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1 – 10 of 27
Article
Publication date: 4 June 2018

Gary Spraakman, Winnie O’Grady, Davood Askarany and Chris Akroyd

This paper aims to show how our understanding of the effects of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on management accounting are influenced through “nudging” by researchers…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to show how our understanding of the effects of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on management accounting are influenced through “nudging” by researchers in their preamble before interviews begin.

Design/methodology/approach

There were two groups of comparable respondents. Each group received a different preamble to the same questions. The differences in group responses were analyzed.

Findings

When the impact of ERP implementation on the physical, transactional and information flows within the firm were nudged, the responses focused on how the chart of accounts had to be expanded to account for the additional data introduced by transaction processing. When the IT and ERP system knowledge and skills were nudged, the responses tended to emphasize analyses or the use of new information through the use of drill down functionality. This research provides new insights and contributions to understanding how nudging affects or directs respondent assessments of the impact of ERP systems on management accounting.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited by the relatively small samples and by the fact that these were different research projects.

Practical implications

Nudging has an obvious impact on research that should not be ignored.

Social implications

Unintentional nudging should be considered with all research projects.

Originality/value

This paper makes explicit that nudging occurs in research whether intentional or unintentional.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 October 2020

Gary Spraakman

The purpose of this paper is to explore how COVID-19 has affected the author’s management accounting teaching and research.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how COVID-19 has affected the author’s management accounting teaching and research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a reflection essay on management accounting.

Findings

The author realized that the textbooks, because of the lack of integration among management accounting techniques, do not prepare the students with the ability to make the quick changes required by COVID-19. The author expects that they will have to introduce integration to the management accounting textbooks and courses. Qualitative research will be helpful in identifying the management accounting techniques now integrated in practice. The author further expects the beneficial practices that were learned from online and remote teaching during the pandemic will be with them into the future.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited as it is a personal reflection.

Practical implications

COVID-19 has required organizations be increasingly agile, particularly in the use of budgets and other management accounting techniques.

Social implications

Opportunities are identified for improving the teaching and use of management accounting, especially regarding strategy and budgeting.

Originality/value

The extreme nature of pandemics intensifies the observations of the functioning of disciplines such as management accounting. Everyone learns from extreme experiences.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 December 2020

Gary Spraakman, Cristobal Sanchez-Rodriguez and Carol Anne Tuck-Riggs

This paper aims to understand how the tasks of management accountants (MA) are affected by data analytics (DA).

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to understand how the tasks of management accountants (MA) are affected by data analytics (DA).

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative methodology was deemed most appropriate given the exploratory nature of the research questions (RQ). In total, 10 open-ended interview questions were used to gather the evidence. The case study design was inductive, yielding rich data from 29 respondents representing 20 different organizations.

Findings

Answers were provided to three interrelated RQs about the use of DA by MA, namely, what are their responsibilities? How does this work support inference, prediction and assurance? And how can they ensure insights from DA can be turned into decisions that add value? The findings also indicate that MA have not taken charge of the data analytic opportunities and at present, their activities remain largely focused on descriptive and financial data analysis rather than more complex activities using external data, operational data and modeling.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of this research is that it is based on a relatively small, geographically restricted sample (20 organizations in south-central Canada) as well by interviews that were only 60 min in duration.

Practical implications

Provides a base for the existing practice of management accounting with DA.

Social implications

Explains the social relationship between DA and management accounting.

Originality/value

Documented and explained the extent of actual DA use by MA.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1982

Gary P. Spraakman

With no conceptual basis, financial goals can only be haphazardly incorporated into the planning process. A recent survey of 60 large Canadian companies points out that there is…

Abstract

With no conceptual basis, financial goals can only be haphazardly incorporated into the planning process. A recent survey of 60 large Canadian companies points out that there is little understanding of the “dynamics and interdependencies” for reconciling goals and for making them more congruent with the goals of most managers. Indeed, in 1977 the Journal of Finance stated that a “fully integrated theory on corporate financial decisions has not yet been developed” — a statement which has to date gone unchallenged.

Details

Planning Review, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0094-064X

Article
Publication date: 16 November 2012

Cristóbal Sánchez‐Rodríguez and Gary Spraakman

The present study seeks to refine the findings and theory on the impact that enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations have had on management accounting. Specifically…

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study seeks to refine the findings and theory on the impact that enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations have had on management accounting. Specifically, the purposes of this paper are to analyze the changes that ERP implementations have had on performance measures, management accounting techniques, activities of management accountants, and the use of non‐financial information.

Design/methodology/approach

The controllers of 13 major Canadian firms were interviewed as part of a multiple case study. Open‐ended questions were used.

Findings

The research assesses how ERP implementations through more computational power, relational databases, standardized state‐of‐the‐art transaction processing, and extended chart of accounts change management accounting. The enhanced computing power and overall standardization lead to more accurate and timely information. The standardized transaction processing and the charts of accounts have increased the availability of information from units and products previously deficient of information, and ensured a consistency of information across all units and products. The standardization and automation of transaction processing has reduced the amount of data entry done by management accountants. Performance measures have been standardized, expanded to more units and products, increased in accuracy, and produced more quickly. Management accounting techniques have become more efficient and effective. Management accountants are less involved with data entry, thus allowing them to undertake more analyses. Non‐financial information is more extensive.

Originality/value

This research provides new insights or contributions to understanding how ERP systems impact management accounting and management accountants. First, ERP system implementations affect management accounting. Second, the three part lens or conceptual framework – physical, transactional, and information – explicates the impact of ERP systems on management accounting and management accountants. Third, understanding the impact is further guided by recognizing the expanded chart of accounts inherent with ERP systems.

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2006

Gary Spraakman

Aims to examine the four different management accounting systems or sets that existed at the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) during the 1670‐2005 period with Burns and Scapens'…

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Abstract

Purpose

Aims to examine the four different management accounting systems or sets that existed at the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) during the 1670‐2005 period with Burns and Scapens' institution‐based framework of management accounting change.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study was used with comprehensive archival evidence coming mainly from the Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) and the HBC's private archive for 1670‐1970 and from interviews with retired and existing senior managers at the HBC for 1970‐2005.

Findings

The findings indicated that Burns and Scapens' framework was helpful. Institutions did prevent management accounting changes, even when seriously needed. Under certain conditions, institutions do not resist management accounting changes. Six suggestions are provided for extending and refining Burns and Scapens framework.

Research limitations/implications

Although the 325 years of evidence was uniquely rich, it was still a case study of a single firm.

Practical implications

Management accounting is slow to change because of institutions.

Originality/value

Management accounting change is very much path‐dependent. Changes occur in management accounting because of major external changes such as competition and modernization. Also, management accounting changes come from the introduction of taken‐for‐granted external techniques such as budgeting, capital budgeting, and planning.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2013

Ken Ogata and Gary Spraakman

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether the deinstitutionalization of management accounting is better described using structuration theory (techniques are reproduced…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether the deinstitutionalization of management accounting is better described using structuration theory (techniques are reproduced until replaced) or sedimentation (layering of a new technique upon an earlier technique).

Design/methodology/approach

An archival study of management accounting at the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) between 1670 and 2005.

Findings

With the delegitimation of management accounting at the HBC, both structuration and sedimentation processes occurred. However, delegitimation did not mean all of the techniques within a set were eliminated. Several management accounting techniques often continued from one set to another (e.g. indents, outfits, standards of trade) reflecting continued reproduction of existing practices. Sometimes new techniques were added to allegedly make the set more effective, but these overlays did not always replace the former.

Research limitations/implications

The usual limitations of single firm study generalizations.

Practical implications

The research provides practitioners with insights into how management accounting practices change. With change some aspects of management accounting will remain the same.

Originality/value

This case study is based upon a unique primary archival. The HBC has made its accounting and other corporate records available to the public for the period 1670‐1970. The archival data set is supplemented by access to some of the Company's private (and more recent) corporate records, plus interviews with retired and existing senior managers about these changes to their management accounting techniques, up to 2005. Therefore, this study is based upon an extensive, unique and robust longitudinal data set.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

Gary Spraakman and Julie Margret

Sir George Simpson, the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1821 to his death in 1860, was the subject of numerous biographical works that described various facets of…

700

Abstract

Purpose

Sir George Simpson, the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1821 to his death in 1860, was the subject of numerous biographical works that described various facets of the man including his managerial abilities, literary prowess, physical stamina, abundant energy, extensive art collection and ethnological specimens. Two related aspects of his outstanding management style have been overlooked: the genesis of his management style and where it can be placed in the evolution of management practices during the 19th century.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data from the Hudson's Bay Company archives plus secondary sources.

Findings

Simpson's management abilities came from his grammar school education and his apprenticeship to a counting house. More importantly, it can be attributed to his association with his mentor Andrew Wedderburn, his dedication to the HBC, and his high level of physical and intellectual energy. His information intensive management style was also a significant precursor to systematic management, which occurred later in the 19th century.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should examine other examples of the evolution of management during the 19th century, particularly the transition from sub‐unit accountability to systematic management.

Originality/value

The paper emphasizes the importance of managers in making management systems work.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 43 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 28 October 2022

Kevin Christopher Carduff

Abstract

Details

Corporate Reporting: From Stewardship to Contract, the Annual Reports of the United States Steel Corporation 1902–2006
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-761-2

Book part
Publication date: 30 November 2020

Tamar Diana Wilson

The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fur trade in the United States and Canada that sent hundreds of thousands of furs to Europe and China relied on “Cheap Labor” and the…

Abstract

The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fur trade in the United States and Canada that sent hundreds of thousands of furs to Europe and China relied on “Cheap Labor” and the abundance of “Cheap Raw Materials,” that is to say, living beings such as sea otter, land otter, beaver, and seals. Native American labor, procured by and paid through trade goods in a kind of “putting out” piece-rate system, was cheap partially because their lives were maintained/reproduced through traditional agricultural or hunting and gathering economies. The commodification of fur-bearing animals led to their sharp decline and in some cases near extinction. Cheap labor and cheap living beings interacted dynamically in unison to enable capital accumulation under mercantile capitalism. At the very end of the nineteenth century, fur farming as a petty capitalist enterprise became common in Canada and the United States, and more recently has expanded greatly in China.

Details

The Capitalist Commodification of Animals
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-681-8

Keywords

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