Pub Date : 2022-02-04DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-07-2020-4713
Bridget Tyma, Rina Dhillon, P. Sivabalan, B. Wieder
PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how accountability is constructed for blockchain systems. With the aim of increasing knowledge on accountability across three different types of blockchains (public, private and consortium), the researchers ask: how do blockchain systems construct accountability?Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on theorising in the accountability literature to study how blockchains relate to our construction and understanding of accountability. A qualitative field study of the Australian blockchain technology landscape is conducted, with insights garnered from 18 blockchain experts.FindingsFindings reveal that different types of blockchains employ different forms and mechanisms of accountability and in novel ways previously less acknowledged in the literature. Importantly, this study finds that accountability does not require a principal–agent relation and can still manifest in less pure applications of blockchain technology across a wide range of stakeholders, contrary to that espoused in earlier exhortations of blockchain use in interdisciplinary literature. This study also finds that similar subtypes of accountability operate very differently across public, private and consortium blockchains and there exists an inverse relation between trust and consensus building through transparency as blockchains progress from public to private types. Overall, this study offers novel explanations for the relevance of greater accountability in blockchains, especially when the assumptions of public blockchains are softened and applied as private and consortium blockchains.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the accountability literature by addressing how different blockchain systems reshape the understanding of traditional accounting and accountability practices. This study questions the very need for a principal–agent relation to facilitate accountability and offers an additional perspective to how trust and transparency operate as key mechanisms of accountability.
{"title":"Understanding accountability in blockchain systems","authors":"Bridget Tyma, Rina Dhillon, P. Sivabalan, B. Wieder","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-07-2020-4713","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-07-2020-4713","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how accountability is constructed for blockchain systems. With the aim of increasing knowledge on accountability across three different types of blockchains (public, private and consortium), the researchers ask: how do blockchain systems construct accountability?Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on theorising in the accountability literature to study how blockchains relate to our construction and understanding of accountability. A qualitative field study of the Australian blockchain technology landscape is conducted, with insights garnered from 18 blockchain experts.FindingsFindings reveal that different types of blockchains employ different forms and mechanisms of accountability and in novel ways previously less acknowledged in the literature. Importantly, this study finds that accountability does not require a principal–agent relation and can still manifest in less pure applications of blockchain technology across a wide range of stakeholders, contrary to that espoused in earlier exhortations of blockchain use in interdisciplinary literature. This study also finds that similar subtypes of accountability operate very differently across public, private and consortium blockchains and there exists an inverse relation between trust and consensus building through transparency as blockchains progress from public to private types. Overall, this study offers novel explanations for the relevance of greater accountability in blockchains, especially when the assumptions of public blockchains are softened and applied as private and consortium blockchains.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the accountability literature by addressing how different blockchain systems reshape the understanding of traditional accounting and accountability practices. This study questions the very need for a principal–agent relation to facilitate accountability and offers an additional perspective to how trust and transparency operate as key mechanisms of accountability.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75140735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-03DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-09-2020-4943
Max Baker, J. Andrew, John Roberts
PurposeThis paper proposes a research method for analysing talk about accounting concepts, systems and numbers. The authors argue that studying accounting talk in situ is a fruitful way to understand both the role accounting plays in the framing of relationships between individuals and the associated emotional content of these exchanges. As such, the authors argue that conversation analysis (CA) is a useful complement to interviews in qualitative research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors introduce a specific approach to CA called positioning theory, which captures the linguistic and emotional subtleties embedded within interpersonal interactions, and the way accounting impacts and mediates these relations through measuring, assessment and control. The authors draw on one particularly animated conversation about accounting in a manufacturing company. The conversation was a largely emotional and animated exchange between individuals where talk about accounting was imbued with metaphors, violence, sex and humour.FindingsWhile participants in conversations may appear to draw on similar forms of language and expression, CA allows researchers to see that the meaning of these shared expressions change based on who is saying them, whom they are saying them to and how they are saying them. Dissecting conversations as they unfold, offers a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of accounting as central to the social fabric of organisational life.Originality/valueAs opposed to interviews, which often suffer from the rationality of hindsight (referred to as retrospective rationality), CA captures the unfolding nature of accounting talk in real-time–not upon reflection.
{"title":"Accounting talk: developing conversation analysis in accounting research","authors":"Max Baker, J. Andrew, John Roberts","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-09-2020-4943","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-09-2020-4943","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper proposes a research method for analysing talk about accounting concepts, systems and numbers. The authors argue that studying accounting talk in situ is a fruitful way to understand both the role accounting plays in the framing of relationships between individuals and the associated emotional content of these exchanges. As such, the authors argue that conversation analysis (CA) is a useful complement to interviews in qualitative research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors introduce a specific approach to CA called positioning theory, which captures the linguistic and emotional subtleties embedded within interpersonal interactions, and the way accounting impacts and mediates these relations through measuring, assessment and control. The authors draw on one particularly animated conversation about accounting in a manufacturing company. The conversation was a largely emotional and animated exchange between individuals where talk about accounting was imbued with metaphors, violence, sex and humour.FindingsWhile participants in conversations may appear to draw on similar forms of language and expression, CA allows researchers to see that the meaning of these shared expressions change based on who is saying them, whom they are saying them to and how they are saying them. Dissecting conversations as they unfold, offers a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of accounting as central to the social fabric of organisational life.Originality/valueAs opposed to interviews, which often suffer from the rationality of hindsight (referred to as retrospective rationality), CA captures the unfolding nature of accounting talk in real-time–not upon reflection.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86712491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-03DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-02-2022-138
Diane-Laure Arjaliès
When I left Paris five years ago to live in the Forest City, a small college town in the middle of the Great Lakes, most of my friends believed that I was becoming foolish, going through a sort of countryside parental crisis. While the reality was that the world was falling apart, the trees refused to tell me their secrets, and my potential contribution as an accounting academic to the recovery was, to say the least, unclear. Deer became spirit animals teaching me about resilience and unconditional love, beavers: symbolic incarnation of the fur trade and the associated conquest of the West and dandelions: potential salad substitutes in a messed-up supply chain of fresh food. While economics portrays human beings as rational Homo economicus willing to maximize their own benefits, relational sociology places social relationships at the center of economic action (Wherry, 2016).
{"title":"What trees taught me about Covid-19: on relational accounting and other magic","authors":"Diane-Laure Arjaliès","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-02-2022-138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-02-2022-138","url":null,"abstract":"When I left Paris five years ago to live in the Forest City, a small college town in the middle of the Great Lakes, most of my friends believed that I was becoming foolish, going through a sort of countryside parental crisis. While the reality was that the world was falling apart, the trees refused to tell me their secrets, and my potential contribution as an accounting academic to the recovery was, to say the least, unclear. Deer became spirit animals teaching me about resilience and unconditional love, beavers: symbolic incarnation of the fur trade and the associated conquest of the West and dandelions: potential salad substitutes in a messed-up supply chain of fresh food. While economics portrays human beings as rational Homo economicus willing to maximize their own benefits, relational sociology places social relationships at the center of economic action (Wherry, 2016).","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88744458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-01DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-03-2021-5208
Michael Harber, G. Willows
PurposeThis paper aims to extend our understanding of how mid-tier firm auditors legitimise and institutionalise the logic of commercialism within their profession. This paper is responsive to research that shows how Big Four auditors have restructured the market and re-cast the relationality between the two logics to forge an identity that suits them commercially. Such research provides insight into auditor agency and intentionality, illustrating how auditors maintain and indeed grow their status and role within society.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews with audit executives situated in a strategically challenging regulatory context are interpreted through a theoretical framework developed from institutional complexity theory, coupled with the understanding that institutional logics are a socially constructed phenomenon.FindingsMid-tier auditors appear to be as commercially orientated as their Big Four counterparts, expressing the logics of professionalism and commercialism as highly complementary. In response to competitive pressures and the difficulty of replicating the multi-disciplinary practice business model of the Big Four, mid-tier auditors present a competitive and contrasting identity as “more devoted experts”, using various legitimation techniques and “heroic” representations. This identity representation is strategic, allowing them to forge a consistent and coherent “collective identity defining story” designed to counter the “versatile expert” identity of the Big Four and establish social legitimacy with their potential client base.Originality/valueThese findings contribute to our understanding of how mid-tier auditors are “catching up” to the Big Four in the construction of their commercial business model. By shedding light on the rhetoric and “identity experimentation” of auditors, the findings can aid legislators and regulators to exercise democratic control over the profession and promulgate regulations that better align auditors’ interests with the public interest. As regulators encourage mid-tier firms to compete with the Big Four and lower supply concentration in the market, this study believes the tensions inherent in the logics, as well as the strategic necessity for firms to represent themselves in a favourable manner, will become more prominent.
{"title":"The commercialist identity of mid-tier firm auditors: a precarious balancing of priorities","authors":"Michael Harber, G. Willows","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-03-2021-5208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-03-2021-5208","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper aims to extend our understanding of how mid-tier firm auditors legitimise and institutionalise the logic of commercialism within their profession. This paper is responsive to research that shows how Big Four auditors have restructured the market and re-cast the relationality between the two logics to forge an identity that suits them commercially. Such research provides insight into auditor agency and intentionality, illustrating how auditors maintain and indeed grow their status and role within society.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews with audit executives situated in a strategically challenging regulatory context are interpreted through a theoretical framework developed from institutional complexity theory, coupled with the understanding that institutional logics are a socially constructed phenomenon.FindingsMid-tier auditors appear to be as commercially orientated as their Big Four counterparts, expressing the logics of professionalism and commercialism as highly complementary. In response to competitive pressures and the difficulty of replicating the multi-disciplinary practice business model of the Big Four, mid-tier auditors present a competitive and contrasting identity as “more devoted experts”, using various legitimation techniques and “heroic” representations. This identity representation is strategic, allowing them to forge a consistent and coherent “collective identity defining story” designed to counter the “versatile expert” identity of the Big Four and establish social legitimacy with their potential client base.Originality/valueThese findings contribute to our understanding of how mid-tier auditors are “catching up” to the Big Four in the construction of their commercial business model. By shedding light on the rhetoric and “identity experimentation” of auditors, the findings can aid legislators and regulators to exercise democratic control over the profession and promulgate regulations that better align auditors’ interests with the public interest. As regulators encourage mid-tier firms to compete with the Big Four and lower supply concentration in the market, this study believes the tensions inherent in the logics, as well as the strategic necessity for firms to represent themselves in a favourable manner, will become more prominent.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"112 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85487894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-28DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-07-2019-4093
J. Dyczkowska, J. Fijałkowska
PurposeThis longitudinal research paper is based on a case study analysis of two Danish life science companies. The general purpose of the paper is to uncover changes in the reporting practices of experienced integrated reporting (IR) reporters. In order to meet that objective, a pragmatic constructivist paradigm was applied to make a better understanding of factors affecting disclosure decisions in the integrated reports.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a qualitative methodological approach. It is based on content and discourse analyses of the written documents, including the integrated reports, auditors' statements and independent assurance reports.FindingsThe model developed in this study reflects a real phenomenon related to the development of IR practices. The pragmatic constructivist paradigm explains how practitioners perceive business reality, act in the face of changing facts and values and make decisions regarding material disclosures.Research limitations/implicationsThe investigation of only two companies may be perceived as a limitation of this study. However, a small number of life science companies have prepared integrated reports for a long time. The selected organisations are the pioneers in that field and have drawn up integrated reports since 2002 or 2004.Originality/valueThis paper develops an original model of IR “concept in practice”. It considers the regulatory framework regarding materiality in IR through the prism of facts that form a basis for practical work. It also emphasises an impact of a value system and social context on disclosure decisions in integrated reports. In that way, a link between the constructivist paradigm and IR is created.
{"title":"Model of integrated reporting “concept in practice” in the light of pragmatic constructivist paradigm: case studies of life science companies","authors":"J. Dyczkowska, J. Fijałkowska","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-07-2019-4093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-07-2019-4093","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis longitudinal research paper is based on a case study analysis of two Danish life science companies. The general purpose of the paper is to uncover changes in the reporting practices of experienced integrated reporting (IR) reporters. In order to meet that objective, a pragmatic constructivist paradigm was applied to make a better understanding of factors affecting disclosure decisions in the integrated reports.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a qualitative methodological approach. It is based on content and discourse analyses of the written documents, including the integrated reports, auditors' statements and independent assurance reports.FindingsThe model developed in this study reflects a real phenomenon related to the development of IR practices. The pragmatic constructivist paradigm explains how practitioners perceive business reality, act in the face of changing facts and values and make decisions regarding material disclosures.Research limitations/implicationsThe investigation of only two companies may be perceived as a limitation of this study. However, a small number of life science companies have prepared integrated reports for a long time. The selected organisations are the pioneers in that field and have drawn up integrated reports since 2002 or 2004.Originality/valueThis paper develops an original model of IR “concept in practice”. It considers the regulatory framework regarding materiality in IR through the prism of facts that form a basis for practical work. It also emphasises an impact of a value system and social context on disclosure decisions in integrated reports. In that way, a link between the constructivist paradigm and IR is created.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91309355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-27DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-10-2019-4220
S. Lauwo, J. Azure, T. Hopper
PurposeThis paper examines the accountability and governance mechanisms and the challenges in a multi-stakeholder partnership seeking to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a developing country (DC), namely Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on work on the shift from government to governance to meta-governance to examine the SDGs framework's governance regime. The data stems from documentation, focussed group discussions and face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders involved in the localisation of SDGs in Tanzania.FindingsDespite the emphasis given by promoters of SDGs on the need for multi-stakeholder engagement, and network and market-based governance, Tanzania's hierarchical governance framed in national legislations dominated the localisation of the SDGs. The national-level meta-governance structures were somewhat dysfunctional, partly due to a lack of well-designed coordination mechanisms for collaborative engagement with key stakeholders. The limited involvement of different meta-governors, and particularly network and market-based governance arrangements, has had severe implications for achieving the SDGs in DCs in general and Tanzania, in particular.Practical implicationsThe paper calls for a more explicit SDG policy and strategy, alongside strengthening institutional structures and related governance arrangements in Tanzania, to promote the realisation of the SDGs. For the SDGs framework to succeed, the authors suggest that, in addition to adopting SDG friendly policies, the Tanzanian government should devise plans for financial resources, strategies for empowering and engaging with key stakeholders and promote an integrative governance system that underpins accountability at the local level.Originality/valueFocussing on Tanzania, the paper sheds light on how context in DCs, interactions between state and non-state actors, modes of governance and accountability mechanisms shape the localisation of SDGs and realising the SDGs' agenda. The implementation in Tanzania focussed on priorities in the development plan, thereby neglecting some important SDGs. This raises doubts about the possibility of meeting the SDGs by 2030. The localisation of SDGs remained within the top-down governance structure, as Tanzania's government failed to enact the policy and strategy for multi-stakeholder partnership consistent with the SDGs' principle of “leave no-one behind”. Consequently, meta-governors' efforts and ability to monitor and demand accountability from the government was constrained by the political context, the governance system and regulations enacted to side-line them.
{"title":"Accountability and governance in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in a developing country context: evidence from Tanzania","authors":"S. Lauwo, J. Azure, T. Hopper","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-10-2019-4220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-10-2019-4220","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper examines the accountability and governance mechanisms and the challenges in a multi-stakeholder partnership seeking to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a developing country (DC), namely Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on work on the shift from government to governance to meta-governance to examine the SDGs framework's governance regime. The data stems from documentation, focussed group discussions and face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders involved in the localisation of SDGs in Tanzania.FindingsDespite the emphasis given by promoters of SDGs on the need for multi-stakeholder engagement, and network and market-based governance, Tanzania's hierarchical governance framed in national legislations dominated the localisation of the SDGs. The national-level meta-governance structures were somewhat dysfunctional, partly due to a lack of well-designed coordination mechanisms for collaborative engagement with key stakeholders. The limited involvement of different meta-governors, and particularly network and market-based governance arrangements, has had severe implications for achieving the SDGs in DCs in general and Tanzania, in particular.Practical implicationsThe paper calls for a more explicit SDG policy and strategy, alongside strengthening institutional structures and related governance arrangements in Tanzania, to promote the realisation of the SDGs. For the SDGs framework to succeed, the authors suggest that, in addition to adopting SDG friendly policies, the Tanzanian government should devise plans for financial resources, strategies for empowering and engaging with key stakeholders and promote an integrative governance system that underpins accountability at the local level.Originality/valueFocussing on Tanzania, the paper sheds light on how context in DCs, interactions between state and non-state actors, modes of governance and accountability mechanisms shape the localisation of SDGs and realising the SDGs' agenda. The implementation in Tanzania focussed on priorities in the development plan, thereby neglecting some important SDGs. This raises doubts about the possibility of meeting the SDGs by 2030. The localisation of SDGs remained within the top-down governance structure, as Tanzania's government failed to enact the policy and strategy for multi-stakeholder partnership consistent with the SDGs' principle of “leave no-one behind”. Consequently, meta-governors' efforts and ability to monitor and demand accountability from the government was constrained by the political context, the governance system and regulations enacted to side-line them.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82287865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-11DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-04-2020-4508
Mouna Hazgui, P. Triantafillou, Signe Elmer Christensen
PurposeThe increasing uptake of performance auditing (PA), which entails both the facilitation and the control of government policies, has seriously challenged state auditors' claims that they are apolitical. This article aims to understand how supreme audit institutions (SAIs) operate to maintain and nurture the political neutrality and legitimacy of their PA.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on Suchman's typology on legitimacy (1995) to analyze the PA reports of two countries with a long history of both performance auditing and accusations of political interference, namely Canada and Denmark. Documentary analysis and interview methods are employed.FindingsThis study shows how the two SAIs have been pursuing pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy through the professionalization and standardization of both the form and the content of their PA reports. Engaging and maintaining the dialogue with the audited administration, triangulating recognized social science methods, and emphasizing the “public interest” basis of PA reflect some of the tools adopted to navigate the “grey zone” between objective, relevant and politically sensitive audits.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper's explorative approach limits the possibility for robust testing of the causal forces impinging on SAIs' choices of legitimation strategies. Nevertheless, variations between the Canadian and Danish SAIs in the strategic use of some legitimacy tools such as the media suggest a difference in the role of Public Accounts Committee in the two countries that can be investigated in future research.Originality/valueMuch research exists questioning the political neutrality of PA, yet there has not been much discussion on how SAIs have been able to develop and preserve the prevalent legitimacy of their PA amid the criticism. More specifically, our research reveals the tendency of both the Canadian and Danish SAIs to strategically underline the “public interest” dimension of their performance audits in an attempt to increase both their legitimacy and political neutrality.
{"title":"On the legitimacy and apoliticality of public sector performance audit: exploratory evidence from Canada and Denmark","authors":"Mouna Hazgui, P. Triantafillou, Signe Elmer Christensen","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-04-2020-4508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-04-2020-4508","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe increasing uptake of performance auditing (PA), which entails both the facilitation and the control of government policies, has seriously challenged state auditors' claims that they are apolitical. This article aims to understand how supreme audit institutions (SAIs) operate to maintain and nurture the political neutrality and legitimacy of their PA.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on Suchman's typology on legitimacy (1995) to analyze the PA reports of two countries with a long history of both performance auditing and accusations of political interference, namely Canada and Denmark. Documentary analysis and interview methods are employed.FindingsThis study shows how the two SAIs have been pursuing pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy through the professionalization and standardization of both the form and the content of their PA reports. Engaging and maintaining the dialogue with the audited administration, triangulating recognized social science methods, and emphasizing the “public interest” basis of PA reflect some of the tools adopted to navigate the “grey zone” between objective, relevant and politically sensitive audits.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper's explorative approach limits the possibility for robust testing of the causal forces impinging on SAIs' choices of legitimation strategies. Nevertheless, variations between the Canadian and Danish SAIs in the strategic use of some legitimacy tools such as the media suggest a difference in the role of Public Accounts Committee in the two countries that can be investigated in future research.Originality/valueMuch research exists questioning the political neutrality of PA, yet there has not been much discussion on how SAIs have been able to develop and preserve the prevalent legitimacy of their PA amid the criticism. More specifically, our research reveals the tendency of both the Canadian and Danish SAIs to strategically underline the “public interest” dimension of their performance audits in an attempt to increase both their legitimacy and political neutrality.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89733575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-27DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-04-2020-4500
Geraldine B. Robbins, Breda Sweeney, M. Vega
PurposeThis study examines how an externally imposed management control system (MCS) – hospital accreditation – influences the salience of organisational tensions and consequently attitudes of management towards the system.Design/methodology/approachData are collected using a case study of a large public hospital in Spain. In-depth interviews were conducted with 27 senior and middle managers across different functions. Relying on the organisational dualities classification in the literature, tensions are unpacked and analysed.FindingsEvidence is presented of how hospital accreditation increases the salience of organisational tensions arising from exposition of the organisational dualities of learning, performing, organising and belonging. Salient tensions were evident in the ambivalent attitudes of management towards the hospital accreditation system.Practical implicationsThe role of mandatory external control systems in exposing ambivalence and tensions will be of interest to organisational managers.Originality/valueThe study extends the management control literature by identifying an active role for an external MCS (accreditation) in increasing the salience of organisational tensions and triggering ambivalence. Contrary to the prior literature, the embedding of both poles of an organisational duality into the MCS is not a necessary precondition for increased tension salience. The range of attitudes towards MCSs beyond those specified in the previous literature (positive/negative/neutral) is extended to include ambivalence.
{"title":"Hospital accreditation systems and salience of organisational tensions","authors":"Geraldine B. Robbins, Breda Sweeney, M. Vega","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-04-2020-4500","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-04-2020-4500","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study examines how an externally imposed management control system (MCS) – hospital accreditation – influences the salience of organisational tensions and consequently attitudes of management towards the system.Design/methodology/approachData are collected using a case study of a large public hospital in Spain. In-depth interviews were conducted with 27 senior and middle managers across different functions. Relying on the organisational dualities classification in the literature, tensions are unpacked and analysed.FindingsEvidence is presented of how hospital accreditation increases the salience of organisational tensions arising from exposition of the organisational dualities of learning, performing, organising and belonging. Salient tensions were evident in the ambivalent attitudes of management towards the hospital accreditation system.Practical implicationsThe role of mandatory external control systems in exposing ambivalence and tensions will be of interest to organisational managers.Originality/valueThe study extends the management control literature by identifying an active role for an external MCS (accreditation) in increasing the salience of organisational tensions and triggering ambivalence. Contrary to the prior literature, the embedding of both poles of an organisational duality into the MCS is not a necessary precondition for increased tension salience. The range of attitudes towards MCSs beyond those specified in the previous literature (positive/negative/neutral) is extended to include ambivalence.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84523196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-24DOI: 10.1108/aaaj-01-2020-4387
L. Bayne
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to enhance conceptual understanding of reporting boundaries in corporate annual reports by developing a conceptual framework of the rules and principles, referred to here as dimensions, underlying boundaries. A total of nine contemporary regulations/guidelines are compared in terms of the boundary dimensions identified to illustrate similarities and differences in boundary concepts.Design/methodology/approachTo develop a conceptual framework of reporting boundary dimensions, academic and industry literature were analysed to identify boundary dimensions. Thereafter, nine contemporary regulations/guidelines were compared in terms of these dimensions. A qualitative approach was taken including document analysis and content analysis.FindingsA total of 10 key boundary dimensions were identified through analysis of academic and industry literature. Each dimension represents a continuum along which regulations/guidelines can position themselves. Taken together, the 10 dimensions provide a comprehensive description of the chosen boundary concept.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to accounting theory by providing a holistic conceptual framework of dimensions relating to reporting boundaries, thus answering calls for more conceptual development of the boundary construct. The conceptual framework and comparison of contemporary regulations/guidelines adds to scarce literature considering financial and non-financial boundaries simultaneously, which is relevant for annual reports. From a practical perspective, the paper brings renewed visibility to boundaries with implications for preparers, users, standard setters and auditors of annual reports.
{"title":"Understanding reporting boundaries in annual reports: a conceptual framework","authors":"L. Bayne","doi":"10.1108/aaaj-01-2020-4387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-01-2020-4387","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to enhance conceptual understanding of reporting boundaries in corporate annual reports by developing a conceptual framework of the rules and principles, referred to here as dimensions, underlying boundaries. A total of nine contemporary regulations/guidelines are compared in terms of the boundary dimensions identified to illustrate similarities and differences in boundary concepts.Design/methodology/approachTo develop a conceptual framework of reporting boundary dimensions, academic and industry literature were analysed to identify boundary dimensions. Thereafter, nine contemporary regulations/guidelines were compared in terms of these dimensions. A qualitative approach was taken including document analysis and content analysis.FindingsA total of 10 key boundary dimensions were identified through analysis of academic and industry literature. Each dimension represents a continuum along which regulations/guidelines can position themselves. Taken together, the 10 dimensions provide a comprehensive description of the chosen boundary concept.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to accounting theory by providing a holistic conceptual framework of dimensions relating to reporting boundaries, thus answering calls for more conceptual development of the boundary construct. The conceptual framework and comparison of contemporary regulations/guidelines adds to scarce literature considering financial and non-financial boundaries simultaneously, which is relevant for annual reports. From a practical perspective, the paper brings renewed visibility to boundaries with implications for preparers, users, standard setters and auditors of annual reports.","PeriodicalId":48311,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78247012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：