Bernard Pierce

Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of the Roles of Management Accountants

Abstract The study was designed to address specific gaps in the literature by identifying a comprehensive set of antecedents and characteristics with respect to the roles of management accountants (MAs) and exploring the consequences of how these roles are discharged. Interviews were conducted with 18 financial managers (FMs) and 18 operating managers (OMs) in medium and large manufacturing firms. Theoretical lenses of management control, contingency and role theory were used in the interpretation of the findings. A comprehensive picture of the antecedents, characteristics and consequences associated with the roles of MAs emerges from the data and the findings suggest that management and the MAs themselves play a critical part in the determination of the roles of MAs. In particular, the findings reveal contingencies and conflicts with regard to the interaction between MAs and OMs including the management control consequences associated with how MAs interact with OMs. For some MAs, the paper argues that role conflict, despite its negative connotations, may facilitate more effective management control. The adoption of a ‘business partner’ model for MAs is found here to be ambiguous, conditional and uncertain.

Cost-Quality Conflict in Audit Firms: An Empirical Investigation

Findings are reported from an empirical investigation of cost–quality conflict using a survey of audit juniors and seniors in four of the Big Five audit firms in Ireland. Prior findings, mainly from US studies, indicate the presence of a cost–quality conflict in the audit environment. Conventional accounting controls are only partially effective and, in response to such controls, auditors sometimes engage in dysfunctional behaviours. Evidence from this study suggests that dysfunctional behaviours are significantly related to time pressure (created through a combination of budgets and deadlines) and performance evaluation (incorporating both style and frequency of evaluation). The relationship between dysfunctional behaviours and other specified variables (participation and leadership style) was not statistically significant. There was evidence that major changes have taken place in the audit environment such as a flattening of organizational structures and a de-emphasis on budgets as a form of control. The findings are interpreted in the context of the changed audit environment. Implications for resolving the cost–quality conflict from the perspective of audit firm management are set out and future research opportunities are identified.

Auditor time budget pressure: consequences and antecedents

Research suggests that dysfunctional behaviour by auditors may be related to the perceived tightness of time budgets. Using data collected from practising auditors, examines the nature of such a relationship. Found that the frequency of dysfunctional behaviour increased sharply as budgets were seen to approach unattainable levels of performance. Recognizing the importance of auditors’ perceptions regarding the attainability of budgets, examines antecedent variables affecting budget attainability. Found that the influence of client fee expectations, the level of audit senior participation and the influence of the audit programme were significant influences. Discusses implications for practice and possibilities for future research.

Management control in audit firms

Audit firms face a constant conflict between the business of auditing and the profession of auditing, which is manifested at audit senior level in the pressure to perform quality work within specified time limits. Prior quantitative studies have reported high levels of quality‐threatening behaviour (QTB) at senior level and the importance of examining contributory factors has been highlighted. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with audit seniors in four of the (then) Big Five firms and findings suggest that key variables (time pressure, participative target setting, and style of performance evaluation) have been inadequately operationalised in previous studies and that two distinct forms of QTB exist: deliberate and inadvertent. Propositions are developed for variables associated with both forms of QTB, which provide direction and focus for future research.

The Relationship Between Demographic Variables and Ethical Decision Making of Trainee Accountants

This study examines the impact of a range of demographic variables (gender, firm size, degree type, level of education, length of experience, age and work area) on ethical intentions, ethical judgement, perceived ethical intensity and perceived ethical culture. Cases containing information on four types of time pressure-induced auditor dysfunctional behaviours were distributed to trainee accountants attending a professional education programme of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. The findings suggest that gender, firm size and degree type had a significant association with ethical decision making. These variables also had a significant association with perceived ethical intensity as did work area. Gender, firm size, level of education and length of experience showed evidence of a significant association with perceived ethical culture. Implications of the findings and areas for further research are discussed.

Strong structuration theory and accounting information: an empirical study

Purpose - This paper uses Strong Structuration Theory to explore the role of accounting information in New Product Development (NPD). NPD is a complex social action involving a wide range of different actors and clusters of actors. Strong Structuration Theory allows us to take a broad view of this social system in order to develop a complete picture of the clusters of actors involved, to comprehensively examine the relevant structures, both internal and external, and to understand how these are formed, reformed or modified through the actions of agents. Design/methodology/approach - A field study of the manufacturing division of a large group was conducted which explored how managers use accounting information during NPD. Examining how these managers draw upon their conjuncturally specific structures of signification, legitimation and domination, and how these are affected by their external structural conditions and their general dispositional frames of meaning, allowed the authors to develop an in-depth understanding of the managers’ behaviour during NPD. Findings - These findings suggest that the managers’ use of accounting information is determined as much by the subjective nature of the managers themselves as it is by the objective characteristics of the structures with which they interact. By using Stones’ composite research strategy, which encourages us to conceive of internal structures as always looking outwards and external structures as always looking inwards, the findings help us to understand the ‘connecting tissue’ between the different elements of the quadripartite of structuration which has been lacking in previous research in the area. This understanding of the connecting tissue between structures was facilitated by the micro-analysis of six managers within a given conjuncture. Using the concept of the agent-in-focus as a tool with which to switch lenses from manager to manager acknowledged the web-like interdependencies between different processes of structuration. This allowed an exploration of the relationships between the various agents and structures. Originality/value - This study contributes to our understanding of Stones’ Strong Structuration Theory at both an ontological and methodological level by operationalising Stones’ model in a case study setting.

Perceived success of costing systems: Activity‐based and traditional systems compared

The study was designed to examine specific issues relating to the usage and perceived success of activity‐based and traditional costing systems. Data were collected from management accountants operating at senior management level in large companies in manufacturing, financial services and other non‐manufacturing sectors.