David L. Schwarzkopf

Introducing Students to the Integrated Audit with “Auditing Alchemy, Inc.”

ABSTRACT: “Auditing Alchemy, Inc.” is a comprehensive case developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Alchemy” can help students understand the importance of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) concept...

Executives Views of Factors Affecting Governance Change in a Not-for-Profit Setting

Knowing the factors that executives deem critical to governance change can improve our understanding of how such changes come about and can help us evaluate those changes. Interviews with business and finance executives at 11 colleges reveal the importance to governance change of chief executive and board member leadership and interactions, as well as executive communication style. Costs are clear constraints to action, particularly since benefits are not quantified and are difficult to describe. Efforts to discuss governance with internal stakeholders require persistence to overcome narrow, individualized concerns. Communication about governance to external stakeholders is rare and represents a missed opportunity for stakeholder feedback and the development of trust. Executives appear willing to adopt governance forms without considering the idiosyncrasies of their institutional field, limiting the working definition of governance and its potential. For corporations and not-for-profit enterprises these findings hold implications for the context in which leadership is exercised and the shape of governance structures. They also pose a fundamental ethical dilemma for leaders to address.

A new view to assist public agency development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to expand the research into the “micro-level” of the effects of evidence-based activity on organisational change by focusing on an economic development agencys (EDAs) effort to spread the use of standardised measurements to improve accountability for the use of public funds. Design/methodology/approach – The authors interviewed 19 key managers and staff of a large British EDA. Participant comments revealed concerns deeper than the technical measurement issue the agency brought in to study. The authors reconceptualised these concerns using the notion of a centre of calculation. Findings – Although the EDA focused on standardised measurement as a technical issue, the authors find organisational issues such as the need to reconcile differing perceptions of the importance of measurement, a desire to improve organisational learning and a tension between analysts and project managers impeding accountability efforts and delaying agency growth. Research limitations/implica...