Belete J. Bobe

Multiple informal imperial connections and the transfer of accountancy to Ethiopia (1905 to 2011)

The accounting history literature expounds the role of imperial connection on the transfer of Western accountancy concepts and practices to developing countries. An emerging theme within this literature is the shift in imperial power from Britain to USA over the last century and the ramifications of this shift on accountancy globally. Using a framework developed by prior research for investigating the transfer of accountancy across countries, this study examines historical developments of accounting practice, education and professional training in Ethiopia (from 1905 to 2011) in the light of the country’s interactions with Britain and the USA. These interactions facilitated Ethiopia’s continued importation of British accountancy practice and professional training contemporaneously with importation of accounting education from the USA. Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has been undertaking accounting reforms as part of economic policy reforms in pursuit of neo-liberal economic ideals. In response to shifting priorities of transnational actors, Ethiopia continued trialling policy initiatives that are yet to yield a stable equilibrium with coherent links of accounting education, practice and professional training.

Measuring organisational capabilities in the higher education sector

Purpose – Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework and instrument to measure the organisational capabilities of university schools/departments. In doing so, this study provides evidence of the way competitive resources are bundled to generate organisational capabilities that give university schools/departments a sustainable competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire to measure the resources that contribute to the capabilities of university schools/departments was developed. Constructs were determined, and the questionnaire was refined based on an analysis of responses from 166 Heads of schools/departments across all 39 Australian public universities. Findings – Heads conceive of the development of capabilities within their schools/departments along the core operating functions of research, teaching, and networking. Reliability and supplementary analysis confirm these constructs have strong convergent and discriminant validity a...

Public Sector Reforms and Balanced Scorecard Adoption: An Ethiopian Case Study

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine adoption of the balanced scorecard (BSC) by a large public-sector health organisation in an African country, Ethiopia as part of a programme to implement a unified sector-wide strategic planning and performance monitoring system. The study explains how this trans-organisational role of the BSC is constituted, and explores how it operates in practice at the sector-and organisation-levels. Design/methodology/approach - The study employs the case-study method. Semi-structured interview data and documentary evidence are analysed by drawing on the concept of translation from actor-network theory. Findings - The case-study organisation adopted the BSC as a part of broader public-sector reforms driven by political ideology. Through a centralised government decision, the BSC was framed as a sector-wide system aimed at: aligning the health sector’s strategic policy goals with strategic priorities and operational objectives of organisations in the sector; and unifying performance-monitoring of the sector’s organisations by enabling aggregation of performance information to a sector level in a timely manner to facilitate health sector policy implementation. While the political ideology facilitated BSC adoption for trans-organisational use, it provided little organisational discretion to integrate financial administration and human resource management practices to the BSC framework. Further, inadequate piloting of information system use for the anticipated BSC model, originating from the top-down approach followed in the BSC implementation, inhibited implementation of the BSC with a balanced emphasis between the planning and performance monitoring roles of the BSC. As a result, the BSC underwent a pragmatic shift in emphasis and was reconceptualised as a system of enhancing strategic alignment through integrated planning, compared to the balanced emphasis between the planning and performance monitoring roles initially anticipated. Originality/value - The study provides a theory-based explanation of how politico-ideological contexts might facilitate the framing of novel roles for the BSC and how the roles translate into practice.

The effect of language proficiency on approaches to learning and satisfaction of undergraduate accounting students

ABSTRACT Employing the approaches to learning theoretical framework, this study examines the effects of language proficiency on overall student satisfaction with a unit of study mediated by approaches to learning accounting. Survey data was gathered from undergraduate second year accounting students from an Australian and an Ethiopian universities using the Biggs, Kember, and Leung [(2001). The revised two-factor study process questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(1), 133–149] Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire. Language proficiency of the students was measured using English language background as a proxy. The results confirm previous studies that students who have relatively high (low) English language proficiency are likely to adopt a deep (surface) approach to learning compared to their counterparts; and also that high (low) language proficiency is associated with more (less) overall satisfaction with a unit of study. In some cases, a surface approach might be linked to greater student satisfaction when the level of the language proficiency is low although this is not a desirable outcome.

University dean personal characteristics and use of management control systems and performance measures

ABSTRACT Drawing on upper echelon theory, we investigate whether university deans’ personal characteristics, including age, sex, educational background, and tenure are associated with their use of university management control systems (MCS), financial performance measures, and non-financial performance measures. We surveyed the dean of every faculty across Australia’s 39 public universities. Our results indicate that deans’ personal characteristics are associated with the emphasis they place on financial and non-financial performance measures and the manner in which they use MCS. Given the decision-making powers of deans in the corporatised university, this differing emphasis on performance measures and varying use of MCS is likely to impact university outcomes. We offer suggestions as to how university MCS could be designed and performance measures presented to take into account the particular characteristics of deans to enhance university outcomes.