This paper examines the effect of job‐relevant information on the relationship between management accounting systems (MAS) and task uncertainty affecting managerial performance. Data are obtained via survey questionnaire of a sample of 131 senior managers from manufacturing firms in Australia. The study finds a statistically significant three‐way interaction between the extent of use of broad scope MAS information, job‐relevant information and task uncertainty affecting managerial performance. More specifically, the results suggest that under low task uncertainty situations, the use of more broad scope MAS information, regardless of job‐relevant information, would potentially result in information overload, which is detrimental to managerial performance. On the other hand, the results suggest that under high task uncertainty situations, the use of more broad scope MAS information and high use of job‐relevant information for decision‐making leads to improved managerial performance.
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This study examines whether management accounting knowledge and limited managerial discretion encourage and/or hinder the use of management accounting.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines whether management accounting knowledge and limited managerial discretion encourage and/or hinder the use of management accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the data obtained from public hospitals in Japan, this study tests whether top managers with more management accounting knowledge use management accounting more. Additionally, the study verifies whether lower managerial discretion leads to the use of less management accounting and conducts hierarchical multiple regression analysis.
Findings
The results show that the higher management accounting knowledge is, the more likely management accounting is to be used. By contrast, the more limited management discretion is, the less likely management accounting is to be used.
Originality/value
The author's management accounting research based on the upper echelon theory has shown that characteristics such as the education and experience of top managers affect the use of management accounting systems. However, the impact of management accounting knowledge and managerial discretion, which is one of the important characteristics of top managers, on management accounting has rarely been studied.
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Sawsan Saadi Halbouni and Mostafa Kamal Hassan
The purpose of this paper is to examine Johnson and Kaplan's claim that “external reporting influences managerial accounting information” in an emerging capital market, the United…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Johnson and Kaplan's claim that “external reporting influences managerial accounting information” in an emerging capital market, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on a survey instrument and institutional theory analysis in order to: first, explore accountants' perceptions of the extent to which financial accounting conventions‐based information is utilized, instead of managerial accounting information, in internal decision making; and second, articulate respondents' perception to the UAE's wider social and institutional context expressed in terms of accounting regulars, accountancy profession and partnership with multinational companies.
Findings
In line with Johnson and Kaplan's claim and contrary to the studies of Hopper et al., Joseph et al. and Scapens et al., the paper's findings show evidence of financial reporting domination on managerial accounting information in the UAE. Locating such results in a UAE companies social and institutional context, the paper reveals that the activities of regulators and accountancy professionals pay more attention to financial reporting, an issue which contributes towards reinforcing respondents' general perceptions that management accounting is subservient to the demands of financial reporting requirements.
Research limitations/implications
Although the paper's findings trigger the importance of the UAE's institutional context in reinforcing accountants' perceptions, the interaction between financial accounting requirements and managerial accounting information is an area that needs further in‐depth case‐study‐based investigation in emerging market economies.
Practical implications
The paper's findings highlight the type of information that UAE's managers utilize when making decisions. These findings are in the interest of business investors and the accountancy profession that aims at increasing practitioners' professional knowledge.
Originality/value
This is one of few papers that combine survey results and institutional theory analysis to explore whether financial accounting dominates managerial accounting information and, at the same time, provides an understanding of the underlying reasons behind that domination in an emerging market economy such as the UAE.
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There is limited research that utilizes the consequential‐conflictual (CC) approaches, which utilized radical orientation of double loop, second order and reorientation of…
Abstract
Purpose
There is limited research that utilizes the consequential‐conflictual (CC) approaches, which utilized radical orientation of double loop, second order and reorientation of organizational learning strategies. Both the functional‐institutional (FI) and CC approaches are integrated with the sustainability and ecological resources management literature. The aim of this paper is to fill this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies FI and CC sociological approaches.
Findings
This paper's contribution to the managerial auditing education literature is based on the proposition that ethics education can improve the moral and ethical reasoning of auditors, when the educational processes incorporate both the FI and CC sociological organizational learning strategies. The paper suggests that ethics education in auditing could benefit from experiential teaching methods utilized in allied applied disciplines of medicine, engineering, and educational psychology.
Research limitations/implications
Sociological approaches have been commonly applied in behavioral managerial accounting and control systems research. This paper extends the FI and CC framework to ethics education in managerial auditing research.
Practical implications
The subject of accounting ethics education is important to auditors. When accounting ethics education utilizes both the FI and CC teaching approaches, the managerial auditing education processes become interactive and cooperative by bringing experiential organizational experiences to the classroom.
Originality/value
Accounting ethics education is shaped by ecological and environmental sustainability concerns. Recently, business school interest and growth in sustainability management has contributed to the integration of ethics education in managerial auditing and accounting contexts, overcoming the shortcomings accounting programs experienced from stand‐alone ethics courses.
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Mariannunziata Liguori and Ileana Steccolini
The issue of accounting change, why and how accounting evolves through time and within specific organisational settings, has been addressed by an important body of literature…
Abstract
Purpose
The issue of accounting change, why and how accounting evolves through time and within specific organisational settings, has been addressed by an important body of literature. This paper aims to explain why, in processes of accounting change, organisations confronting similar environmental pressures show different outcomes of change.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on archetype theory, the paper analyses the case of two Italian local governments. Comparative case studies were carried out, reconstructing a period of 15 years.
Findings
Although confronted with similar environmental pressures, the two cases show two different patterns of accounting change, where only one case is able to finally reach radical change. Accounting change can be prompted by external stimuli, but, once the change is prompted, the outcomes of the change are explained by the dynamics of intra‐organisational conditions.
Originality/value
The study contributes to accounting change literature by adopting an approach (i.e. archetype theory) that overcomes some of the limitations of previous studies in explaining variations in organisational change. Through this, the authors are able to explain different outcomes and paces of accounting change and point out the intra‐organisational factors also affecting them in the presence of similar environmental pressures. A specification of the theoretical framework in a particular setting is also provided.
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Mahdi Salehi, Ebrahim Ghanbari and Saleh Orfizadeh
This study aims to assess the relationship between managerial entrenchment and accounting conservatism in Iran.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the relationship between managerial entrenchment and accounting conservatism in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
To test hypotheses, all listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2013–2018 (six years) that qualified were selected. Given the defined limitations of the study, a total of 120 firms with 720 year-observations was selected. After collecting data and figures, they were analyzed using EViews software. Having presented the inferential model tests, the panel data with fixed effects model is chosen.
Findings
The study results indicate a positive and significant relationship between managerial entrenchment and unconditional conservatism presented in the income statement. Moreover, the authors find a meaningful relationship between managerial entrenchment and unconditional conservatism about the balance sheet.
Practical implications
Managers will be more aware of the positive consequences of employment optimal corporate governance such as conservative accounting. Such corporate governance is likely to serve their interest in the long run by providing positive signals to the equity owners and board of directors.
Originality/value
By assessing conservatism’s literature in Iran, we observe many studies on this concept. Still, no investigation is carried out on the relationship between conservatism in accounting and managerial entrenchment. The present study is innovative because it evaluates the relationship between managerial entrenchment and two types of conservatism, namely, balance sheet and income statement conservatism, which have never been investigated by prior studies, notably in emerging markets.
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This paper aims to focus on applications of stochastic linear programming (SLP) to managerial accounting issues by providing a theoretical foundation and practical examples. SLP…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on applications of stochastic linear programming (SLP) to managerial accounting issues by providing a theoretical foundation and practical examples. SLP models may have more implications – and broader ones – in industry practice than deterministic linear programming (DLP) models do.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces both DLP and SLP methods. In addition, continuous and discrete SLP models are explained. Applications are demonstrated using practical examples and simulations.
Findings
This research work extends the current knowledge of SLP, especially concerning managerial accounting issues. Through numerical examples, SLP demonstrates its great ability of hedging against all scenarios.
Originality/value
This study serves as an addition to building a cumulative tradition of research on SLP in managerial accounting. Only a few SLP studies in managerial accounting have focused on the development of such an instrument. Thus, the measurement scales in this research can be used as the starting point for further refining the instrument of optimization in managerial accounting.
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Esperanza Huerta, Yanira Petrides and Denise O’Shaughnessy
This research investigates the introduction of accounting practices into small family businesses, based on socioemotional wealth theory.
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the introduction of accounting practices into small family businesses, based on socioemotional wealth theory.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple-case study was conducted gathering data through interviews and documents (proprietary and public). The sample included six businesses (five Mexican and one American) from different manufacturing and service industries.
Findings
It was found that, although owners control the implementation of accounting practices, others (including family employees, non-family employees and external experts) at times propose practices. The owner’s control can be relaxed, or even eliminated, as the result of proposals from some family employees. However, the degree of influence of family employees is not linked to the closeness of the family relationship, but rather to the owners’ perceived competence of the family employee, indicating an interaction between competence and experience on one side, and family ties on the other.
Research limitations/implications
First, the owners chose which documentary data to provide and who was accessible for interviews, potentially biasing findings. Second, the degree of influence family employees can exert might change over time. Third, the study included a limited number of interviews, which can increase the risk of bias. Finally, all firms studied were still managed by the founder. It is possible that small family businesses that have undergone a succession process might incorporate accounting practices differently.
Practical implications
Organizations promoting the implementation of managerial accounting practices should be aware that, in addition to the owner, some family employees and external experts could influence business practices. Accountants already providing accounting services to small family business are also a good source for proposing managerial accounting practices
Originality/value
This study contributes to theory in four ways. First, it expands socioemotional theory to include the perceived competence of the family employee as a potential moderator in the decision-making process. Second, it categorizes the actors who can influence managerial accounting practices in small family businesses. Third, it further refines the role of these actors, based on their degree of influence. Fourth, it proposes a model that describes the introduction of managerial accounting practices in small family business.
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Eugenio Anessi-Pessina, Carmela Barbera, Mariafrancesca Sicilia and Ileana Steccolini
Budgeting is central in public organizations. From a research viewpoint, it is an extremely multifaceted and potentially rich field to investigate and develop. The changing…
Abstract
Purpose
Budgeting is central in public organizations. From a research viewpoint, it is an extremely multifaceted and potentially rich field to investigate and develop. The changing institutional and socio-economic landscape, moreover, requires a profound reassessment of its roles and features in accounting studies. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing European literature on public budgeting, looking at how public administration, public management, and accounting contribute to current budgeting theories and practices and to advance a proposal on how they can individually and jointly contribute in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collect and analyze all the papers on public budgeting in the European context that were published in all the issues of 15 major accounting and public-management journals since 1980.
Findings
Budgeting has so far played a rather marginal role in European public management and accounting research. Among the existing papers, most focus on the Anglo-Saxon context, look at the intra-organizational aspects of budgeting, emphasize its managerial and allocative functions, either adopt an interpretive theoretical framework or make no explicit reference to theory, and rely on qualitative analyses. Public budgeting lies at the intersections between different disciplines and professions, but this multifacetedness has been largely neglected by the existing literature. These intersections thus offer significant opportunities for future research. Building on the distinction between the intra- and inter-organizational foci of budgeting, between its different functions (i.e. allocative, managerial, external accountability), and between the accounting and the public administration and management perspectives, the authors propose possible future research topics.
Originality/value
Budgeting plays a central role in public organizations and is used to allocate a large share of national incomes. This paper explores the existing literature and puts forward some potentially fruitful avenues for future research.
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Salah A. Hammad, Ruzita Jusoh and Elaine Yen Nee Oon
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to examine the relationship between contextual factors, management accounting system (MAS) and managerial performance within…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to examine the relationship between contextual factors, management accounting system (MAS) and managerial performance within the health care industry. In particular, it aims to uncover the contextual factors influencing the design of MAS that would enhance managerial performance in Egyptian hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
The premise of contingency theory is utilized to identify the contextual factors that may influence the use of MAS; namely organizational strategy, technology, structure, external environment, and size. The mediating role of MAS on the impact of managerial performance is examined through the extent to which managers use the four information characteristics associated with the design of MAS: scope, timeliness, aggregated, and integrated.
Findings
This framework provides clarity in linking the perceived usefulness of MAS information characteristics to managerial performance that has been viewed as problematic by past studies.
Research limitations/implications
The Egyptian hospital industry is chosen as the ideal setting to investigate the relationship between contextual factors, MAS and managerial performance because of its complexity and continuous inept administration despite years following its reform.
Practical implications
This framework helps practitioners develop new approaches in designing MAS within the health care sector.
Originality/value
This framework adds invaluable insights to the existing literature regarding performance implications of MAS design and functionality, especially within the health care sector.
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