{"title":"How Management Accountants Purposefully Create Cash Flow Forecasts in Capital Budgeting: A Field Study of Product Development Decisions*","authors":"Marc Wouters, Frank Stadtherr","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12361","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3838.12361","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In capital budgeting, management accountants may have their own agendas when they are creating cash flow forecasts and recommending particular capital investments. What are the mechanisms management accountants can use to influence cash flow forecasts in capital budgeting? This field study investigates how management accountants prepared cash flow forecasts for product development investment decisions at a car company. We describe in detail two instances of the technical design of new cars, the preparation of cash flow forecasts, and decisions on capital investment projects. When management accountants monetarily quantify various kinds of inputs, they not only make pragmatic choices as part of their normal work of dealing with complexity and uncertainty, but they also purposefully intervene in various ways to make their cash flow forecast support a particular capital investment. These interventions can be differentiated in terms of their nature (qualitative or quantitative) and timing (initiating or counteracting). This field study contributes a conceptualization and empirical evidence on accounting tactics in the context of capital budgeting.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12361","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140074370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne M. Farrell, Margaret B. Shackell, Monte R. Swain
{"title":"Is the Sky the Limit for Menteen Studios?†","authors":"Anne M. Farrell, Margaret B. Shackell, Monte R. Swain","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12359","url":null,"abstract":"This case exposes students to an intriguing industry: film production and distribution. The focus on relevant costing allows students to make recommendations about keeping, dropping, or expanding a distribution channel and about venturing into a new technology for film distribution. The analysis requires critical thinking. Because students are provided with relatively sparse financial information, they are less likely to be fixated on data and more likely to think critically about how to structure analyses to address strategic and operational issues being weighed by the studio. In addition, the case requires students to communicate their recommendations and the underlying assumptions effectively. This case is suitable for use in undergraduate and graduate managerial and cost accounting courses, introductory MBA courses in managerial accounting or strategic thinking, or undergraduate or graduate courses that are specific to the entertainment industry.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140055595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Effect of Gamification on Employee Boredom and Performance*","authors":"Zhuoyi Zhao","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12357","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3838.12357","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study investigates the effect of gamification on employee boredom and performance in a repetitive work process. In video games, <i>loot</i> is unpredictable, intermittent rewards used to motivate players to repeat boring actions. In a 2 × 1 laboratory experiment, I examine how gamification, featuring nonmonetary loot point rewards, may impact boredom and performance. I find that individuals have mixed opinions. On the one hand, they recognize the emotional value of gamification and find the repetitive work process more attractive. On the other hand, they experience a violation of fairness even though the point rewards do not impact their monetary payoff. My findings help reconcile the seemingly contradictory predictions from two sets of motivation theories. While some conventional theories (e.g., equity theory, expectancy theory, and agency theory) suggest that unpredictable rewards negatively affect motivation, both the reinforcement theory of motivation and findings from neuroscience research indicate a bright side to those rewards. Due to the countervailing effects, I do not find a significant difference in either boredom or performance between conditions. My results show that when gamifying repetitive work processes with unpredictable rewards such as loot points, managers need to address fairness concerns while maintaining the motivational properties of gamification.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139956167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Green Accolades and Oil-Soaked Mermaids: A Sociology of Worth Perspective on BP's Sustainability Reporting and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster*","authors":"Oluwasegun Popoola, Esther R. Maier","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12356","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3838.12356","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sustainability reporting was originally intended to improve accountability by providing more transparency around the ecological impact of organizational action. However, as sustainability reports are increasingly used as a tool for legitimacy and a source of information by financial stakeholders, environmental concerns are being framed in economic terms. This paper draws on Boltanski and Thévenot's (2006, <i>On Justification: Economies of Worth</i>, Princeton University Press) sociology of worth framework to explore how the prioritization of market values facilitates the disconnect between sustainability reporting and the environment. We use the Deepwater Horizon disaster as an extreme case to illustrate how the one-sided “compromises” with market values subjugate the values associated with social and environmental stewardship. We suggest that the integration of different conceptions of the common good can provide a more nuanced understanding of the relations between economic and environmental values.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12356","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139956166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame: An Analysis of Early Inductees and Immanent Critique†","authors":"Alan J. Richardson","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12355","url":null,"abstract":"The Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame (CAHF) has inducted 31 members during its first three years of operation, with the stated intent of establishing a critical mass of inductees “who have made significant contributions to the development of the Canadian accounting profession” and of creating “a curated biographical history of accounting in Canada.” This paper provides an analysis of the group and an immanent critique of CAHF given its mandate and aspirations. It begins with a close reading of CAHF's public statement of intent and policies to clarify what it is committed to achieving and to identify ambiguities and contradictions within its mandate. The characteristics of the initial inductees are then compared with baselines reflecting CAHF's mandate and are used to identify how ambiguities are resolved in practice. The current members of CAHF overrepresent financial reporting and auditing (compared with other areas of accounting competence), academics (compared with those in practice/industry), the more populated provinces (compared with the Prairies and Atlantic region), Chartered Accountants (compared with other legacy designations), and men (compared with women). Current practice also reveals unresolved ambiguities in the definition of “Canada” and “Canadian” and “contribution” and “impact,” as well as an underdeveloped presentation of historical context and documentation to interpret the inductees’ contributions. Best practices for “retrospective cultural consecration institutions” are identified in the literature and align with CAHF procedures. The paper also examines critical commentary on CAHF in the press and identifies areas where its mandate is challenged by public expectations of inductees.","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139756884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"SHADOWS ON SOLAR: A TEACHING CASE ON THE ROLE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN ADDRESSING FORCED LABOR CONCERNS†","authors":"Nava Cohen, Lukas J. Helikum","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12353","url":null,"abstract":"Forced labor continues to affect millions of people in the 21st century and worsened globally between 2016 and 2021. Notwithstanding its importance, the issue receives little attention in contemporary business school seminars. Using the recent case of Canadian Solar Inc., a leading solar energy company, this teaching case explores the role of corporate governance as a means of moving towards meaningful changes in the behavior of large, multinational corporations. The case delves into the allegations that the firm has benefited from forced labor by Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang region, exploring the board of directors' actions and a proxy proposal submitted by shareholders. Through this case, students will gain insights into the importance of robust corporate governance, accountability, and transparency in addressing sensitive issues like forced labor. The case highlights corporate governance best practices for companies to adopt, such as proactive board oversight, risk assessment, and transparency.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140474713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adriana Tiron-Tudor, Ramona Lacurezeanu, Vasile Paul Bresfelean, Adelina Nicoleta Dontu
{"title":"Perspectives on How Robotic Process Automation Is Transforming Accounting and Auditing Services*","authors":"Adriana Tiron-Tudor, Ramona Lacurezeanu, Vasile Paul Bresfelean, Adelina Nicoleta Dontu","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12351","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3838.12351","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The emergence of robotic process automation (RPA) and similar digital technologies is transforming the traditional business models of accounting and auditing services. Such emergence brings valuable benefits. Along with other technologies, RPA represents a significant tool in accounting and auditing services' new digital setting. Despite this, scholarly research on the subject is scarce, particularly concerning the implementation of RPA at accounting and auditing firms. This article provides a literature review of current academic research on RPA in accounting and auditing and proposes future research directions. The review clarifies the use cases of RPA in accounting and auditing. It also reveals that RPA implementation and preparation challenges stem from practical considerations as well as deficits in accountants' applicable education. Thus, the paper is relevant for educators and the accounting profession. Finally, by expanding the discussion of RPA beyond its current focus on accounting and auditing, the authors identify a need for more empirical research on the impact of RPA technology in the post-implementation stage.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139066148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Novice Auditors and Audits of Fair Values: Knowledge and Skill Requirements*","authors":"J. Efrim Boritz, Lev M. Timoshenko","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12350","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3838.12350","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Novice auditors are increasingly being asked to perform tasks that were not expected of them in the past, including evaluation of fair values (FVs). This study contributes to the auditing literature by investigating novice auditors' competencies required for correct performance of FV auditing tasks, identifying weaknesses, and suggesting actions that could be taken by educators and practitioners to address those weaknesses. Using the audit of goodwill impairment under IFRS as the exemplar task for identifying FV auditing competencies, we create a normative process table for the task based on accounting and auditing standards and authoritative valuation literature. We analyze the verbal protocols of novice auditors while they perform the task and compare their processes to the normative table to understand weaknesses in their competencies. Our findings are of interest to auditing educators and audit firm personnel responsible for staff training programs, audit program development (e.g., checklists), supervision, and review.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12350","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139066095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Literature Review of Technology-Related Research in Accounting Education: 2010–2020*","authors":"Peter Theuri, Ronald Campbell, Lisa Owens-Jackson","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12352","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3838.12352","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This literature review includes 187 articles with a technology focus that were published during 2010–2020 in seven accounting education journals. We analyze these articles with a goal of identifying the research conducted at the intersection of technology and accounting education. Five accounting education areas of focus emerge, with each having prevalent themes. Within these themes, we identify the technological infusion and how it was applied or related to accounting education. Where feasible, we report information on the target expected use (users) within each of the five accounting focus areas in the article and present any relevant key findings. We conclude by identifying research voids and suggesting potential directions for future research. The analysis should aid current faculty in their efforts to infuse appropriate technology into accounting education with a goal of producing technologically savvy graduates.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12352","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139066091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}