Dale L. Flesher

Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports☆

Abstract In this analysis, we argue that the striking visual design that has characterized U.S. annual reports since the 1960s, including brilliant color pictures, gloss, and novelty formats, is a manifestation of the television epistemology that informs wide ranges of contemporary public discourse in America. Correspondingly, we contend that visual design in U.S. annual reports constitutes a form of rhetoric asserting the “truth claims” of the reports. Such truth claims relate not only to the values expounded in the text or projected in the pictures, but to those residing in the accounts themselves.

Management accountants express a desire for change in the functioning of internal auditing

This paper outlines the results of a survey designed to compare the opinions of internal auditors to one class of audit customers – namely management accountants. To function effectively, internal auditors and the customers of audit services should possess a similar understanding of what makes internal auditing a value‐added activity. Failure to reach this understanding could result in the perception that internal audit is simply an obstacle to achieving production objectives. This can result in underutilized audit services and ignored audit recommendations. Fortunately, internal auditors and management accountants have similar views, but there are a few areas of difference that should be addressed by internal auditors.

Internal control systems in US churches

The concept of internal control is just as relevant to churches as it is to profit seeking organizations. Inadequate internal controls can hinder the management responsibilities of church officers and employees and place them in a position where they may be tempted to engage in questionable activities and accounting practices, or could subject individuals to unwarranted accusations of such activities. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of church size as well as the polity and hierarchical structure of denominations on systems of internal control. A questionnaire was used to collect data regarding internal controls currently in place in churches. The internal control evaluation scores were found to be significantly different based on church size. Three major denominations with different types of church polity and differing hierarchical structures were included in the study. The internal control evaluation scores were found to be significantly different based on denomination. This suggests that the polity and hierarchical structure of a denomination affect the quality of a local church’s system of internal control.

Early nineteenth-century productivity accounting: the Locust Grove Plantation slave ledger

The University of Mississippi Archives houses a ledger used by the Locust Grove Plantation to record slave inventory and cotton harvest for the years from 1825 to 1844. This ledger provides daily harvest data, by slave, for those years. The ledger also lists the inventory of the plantations slaves as of 1 January 1828, and their marriages, births and deaths. Locust Grove increased its inventory of slaves over the years 1825 to 1844 and sold few slaves. Correlation and regression analysis show that age was not related to picking productivity, while gender was related. Females were better pickers than males. Accounting is a product of its environment, and the environment in antebellum south Mississippi provided a need for a sophisticated record of worker productivity. Research evidence shows that plantation management used the slave ledger to manage by the numbers.

Managerial accounting in an early 19th century German-American religious commune

Abstract Managerial accounting is a product of its environment. Consequently, different forms of societal organizations will have differnet levels of sophistication in their accounting systems. This is evidenced by the accounting system of the Harmonists, a communistic religious society on the Indiana frontier (1814–1824). Whereas most of American society consisted of individual merchants, craftsmen and farmers, the Harmonists had an integrated economy with everyone working for the common welfare. The Harmony conglomerate necessitated a system with greater sophistication than those in other parts of America.

The roots of operational (value-for-money) auditing in English-speaking nations

Abstract Operational auditing, also known as comprehensive auditing, management auditing, performance auditing, and value-for-money auditing, has had a diverse history across countries and professional disciplines. Although operational auditing is primarily a function of the internal and governmental auditor, public accountants and management consultants also perform similar audits. The roots of operational auditing go in multiple directions, as various organisations have played major roles in its development. Influential organisations were the General Accounting Office (GAO), under the leadership of T. Coleman Andrews; the American Institute of Management, led by Jackson Martindell; the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation, under the leadership of J. J. Macdonell; and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), under the leadership of many individuals. Although the work of Martindell was carried on simultaneously with that of the IIA and the GAO, there was little influence of one group on another. In other words, two different professions developed operational auditing independently, but simultaneously. The US was the leader in the development of the concept of operational auditing. Surprisingly, despite its leadership in operational auditing development, principles developed in the US have not been adopted by other nations. Instead, Canada developed its own system, which was later partly copied by others in the British Commonwealth. This historical view of operational auditing across English-speaking countries provides evidence that international diffusion and cross-disciplinary diffusion of auditing ideas has been minimal.

The origins of value‐for‐money auditing: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: 1827‐1830

Evidence of audit committee activity in the formative years of the Baltimore & Ohio (BO and the railroad industry, in turn, greatly influenced the development of modern American businesses during the Industrial Revolution.

Employee leasing. The antebellum 1800s and the twenty-first century: A historical perspective of the contingent labour force

Management strategies have evolved over the centuries in response to economic and social needs of individuals and organizations. The maintenance of a flexible labour force was a management practice employed by industrialists more than a century ago. The use of employee leasing in the United States dates back to the industrial revolution that occurred during the nineteenth century. Industrialists leased bondsmen to supplement their labour force. This practice, known as ‘hiring-out’, permitted employers to obtain labour without making heavy investments in human resources. The motivations for maintaining a contingent labour force today are essentially unchanged from a century ago. This paper addresses the nineteenth-century use of a contingent labour force by the large Southern firm of Andrew Brown and Company in the period prior to the US Civil War.

A 25‐year retrospective on the IIA’s SAC projects

In 2002, The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) observed the 25th anniversary of the publication of its first Systems, Auditability, & Control (SAC) study. This paper reviews the development of the SAC projects and their impact on Information Systems (IS) auditing in particular. Three different research methodologies were used for collecting the data for this research. First, a rigorous literature review was conducted. Second, an oral‐history methodology was used to collect data via interviews. Third, notes and minutes from many early committee meetings of IIA, including the SAC Committee, were studied. The early years (1954‐1977) saw a dearth of related literature. Thus individual accountants and auditors found it difficult to acquire or gather information on emerging issues. The Systems, Auditability, & Control (SAC) study published in 1977 was one of the major attempts to codify IS auditing knowledge. This study has been followed up by three other SAC projects in 1991, 1994, and 2001. These SAC projects have provided some of the best guidance for IS auditors over these last 25 years. From the beginning of IS auditing, there has been a continued acceleration of technology. In particular, the audit process has been impacted by the proliferation of microcomputers.

Library resources for studying accounting history: A research note

The University of Mississippi offers many resources for studying the history of the accounting profession around the world. The accountancy library holdings are the largest of any library in the world, including virtually everything published in English during the past century, and many earlier items. In addition to tens of thousands of books and over 1,000 accounting and finance journal titles, there are tens of thousands of pamphlets, speeches, committee reports, photos, and courtroom documents that exist at no other library in the world. There are also hundreds of archival collections of old business records that serve as primary resources for all kinds of accounting research. The J.D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi is truly the international center of accounting research, and many of its resources are available on the Internet to anyone within reach of a computer. The purpose of the article is to describe the various accounting library collections with particular emphasis on the research resources available internationally through the Internet.