The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of Brian Rutherford’s paper “Articulating accounting principles: classical accounting theory as the pursuit of ‘explanation by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of Brian Rutherford’s paper “Articulating accounting principles: classical accounting theory as the pursuit of ‘explanation by embodiment’”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the author’s experience of 13-years working at ICAEW trying to improve relations between the worlds of accounting practice and accounting research.
Findings
The paper argues that classical accounting theory became discredited because it was too detached from the world of practice and in fact seriously misunderstood it, and that accounting research using the methods of the social sciences is not incompatible with normative accounting theory. However, if Brian Rutherford’s paper encourages even more accounting researchers to engage in accounting policy debates, and to do so in ways that reflect a sympathetic understanding of existing practices, that would be a welcome development.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the continuing debate on how accounting research can contribute to improvements in accounting practice.
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Inakshi Kapur, Pallavi Tyagi and Neha Zaidi
Purpose: This chapter aims to identify and evaluate the various components of business model disclosures in an Integrated Report and ascertain how the notion of business model is…
Abstract
Purpose: This chapter aims to identify and evaluate the various components of business model disclosures in an Integrated Report and ascertain how the notion of business model is perceived among practitioners.
Need for the Study: According to previous research, the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) objective of improving corporate reporting by encouraging organisations to disclose their business model has not found the desired recognition. Therefore, the study elaborates on the various components of business model reporting and their implications on corporate reporting in general.
Methodology: A review of literature was conducted to identify and analyse research based on business models and their disclosures in integrated reporting. A narrative review was undertaken for selected literature.
Findings: The findings suggest that most large-sized organisations use integrated reporting for impression management and are not inclined to disclose too much about their business models for fear of competition. There is still a lack of clear understanding of what a business model should entail.
Practical Implication: This study adds to the research on business model disclosures in integrated reporting. Voluntary disclosure and a better understanding of such disclosures will prepare organisations of all sizes and industries for an event when Integrated Reporting becomes statutory.
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Francesca Culasso, Laura Broccardo, Daniele Giordino and Edoardo Crocco
Performance management systems (PMSs) must remain dynamic and maintain the ability to withstand the high degrees of complexity brought about by digital technologies (DTs)…
Abstract
Purpose
Performance management systems (PMSs) must remain dynamic and maintain the ability to withstand the high degrees of complexity brought about by digital technologies (DTs). Academics and practitioners have explored DTs and PMSs separately. This study aims to bridge the academic and practitioner discourse surrounding PMSs and DTs to promote knowledge diffusion and collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopted a mixed method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis, which were validated through semi-structured interviews with academics and practitioners. The authors first conducted a content analysis of the academic literature contained in the Scopus database and the practitioners' literature featured in the Nexis Uni database.
Findings
The combined academic-practitioners’ body of knowledge underscores the risk and environmental dimension, as well as the theoretical frameworks employed to explore digitally empowered PMSs. These findings were corroborated by 17 confirmatory interviews conducted with scholars and practitioners.
Research limitations/implications
Due to its scope, the research is limited to publications listed on Scopus and Nexis Uni. Additionally, its qualitative and interpretative nature presents some generalizability issues.
Originality/value
This study connects the intentions of scholars and practitioners concerning PMSs and DTs to promote collaborative efforts and knowledge diffusion. Moreover, considering the broader spectrum of insights, this manuscript postulates new avenues of research that address the key issues and concerns of both academics and practitioners. Finally, this article showcases PMs- and DT-appropriate theoretical frameworks that can inform practitioners’ discourse and work.
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This paper aims to advance the case for accounting scholars possessing substantial professional accounting expertise to use judgement drawing on that expertise…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to advance the case for accounting scholars possessing substantial professional accounting expertise to use judgement drawing on that expertise (target-disciplinary judgement) as a major component of their research methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper addresses methodological issues drawing on the criteriological debate within the methodological literature, a review of the ironies of contemporary narrative accounting research, including professional firm research, and an analysis of epistemological congruence seeking analogous cases in mainstream social scientific research.
Findings
The paper shows that, within a vocationally related subject like accounting, appropriately trained and qualified scholarly researchers have the opportunity to deploy their professional expertise to make expansive target-disciplinary judgements in ways that satisfy accepted social scientific methodological criteria and offer epistemological convergence comparable to that of mainstream approaches like insider anthropology and autoethnography.
Research limitations/implications
Using target-disciplinary expertise to make expansive judgements provides scholars with a way of expanding the range of research questions they address, including resuming evaluative-descriptive surveys that can, among other things, examine the quality of disclosures holistically rather than in the highly atomistic way often adopted by academics at the moment.
Social implications
The approach defended in this paper offers accounting scholars the opportunity to apply their particular skills to investigate questions likely to be of interest to preparers and users of financial statements, to explore issues of wider interest, such as the adequacy of environmental or social responsibility disclosures, and to test and augment professional firm findings. In so doing, scholars can go some way to remedying the gap between academic research and practice.
Originality/value
Little attention has been given to the use of expansive, expert target-disciplinary judgement in the methodological literature.
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This paper examines how the UK Chartered Accountants Joint Ethics Committee’s (CAJEC) 1996 Statement Integrity, Objectivity and Independence, which was developed at a time of…
Abstract
This paper examines how the UK Chartered Accountants Joint Ethics Committee’s (CAJEC) 1996 Statement Integrity, Objectivity and Independence, which was developed at a time of mounting levels of criticism of the auditing profession, provides legitimization for the accounting profession’s increased commercial activities, particularly in the area of other business services. Parallel with a major shift in the nature of the activities of the professional firm, this ethics Statement gives expression to changes in the profession’s concept of independence. It adopts a more accommodating method for evaluating the adequacy of an auditor’s independence, introducing a “framework” approach in contrast with its predecessor’s “rule book” approach. Both the Statement and respondents to the preceding Consultation Papers support the flexible system afforded by the framework in terms of promoting clients’ economic interests. Moreover CAJEC’s proposals did not include any initiatives to promote audit firm transparency which might have enabled external monitoring of compliance with the framework. Thus, while the Statement does place some limitations on the flexibility of the framework and retains the distinction between audit and other activities, it ultimately embodies a notion of independence that is at one with the interests of the profession.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a soundly based epistemological underpinning for the kind of theorisation in which many classical financial accounting researchers engaged…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a soundly based epistemological underpinning for the kind of theorisation in which many classical financial accounting researchers engaged and thus to support a renewal of this programme.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on pragmatist philosophy and, in particular, on Jules Coleman’s theory of “explanation by embodiment”. The applicability of this theory to the world of financial reporting is discussed. Various theorists and schools within classical accounting theory are examined from the perspective of Coleman’s ideas, focusing particularly on A.C. Littleton’s Structure of Accounting Theory.
Findings
The paper finds that classical accounting research works such as Structure of Accounting Theory can be interpreted as the search for Colemanian explanation by embodiment and that this provides them with a soundly based pragmatist underpinning for their theorisation.
Research limitations/implications
This paper supports the resumption by academics, qua academics, of work to contribute to accounting standard-setting by offering argumentation that addresses accounting principles and methods directly, rather than only via the social scientific investigation of behaviour in the accounting arena.
Practical implications
Such a resumption would contribute positively to future standard-setting.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the defence of classical financial accounting research from the charge of lacking theoretical rigour.