W. Seyfert, D. Rosenberg and E. Stack
New management techniques such as ‘just‐in‐time’, ‘lean manufacturing’ and ‘Six Sigma’ allow management accountants to shift their focus from the management and control of…
Abstract
New management techniques such as ‘just‐in‐time’, ‘lean manufacturing’ and ‘Six Sigma’ allow management accountants to shift their focus from the management and control of production processes to the management of strategic issues. This paradigm shift resulted from shorter product life cycles, due to technological advances and a more competitive business environment. Recent revisions to the International Accounting Standards which are particularly supportive of life cycle costing and project management are likely to increase the focus on strategic management accounting further. This article describes developments in management accounting and the recent convergence of financial reporting in terms of International Accounting Standards with strategic management accounting and project management techniques. Strategic management accounting (particularly life cycle costing) involves applying project management techniques and using the calculus of investment to manage the project as a whole. This contrasts with managing only costs and revenues during the manufacturing phase of a project. The article demonstrates that project management techniques and the calculus of investment provide the information needed to account for the value of a project in terms of IAS 38: Intangible Assets. This will ultimately give rise to both improved decision‐making and more relevant financial reporting.
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Joanne Louise Tingey-Holyoak, John Dean Pisaniello and Peter Buss
Agriculture is under pressure to produce more food under increasingly variable climate conditions. Consequently, producers need management innovations that lead to improved…
Abstract
Purpose
Agriculture is under pressure to produce more food under increasingly variable climate conditions. Consequently, producers need management innovations that lead to improved physical and financial productivity. Currently, farm accounting technologies lack the sophistication to allow producers to analyse productivity of water. Furthermore water-related agricultural technology (“agtech”) systems do not readily link to accounting innovations. This study aims to establish a conceptual and practical framework for linking temporal, biophysical and management decision-making to accounting by develop a soil moisture and climate monitoring tool.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts an exploratory mixed-methods approach to understand supply of and demand for water accounting and water-related agtech; and bundling these innovations with farm accounting to generate a stable tool with the ability to improve agricultural practices over time. Three phases of data collection are the focus here: first, a desk-based review of water accounting and water technology – including benchmarking of key design characteristics of these methods and key actor interviews to verify and identify trends, allowing for conceptual model development; second, a producer survey to test demand for the “bundled” conceptual model; third and finally, a participant-based case study in potato-farming that links the data from direct monitoring and remote sensing to farm accounts.
Findings
Design characteristics of water accounting and agtech innovations are bundled into an overall irrigation decision-making conceptual model based on in-depth review of available innovations and verification by key actors. Producer surveys suggest enough demand to pursue practical bundling of these innovations undertaken by developing an integrated accounting, soil moisture and climate monitoring tool on-farm. Productivity trends over two seasons of case study data demonstrate the pivotal role of accounting in leading to better technical irrigation decisions and improving water productivity.
Originality/value
The model can assist practitioners to gauge strengths and weaknesses of contemporary water accounting fads and fashions and potential for innovation bundling for improved water productivity. The practical tool demonstrates how on-farm irrigation decision-making can be supported by linking farm accounting systems and smart technology
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Christophe Schinckus, Marta Gasparin and William Green
This paper aims to contribute to recent debates about financial knowledge by opening the black box of its algorithmization to understand how information systems can address the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to recent debates about financial knowledge by opening the black box of its algorithmization to understand how information systems can address the major challenges related to interactions between algorithmic trading and financial markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses financial algorithms in three steps. First, the authors introduce the phenomenon of flash crash; second, the authors conduct an epistemological analysis of algorithmization and identify three epistemological regimes – epistemic, operational and authority – which differ in terms of how they deal with financial information. Third, the authors demonstrate that a flash crash emerges when there is a disconnection between these three regimes.
Findings
The authors open the black box of financial algorithms to understand why flash crashes occur and how information technology research can address the problem. A flash crash is a very rapid and deep fall in security prices in a very short time due to an algorithmic misunderstanding of the market. Thus, the authors investigate the problem and propose an interdisciplinary approach to clarify the scope of algorithmization of financial markets.
Originality/value
To manage the misalignment of information and potential disconnection between the three regimes, the authors suggest that information technology can embrace the complexity of the algorithmization of financial knowledge by diversifying its implementation through the development of a multi-sensorial platform. The authors propose sonification as a new mechanism for capturing and understanding financial information. This approach is then presented as a new research area that can contribute to the way financial innovations interact with information technology.
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Salih Serkan Kaleli and Mehmet Baygin
Purpose: There have been continuous developments in the production industry to meet the increasing customer demand from the past to the present. At this point, supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose: There have been continuous developments in the production industry to meet the increasing customer demand from the past to the present. At this point, supply chain management (SCM) systems emerge as an important topic. SCM is a set of systems that manages the entire process from the production of a product to its delivery to the end user. Industry 4.0 aims to improve the production industry by increasing the quality, efficiency, and performance of the production process. Therefore, in this chapter, the authors highlight the challenges, benefits, and future trends of the combination of Industry 4.0 and SCM systems.
Methodology: In this chapter, the integration of Industry 4.0 and SCM systems was investigated. For this purpose, the Industry 4.0 position of the countries and the current status of SCM systems have been examined. In addition, the key technologies in the Industry 4.0 transformation, the possible problems encountered in the transformation, the deficiencies encountered in SCM systems, and how these deficiencies can be solved with Industry 4.0 were investigated.
Findings: The results of this study show that companies that use an SCM system can separate themselves from their competitors by using Industry 4.0 technologies.
Significance: This can allow them to achieve their strategic goals and to ensure the maintenance of their competitive advantage.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce and examine algorithmic culture and consider the implications of algorithms for information literacy practice. The questions for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and examine algorithmic culture and consider the implications of algorithms for information literacy practice. The questions for information literacy scholars and educators are how can one understand the impact of algorithms on agency and performativity, and how can one address and plan for it in their educational and instructional practices?
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, algorithmic culture and implications for information literacy are conceptualised from a sociocultural perspective.
Findings
To understand the multiplicity and entanglement of algorithmic culture in everyday lives requires information literacy practice that encourages deeper examination of the relationship among the epistemic views, practical usages and performative consequences of algorithmic culture. Without trying to conflate the role of the information sciences, this approach opens new avenues of research, teaching and more focused attention on information literacy as a sustainable practice.
Originality/value
The concept of algorithmic culture is introduced and explored in relation to information literacy and its literacies.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the knowledge-based economy in two distinctive case studies in the Arab World: Qatar and Lebanon. Based on five…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the knowledge-based economy in two distinctive case studies in the Arab World: Qatar and Lebanon. Based on five aspects of the knowledge-based economy namely: ICT, human capital and education; innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic and institutional regime, we provide a careful view of the obstacles and challenges that Qatar and Lebanon are facing and how this is hindering their transformation to a knowledge-based economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology of this research is based on a literature review and information collected through semi-structured interviews with the different stakeholders of the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon.
Findings
The research reveals that numerous factors shape the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon. In Qatar, the main strength of the knowledge-based economy is the determination of the Qatari government to diversify the economy and the main weaknesses are the shortage of qualified human resources, the fear of failure and the low performance of the innovation system. In Lebanon, the knowledge-based economy is driven by the education system and the entrepreneurship culture, nevertheless the political instability of the country and the weak ICT infrastructure impede its development.
Originality/value
These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current state of the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon, which would have several policy implications.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of two regulatory initiatives in developing awareness of conduct risk associated with algorithmic and direct-electronic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of two regulatory initiatives in developing awareness of conduct risk associated with algorithmic and direct-electronic access (DEA) trading at broker-dealers: the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s algorithmic trading compliance in the wholesale markets and Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/589 (CDR 589) to the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative examination of 15 semi-structured interviews with representatives of London Metal Exchange member firms, their clients and regulators.
Findings
This paper finds that the key conduct related messages in algorithmic trading compliance in the wholesale markets may not yet be fully embedded at broker–dealers. This is because of a perceived simplicity of the algorithms deployed by broker dealers or, alternatively, a lack of reflection on their impact. Conversely, a concern exists that clients’ deployment of algorithms on DEA channels provided by broker–dealers increase conduct risk. However, the threat of harm posed by clients is not envisaged in current definitions of conduct risk. Accordingly, CDR 2017/589 does not currently require firms to evaluate clients’ awareness of it.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s findings are limited to the insights provided by 15 participants.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to existing research by deepening understanding of conduct risk arising from algorithmic trading and DEA. To account for the potential harm arising from clients’ activities, this paper proposes a revision to Miles’s definition of conduct risk. This is complemented by a proposed amendment to CDR 2017/589 to require evaluation of clients’ understanding of conduct risk.
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Under this heading are published regularly abstracts of all Reports and Memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Committee, Reports and Technical Notes of the U.S. National Advisory…
Abstract
Under this heading are published regularly abstracts of all Reports and Memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Committee, Reports and Technical Notes of the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and publications of other similar research bodies as issued
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of UK investment firms’ implementation of the requirements in Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/589 (more commonly…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of UK investment firms’ implementation of the requirements in Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/589 (more commonly known as “Regulatory Technical Standard 6” or “RTS 6”) that govern the conduct of algorithmic trading activities.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative examination of 19 semi-structured interviews with practitioners working for, or with, UK investment firms engaged in algorithmic trading activities.
Findings
The paper finds that practitioners generally have a good understanding of the requirements in RTS 6. Some lack knowledge of algorithms, coding and algorithmic strategies but have used best efforts to implement RTS 6. However, regulatory fatigue, complacency, cost pressures, governance in international groups, overreliance on external knowledge and generous risk parameter calibration threaten to undermine these efforts.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s findings are limited to the participants’ insights. Some areas of the RTS 6 regime attracted little comment from participants.
Practical implications
The paper proposes the introduction of mandatory algorithmic trading qualification requirements for key staff; the lessening of the requirements in RTS 6 for automated executors; and the introduction of a recognised software vendor regime to reduce duplication and improve coordination between market participants that deploy algorithmic trading systems.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, the study represents the first qualitative examination of firms’ implementation of the algorithmic trading regime in the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2014/65/EU.