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This paper focuses on the role of theory in the process of doing qualitative accounting research. It discusses the role of theory in qualitative accounting studies, and provides and example of how theory can be reflected upon, reassessed and refined during a research process.

This paper provides an illustrative account of theorizing during the process of qualitative accounting research. The paper places specific emphasis on an abductive approach to theorizing. An abductive theoretical framework is used to reflect on the theorizing process.

The “findings” reflect on the use of theory and the process of theorizing during a research process. The paper finds that abduction may be a useful way of theorizing in qualitative accounting research because it encourages the researcher to remain open to alternative explanations of data, which may promote theoretical development. This paper does not report the accounting practices of an organization in the traditional sense, but illustrates how the empirical findings led to an initial theoretical framework being developed.

The paper is intended to be informative in showing how theory can be used and developed during research. It may be of value and interest to new and emerging researchers. It may also interest established researchers seeking to reflect on their use of theory in research.

There are few contributions that focus exclusively and explicitly on how theory is used and developed during the process of qualitative accounting research. Moreover, the abductive approach has received limited attention in accounting. This paper aims to address these gaps.

According to the meteorological office the last day of my stint in dockland was the hottest day of this year. I certainly feel that if one does have to slave on such fine days one should do so outdoors and preferably near the water. That at Millwall Dock proved to be as clean as any of the water found in London's East End, and if I couldn't be outdoors, at least I could place myself at a long conference table which had running parallel to it one massive sun‐window enabling me to look out to see two of the huge multi‐purpose ships of the Fred. Olsen Lines discharging their cargoes. I happened to be sitting in the Divisional Manager's office of Fred. Olsen Limited, waiting to join a meeting of the works committee. Gordon Morris, the Divisional Manager, is as stream‐lined and modern as the terminal he looks after. The terminal is the most modern in the Port of London and prides itself on first‐class productivity and efficiency, which, says Gordon Morris, is due to the high standard of industrial relations which exists at the terminal. My reason for joining the works committee meeting was to find out if this was true!

It is almost one hundred years to the day that G W Hunt wrote these words. Apart from writing these words and the fact that Hunt was a close friend of Keats and Shelley, I can find no trace of anything else exceptional in this man's life. Yet, almost 100 years later, his words bear so much truth that they have been resurrected, not only for the purpose of my article, but as a slogan for the shipbuilding industry in the UK. For years in this country the shipbuilding industry has seldom had ships, always had men and never had money. Profits in the industry have declined more than in any other, and relationships within the industry deteriorated to such an extent that the business of building ships as far as the UK goes might just as well be buried — at sea. It has always proved to be a newsworthy industry, whether it be the birth of UCS or the survival of Harland & Wolff in Belfast despite the environmental trauma outside its gates. In the past few years we have seen dock sides become dormant and the employees, far from sleeping, have become militant to the point of defying the law. All through the furore of containerisation, when economic arguments were the main consideration, the saddest and most costly of these factors was played down: the greatest jackdaw industry in the land — pilferage.

Western Australia was the first portion of the Australian continent to be ‘discovered’ — it was also the last to be opened for settlement. The early Dutch navigators of the East India Company, blown off their course by the gales that periodically sweep across the Indian Ocean, were the first known Europeans to touch the western shores of that continent, and the first settlement was founded in 1826. Western Australia's first railway was built in 1871 and was a privately‐owned timber line. Today the system operated is approximately 3 800 miles, partly on standard gauge railway and partly on narrow gauge. The former is modern and up‐to‐date whilst the narrow gauge is both expensive to maintain as well as to operate. Less than 1 000 miles of the entire system is on the standard gauge — this section however does carry over 50 per cent of the entire traffic. It can be said that the most useful car in Australia is the railway freight car for upon it is based the whole national marketing system and in it is carried virtually everything the Australians eat, wear and use. The Western Australian Government Railway (WAGR) Department employs a large number of professional men, technicians and unskilled labour, as well as providing work for thousands more in the supply of materials in every shape and form — and upon the Department to some extent has depended the development of the State. The railway system is divided into six districts namely — Metropolitan, Central, Eastern, Southern, South Western and Northern. Each is administered by district officers. In the districts there will usually be at least three senior officers of the operating branches, and this duplicates the management at district level and indeed at head office level. As in our own railway system, one finds that this hierarchy contributes very largely to the inefficiencies of the operation.

Glass was discovered over 5,000 years ago and is one of the oldest man‐made materials. The date and place of origin of man‐made glass may never be known but what is certain is that it was discovered somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean at some time prior to 3,000 BC. According to Pliny, the Roman historian of the first century AD, its accidental discovery occurred at the mouth of the River Belus in Phoenicia which is now the Naaman, in Israel. In his Natural History he writes:

I am not, in this article, covering the South African issues which obviously affect the environment within which Landau has to manage. However, I think in the interest of Education & Training readership it is worth mentioning one particular area: that of education.

THE ECONOMIC GOALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SWEDEN ARE much the same as those for the UK and indeed for any other member of the EEC. Full employment, a more equal distribution of the country's income, rapid economic growth, reasonably stable prices, and a balanced foreign payments policy.

Traffic came to a halt recently in Shoreham, near Brighton, when a printing press arrived at the works of Design and Print. Imported from Germany, the £21,000 Koenig and Bauer Rapida two‐colour offset‐litho rotary press weighed five and a half tons. The machine was acquired to meet the growing demand for high quality full colour sales brochures and other printing requirements from both industry and commerce. The company hope that the new machine will boost its turnover to £250,000 a year. The Design and Print (DAP) company is a wholly‐owned subsidiary of Evershed & Son Ltd, a food distribution group centred in Shoreham. There are 35 employees, 25 engaged in production and ten in management and administration. DAP was acquired by the Evershed Group in 1940, mainly to satisfy its own printing requirements, eg simple letterpress, point‐of‐sale leaflets, posters and price lists. Today, apart from the two‐colour Koenig and Bauer, they have a number of Heidelberg presses and, with artist facilities in‐house, DAP can offer a wide range of high‐class colour work,mainly in the small booklet, brochure and house magazine market.

Sun Life Assurance Society Ltd is one of the UK's leading assurance companies, with funds exceeding £500 million. It has a national network of offices and a Head Office in London, with over 2,000 staff round the country of which approximately one half are working in Head Office. Sun Life is at the forefront of an industry that is having to change fast to meet the demands of today — and the future.

The second category of factors, called motivators, are those which have been found to produce greater efficiency on the job through growth, satisfaction and, in essence, motivation. Whilst both set of factors have a part to play in motivating employees, there are limited effects from ‘hygiene’ factors but far more effective and lasting motivation from the ‘motivator’ factors.