Search results

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion surrounding the definition of accounting proposed by Carnegie et al. (2021a, 2021b) and further elaborated by Carnegie et al. (2023) from/under an institutionalist political-economy (IPE) based foundation and to specifically extend this approach to the arena of social and environmental accounting (SEA).

By adopting an IPE approach to SEA, this study offers a critique of the use of the notion of capital to refer to nature and people in SEA frameworks and standards.

A SEA framework based on the capabilities approach is proposed based on the concepts of human capabilities and global commons for the purpose of preserving the commons and enabling the flourishing of present and future generations.

The proposed framework allows the engagement of accounting community, in particular SEA researchers, with and contribution to such well-established initiatives as the Planetary Boundaries framework and the human development reports initiative of the United Nations Development Programme.

Based on the capability approach, this study applies Carnegie et al.’s (2023) framework to SEA. This new approach more attuned to the pursuit of sustainable human development and the sustainable development goals, may contribute to turning accounting into a major positive force through its impacts on the world, expressly upon organisations, people and nature.

The purpose of this paper is to assess next hour load forecast in medium voltage electricity distribution.

The methodological approach used in this paper, is based on a regressive method – artificial neural network. A real life case study is used for illustrating the defined steps and to discuss the results.

The presence of a de‐regulated environment reinforces the need of short‐term forecast algorithms (STLF). Actions like network management, load dispatch and network reconfiguration under quality of service constraints, require reliable next hour load forecasts. Methodological approaches based on regressive methods such as artificial neural networks are widely used in STLF, with satisfactory results. The construction of an “efficient” artificial neural networks goes through, among other factors, the construction of an “efficient” input vector (IV), in order to avoid over fitting problems and keeping the global simplicity of the model. The explanatory variables normally used, are grouped in two major classes, endogenous and exogenous. The endogenous variables are load values in past instants, and the exogenous variables are normally climatic. The main findings with this kind of vector presents satisfactory results compared to other proposals in the literature.

This paper makes use of a procedural sequence for the pre‐processing phase that allows capturing some predominant relations among certain different sets of the available data, providing a more solid basis to decisions regarding the composition of the IV. To deal with load increasing during the winter period, the forecast average daily temperature was used in order to produce an indicator of the daily load average for the forecast day. This information brings more accuracy to the model.

The paper aims to understand why and how paratextual elements are included in annual reports, hence how meaning is made through the workings of language and imagery.

A comprehensive framework of analysis, combining Genette’s paratextual elements with Barthes’ rhetoric and denotation and connotation concepts, is applied to the case study of the dstgroup, a Portuguese engineering and construction group.

The study demonstrates the potential of the annual report as a communication tool between an organisation and its stakeholders. The framework of analysis evidences that the paratextual elements highlight and supplement accounting information and that the denotative and connotative meanings associated with them make visible and enhance intangible features of the organisation.

The paper extends theories from other interdisciplinary fields to accounting communication and proposes a comprehensive framework that combines the writings of Genette and Barthes. By exploring the Portuguese under-researched context, it also adds to the literature by analysing the rationales and choices of the preparers on the inclusion of paratextual elements in annual reports.

Este artículo pretende entender por qué y cómo se incluyen elementos paratextuales en los informes anuales y, cómo se construye el significado a través del funcionamiento del lenguaje y las imágenes.

Se desenvolvió un marco de análisis global, que combina los elementos paratextuales de Genette y los conceptos de retórica y denotación y connotación de Barthes. Este marco se aplicó al estudio de caso del grupo dst, un grupo portugués de ingeniería y construcción.

El estudio muestra el potential del informe anual como herramienta de comunicación entre una organización y sus grupos de interés. El marco de análisis evidencia que los elementos paratextuales resaltan y complementan la información contable y que los significados denotativos y connotativos asociados a ellos hacen visibles y realzan rasgos intangibles de la organización.

Este artículo extiende teorías de otros campos interdisciplinarios a la comunicación contable y propone un marco global que combina los escritos de Genette y Barthes. Explorando el contexto portugués, insuficientemente investigado, también se añade a la literatura mediante el análisis de las motivaciones y opciones de los preparadores de los informes anuales sobre la inclusión de elementos paratextuales.

In the context of Portugal, this study examines the stereotypes of accountants held by laypeople and how they are influenced by financial crises and accounting scandals.

To better understand the social images of accountants, the authors adopt a structural approach based on the big five model (BFM) of personality. The authors test this approach on a Portuguese community sample (N = 727) using a questionnaire survey. The results are analyzed considering the socioanalytic theory.

The results suggest the existence of a stereotype dominated by features of conscientiousness, which is related to the superior performance of work tasks across job types. This feature comprises the core characteristics of the traditional accountant stereotype, which survives in a context challenged by financial scandals and crises. The findings highlight the social acceptance of accountants as an occupational group but do not suggest the possibility of accountants benefiting from the highest levels of social status when considered in relation to the traditional accountant stereotype.

By combining the BFM and the socioanalytic theory, this study provides a unique theoretical approach to better understand the social images of accountants. The findings demonstrate the suitability of using the BFM to study the social perceptions of accountants. They also indicate a paradox based on the survival of the traditional stereotype. This stereotype appears to be resistant to scandals and financial crisis, instead of being impaired, giving rise to another prototype with concerns about integrity.

Companies are often accused of using sustainability disclosures as public relations tools to manage financial and non-financial stakeholders' impressions. The purpose of our study was firstly to determine how comprehensive the human rights disclosures of a sample of large international companies were and secondly, whether different narrative styles are associated with levels of disclosure to manage readers' impressions about the company. We analysed the public human rights disclosures for 154 large, international companies obtained from the UN Guiding Principles Reporting website. On average, companies complied with only one-third of the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework criteria. Communication about policies has the highest compliance, whilst communication about determining which human rights aspects are salient to the company, remedies for transgressions and stakeholder engagement have the lowest disclosure. When we split the sample between high disclosure and low disclosure companies, we found that the readability of the human rights disclosures is exceptionally low and even more so for low disclosure companies. Low disclosure companies used words implying Satisfaction significantly more than high disclosure companies, which provides some support for suspecting that low disclosure companies practise impression management by only presenting a ‘rosy picture’, as well as obfuscation via low readability. We add to the literature on impression management by large corporations in their sustainability reporting, and specifically human rights disclosures, by revealing how the interplay of low disclosure, low readability and overuse of words signalling Satisfaction contributes to impression management, rather than sincere attempts at accountability to all stakeholders.

This study aims to investigate the use of voluntary disclosure on mainstream social media platforms to examine strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the influential factors and institutional pressures organisations faced when making disclosures on social media during the pandemic.

A two-stage qualitative approach was adopted. Stage one used content analysis to examine voluntary disclosures made by international organisations on social media during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stage two comprised semi-structured interviews with individuals who were involved in the decision-making process around the social media disclosures.

This study’s findings reveal significant changes in disclosure practices due to COVID-19-related pressures. In addition to the utilisation of social media for signalling conformance with new pandemic-related norms and connecting with stakeholders, the evidence also reveals how organisations made use of strategic responses to COVID-19-related institutional pressures.

The findings reveal how social media was used as a means of timely voluntary disclosure during the examined crisis. The findings can inform the development of organisational guidelines and policies for the use of social media as a disclosure medium.

This study reveals how organisations used voluntary disclosure on social media as a strategic response to institutional pressures and the COVID-19 pandemic; this context is under-researched. The study also extends the application of the strategic response framework regarding voluntary disclosure via social media.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of the factors that shape tax morale. A large range of random explanatory variables identified in the literature as determinants of tax morale are synthesised and structured by drawing inspiration from the institutional theory.

To do this, a systematic search has been conducted using a library catalogue which provides access to more than 400 databases.

The finding is that the institutional theory provides a suitable theoretical basis to explore tax morale. Indeed, all the factors until now identified as determinants of tax morale (except the control variables/socio-demographic characteristics) can be categorised either as belonging to formal institutions or to informal institutions. The most salient factor is trust, with both vertical and horizontal trust positively related to tax morale.

The outcome is a call for a more nuanced understanding of not only the effect of formal and informal institutions on tax morale but also how formal and informal institutions interact and alter each other and, consequently, affect tax morale.

The paper seeks to encourage governments to start recognising that as low tax morale arises when a gap exists between formal and informal institutions, they need to design policy measures aimed to reduce this gap, rather than persisting with deterrence measures.

This is the first systematic review of the factors that influence tax morale using an institutionalist lens.

Corruption prevails in societies and systems, but it is because of the individuals and officials who practice it. It is individuals’ characteristics, attitudes, views and choices that spur them to act ethically or not. This study aims to investigate whether beliefs, values and behavior vary across countries in perspective of bribery and tax cheating.

This study used Order Logistic Regression on microlevel data from World Values Survey wave VI (2010–2014) for 58 countries to find factors of tax cheating and accepting bribes.

This study revealed some interesting findings while comparing upper-income countries and lower- and middle-income countries. Justifiability for accepting bribe is negatively affected by age, patriotism, interest in politics, university education while positively affected by employment and income. Justifiability for cheating on taxes is negatively affected by confidence in justice system, interest in politics and marital status while positively affected by income, patriotism, confidence in political parties and good health. This study finds some valuable insights to the policymakers to device policy to overcome financial corruption and its acceptability in the masses.

This paper fills the literature gap by adding a wide range of variables related to demography, socioeconomic status, trust on political, judicial and government institutes, well-being, patriotism and religiosity. Moreover, this paper compares the behaviors of a wide range of countries that include both developed and developing economies.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating influence of religiosity on the effect of taxpaying attitudes on the tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms in Nigeria.

Using a cross-sectional survey design, we collected primary data from 368 owner managers of entrepreneurial firms in Southwest Nigeria using structured questionnaires. Respondents were purposefully selected based on the purposive sampling technique. The data collected with the structured questionnaires were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Two linear regression models were compared.

Estimations in Models 1 and 2 suggest that taxpayers’ attitudes and religiosity (intra- and interreligiosity) have significant effects on the tax compliance behaviour of firms, but the influence of intrareligiosity is insignificant. Estimations in Model 3 suggest that taxpaying attitudes without the moderating influence of religiosity exerted a significant effect on tax compliance behaviour by 13%, while taxpaying attitudes with the moderating influence of religiosity exerted 17%. Estimations in Model 4 suggest that taxpaying attitudes with the moderating influence of the interreligiosity dimension had a more significant contribution to the changes in tax compliance behaviour than the intrareligious dimension.

From the findings, the following policy implications can be deduced: (i) if taxpayers’ attitudes improved and religiosity was leveraged by the tax authorities, tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms would be induced in Nigeria; (ii) the consistent positive influence is a strong indication that religious values are critical elements of tax compliance interventions that should be considered by policymakers when designing public policies on tax evasion and avoidance in developing countries.

We bridge the gaps in the literature because our study affirmed that taxes are religiously driven. In addition, the study validates the applicability of theory of planned behaviour in investigating the moderating influence of religiosity on the causality between taxpaying attitude and tax compliance in the developing context.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between Social and Environmental Accountability (SEA), Attitude towards Environmental Advertising (AEA), Materialism, and Intention to purchase Environmentally Sustainable Products (IPESP).

The study sample consists of 205 business students from two B schools in India. Data was collected through the survey method, and the moderated-mediation model was statistically tested using SPSS Process Macro software.

The findings of the study suggest that the attitude towards social and environmental accountability (SEA) is positively associated with the intention to purchase environmentally sustainable products (IPESP). Moreover, this relationship is mediated and moderated by AEA and materialism, respectively.

The findings of the study reveal that a consumer with low materialism and a positive attitude for both environmental sustainability and environmental advertising has higher chances of purchasing environmentally sustainable products.

This study contributes to the existing literature on sustainability by providing a basis for understanding the moderated-mediation mechanism, which affects the relationship between SEA and IPESP; two key variables that have not been examined in combination.