Rosemary R Fullerton and Cheryl S McWatters
Despite arguments that traditional product costing and variance analysis operate contrary to the strategic goals of advanced manufacturing practices such as just in time (JIT)…
Abstract
Despite arguments that traditional product costing and variance analysis operate contrary to the strategic goals of advanced manufacturing practices such as just in time (JIT), total quality management (TQM), and Six Sigma, little empirical evidence exists that cost accounting practices (CAP) are changing in the era of continuous improvement and waste reduction. This research supplies some of the first evidence of what CAP are employed to support the information needs of a world-class manufacturing environment. Using survey data obtained from executives of 121 U.S. manufacturing firms, the study examines the relationship between the use of JIT, TQM, and Six Sigma with various forms of traditional and non-traditional CAP. Analysis of variance tests (ANOVA) indicate that most traditional CAP continue to be used in all manufacturing environments, but a significant portion of world-class manufacturers supplement their internal management accounting system with non-traditional management accounting techniques.
S. Mc_W Cheryl and Yannick Lemarchand
The purpose of this paper is to extend to accounting and accounting texts the arguments of Phillips which suggest that organisational analysis can be enriched by a greater…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend to accounting and accounting texts the arguments of Phillips which suggest that organisational analysis can be enriched by a greater interface with narrative fiction as a means to bring organisations to life. The paper also introduces the work of Bottin which argues that accounting manuals can be considered as source documents for economic history, more than simply being of purely pedagogical value. Both approaches inform the research into the specialised accounting manual, the Guide du Commerce of Gaignat de l'Aulnais.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses archival‐based historical methods to examine the Guide du Commerce and the social and economic milieu presented therein. It has developed its analysis through the examination of both primary and secondary sources to underscore the business and social networks of the milieu and to illustrate accounting as narrative.
Findings
In his manual, Gaignat recreates merchant activities and commercial relations of eighteenth century France. Gaignat does not content himself with re‐copying material at his disposal or with creating fictitious examples. Rather, through his in‐depth development of case studies and examples of actual accounting methods, he offers the reader insights into the strategic nature of the social and economic milieu in which commercial success might be achieved.
Practical implications
The research approach is transferable to other settings, motivating renewed interest in the history of accounting literature. The stories related in the Guide du Commerce point to the potential value of accounting manuals and other similar documents as historical sources when such sources no longer exist or are limited.
Originality/value
The research method is original in that the methodological approach is new to accounting history, but part of a debate within history more generally.
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Mary A. Malina and Basil P. Tucker
Purpose – The authors investigate the interpretations of senior university decision-makers on three questions: (1) What constitutes “relevant” research? (2) In what ways is the…
Abstract
Purpose – The authors investigate the interpretations of senior university decision-makers on three questions: (1) What constitutes “relevant” research? (2) In what ways is the relevance of research typically measured? and (3) What alternative ways might be adopted in measuring the relevance of research?
Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory study adopts an inductive approach, informed by data collected from semi-structured interviews with senior research-related university leaders and archival sources in five Australian and eight US universities.
Findings – There is considerable convergence in the conceptualization as well as the operationalization of the notion of relevance between the Australian and US universities participating in this study. The evidence supports a relational rather than currently prevailing transactional approaches in operationalizing the concept of research relevance. This relational approach emphasizes the importance of stakeholders, their needs and expectations, and their engagement in the articulation of measures that demonstrate the relevance of research in both the short and longer terms.
Research limitations/implications – The evidence is primarily based on the views of university senior management drawn from a relatively small number of universities leading to questions about the representativeness and generalizability of the findings. Moreover, the findings have been informed by leaders at the most senior hierarchical levels. Although consistent with the aim of the study, the views of university leaders provide only one view on our research questions.
Originality/value – The authors provide a conceptual view of research relevance from the perspective of one pivotal group – university senior management – that has been largely and surprisingly overlooked in discussions of the relevance of academic research.
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Basil P. Tucker and Raef Lawson
This paper compares and contrasts practice-based perceptions of the research–practice gap in the United States (US) with those in Australia.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper compares and contrasts practice-based perceptions of the research–practice gap in the United States (US) with those in Australia.
Methodology/approach
The current study extends the work of Tucker and Lowe (2014) by comparing and contrasting their Australian-based findings with evidence from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with senior representatives of 18 US state and national professional accounting associations.
Findings
The extent to which academic research informs practice is perceived to be limited, despite the potential for academic research findings to make a significant contribution to management accounting practice. We find similarities as well as differences in the major obstacles to closer engagement in the US and Australia. This comparison, however, leads us to offer a more fundamental explanation of the divide between academic research and practice framed in terms of the relative benefits and costs of academics engaging with practice.
Research implications
Rather than following conventional approaches to ‘bridging the gap’ by identifying barriers to the adoption of research, we suggest that only after academics have adequate incentives to speak to practice can barriers to a more effective diffusion of their research findings be surmounted.
Originality/value
This study makes three novel contributions to the “relevance literature” in management accounting. First, it adopts a distinct theoretical vantage point to organize, analyze, and interpret empirical evidence. Second, it captures practice-based views about the nature and extent of the divide between research and practice. Third, it provides a foundational assessment of the generalizability of the gap by examining perceptions of it across two different geographic contexts.
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Mark Evans and Basil Phillip Tucker
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which both formal and informal control, operating as a package, are implicated in responding to organisational change arising…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which both formal and informal control, operating as a package, are implicated in responding to organisational change arising from the introduction of the Australian Federal Government’s Clean Energy Act (2011).
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation is based on a review of archival data, and semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 staff at different hierarchical levels within an Australian renewable energy company.
Findings
Although formal management control systems and informal control both played important roles in the organisation’s reorientation to organisational change, it was the latter form of control that predominated over the former. The influence of the prevailing organisational culture, however, was pivotal in orchestrating both formal and informal control efforts within this organisation.
Originality/value
This study contributes to management control theory and practice in two ways: first, it provides much needed empirical evidence about the ways in which management controls act as a package; second, it offers insights into the relative importance of the components of a management control package in the context of a particular organisational change. In addition, it responds to Laughlin’s (1991) call for empirical “flesh” to be added to the skeletal framework he advocates to make this conceptualisation of organisational change, “more meaningful”.
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Basil P. Tucker and Stefan Schaltegger
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast perceptions about the research-practice “gap” as it may apply within management accounting, from the perspective of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast perceptions about the research-practice “gap” as it may apply within management accounting, from the perspective of professional accounting bodies in Australia and Germany.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings reported in this paper is based on the collection and analysis of data from interviews with 19 senior representatives from four Australian Professional bodies and 14 representatives of German Professional accounting bodies.
Findings
In Australia and Germany, there exist common as well as unique barriers preventing a more effective engagement of academic research with practice. Common to both countries is the perception that the communication of research represents a major barrier. In Australia, practitioner access to academic research is seen to be a principal obstacle; in Germany, the relevance of topics researched by academics is perceived to represent a significant barrier to academic research informing practice.
Research limitations/implications
This paper directly engages with, and extends recent empirically based research into the extent to which academic research may “speak” to management accounting practice. It extricates both common and specific barriers contributing to the oft-quoted “research-practice gap” in management accounting, and points to the pivotal nature of an intermediary to act as a conduit between academics and practice.
Originality/value
By investigating this issue in two quite different cultural, educational, academic and practice contexts, this paper provides much-needed empirical evidence about the nature, extent and pervasiveness of the perceived research-practice gap in management accounting, and provides a basis for further investigation of this important topic.