Ewelina Zarzycka

Financial And Non-financial Factors Motivating Individual Donors To Support Public Benefit Organizations

Abstract This study is aimed at determining how the financial data of public benefit organizations (PBOs) affects donations received by them and if the donors use financial and non-financial information in order to donate. In order to achieve our aim we used different methods of research: quantitative research (econometric model and survey) and qualitative research (laboratory test). The research allowed us to draw the conclusion that Polish donors make very limited use of PBOs’ financial statements in the donation process and that non-financial information plays greater role for donors in making decisions to give charitable donations. The most important information is the organizations goals and descriptions of its projects. At the same time, many donors stated that they donated under the influence of people they knew. This article fits into the scope of world research on PBOs and uses the concept of civil society.

A COMPERATIVE STUDY ON MANAGERS’ ASSESSMENT OF THE SELECTED PROPERTIES OF INTERNAL REPORTS

Abstract An important role in an organization is played by the management information system that enables managers to perform management tasks. The pillar of this system is financial and non-financial data provided by the management accounting system. The effect of the application of specific management accounting tools are various types of studies and analyses, defined in internal reports, which are the basis for management, and thus making decisions by managers. Internal reports, in order to fulfil their functions effectively, must have appropriate features as to its structure, content and other properties. In connection with this, the authors studied and presented an assessment of managers from Poland and Romania in the context of such properties of internal reports as quality, content, presentation and comments. The survey method was used as the research method, while the analysis of collected research material was based on cluster analysis and descriptive statistics. The sample consisted of 154 questionnaires. The findings are similar in both countries, although in the case of Romania, managers who assessed highly the quality and content of internal reports, and evaluated slightly lower the presentations and comments.

The role of management accountant in enterprises operating in Poland

The short period of the functioning of management accounting in enterprises operating in Central and Eastern Europe may suggest that advanced professional models identified by management accounting researchers and described in world literature have not developed in this region. The main objective of the study was to identify the role of a management accountant in enterprises operating in Poland as compared to international solutions. The set objective has been met thanks to the analysis of the information included in job offers seeking management accountants. The obtained results show that in enterprises operating in Poland, management accountants play the role of in-house business consultants strongly oriented towards matters of the organisations for which they work. However, they do not participate in the decision-making processes on equal terms with other managers, which means that they are not business partners yet. The study broadens the existing state of knowledge by adding a description of the current level of development of the role of management accountants in Poland as compared to the concepts considered to be models in developed countries. It is also a starting point for further, more detailed research on the development of this profession in Central and Eastern European countries, which to date has not been a subject of research.

The perceived suitability of management accounting information: a contingency based investigation

The current paper aims at testing the existence and the strength of the relationship between selected variables and the managers’ assessment of the information provided by the management accounting system (MAS), based on a contingency approach. In order to achieve the objective of the paper, we employed the correlation analysis with the purpose of investigating the strength of the relationship between the assessments made by managers with respect to the suitability of the management accounting information and certain variables (the company profile, the manager profile and the operations of the management accounting department). In this context, we used the data collected from randomly selected managers active in companies located in two Central and Eastern European countries, i.e. Poland and Romania. We found moderate relationships to the assessed suitability of the MAS information only for two of the three variables: the manager profile – mainly with respect to the managed department, and the operations of the management accounting department – mainly with respect to the frequency of the meetings between the manager and the management accountant.

Report on the Conference of Lean Accounting – an Integral Part of Lean Management

On 24–25 April 2013 the Department of Accounting in the Faculty of Management at the University of Łódź (Poland) organized for the second time the conference regarding Lean Accounting in the context of the principles and methods of this innovative concepts of Lean Management. The main organizers of the second edition of the conference were academics from the Department of Accounting (Faculty of Management, University of Łódź), i.a. Dr. hab. Irena Sobańska, as chair of the conference, and Dr. Ewelina Zarzycka and Marcin Michalak. For several years the issue of lean accounting has been the subject of great interest among management practitioners, specialists and designers of management accounting/controlling systems and the academic accounting community from the city of Lodz. The managers of companies using Lean Management emphasize that the successful implementation of this management concept is not possible without appropriate changes in policies and methods in the system of the accounting which are appropriate to the essence of management philosophy. More and more often, in practice and at an academic level, questions are asked about issues relating to the implementation of new methods in the field of accounting, as well as questions about the benefits that these new methods bring to the effectiveness of organizations operating in a dynamic global environment. The conference, which was organized by the Department of Accounting in the Faculty of Management (University of Łódź), was an opportunity for a comprehensive look at this issue from the perspective of business practitioners and scientists. The conference included such aspects as:  the specifics of accounting systems/controlling systems in companies managed in accordance with the lean approach;  systems for measuring and communicating performance through the system of lean accounting in companies applying lean management;  cooperation and communication accounting/controlling specialists with line/ products, value stream, etc. managers;

Implementing Lean Accounting Principles to Design and Improve Accounting Processes - a Case Study from a Shared Service Centre

Developments changing the economic environment have contributed to the dynamic development and wide use of the Lean Management concept (LM) since the late 1980s. The LM concept is increasingly used not only in particular fields of activity (production, services, trade, administration, and even the public sector), but also in appropriate areas of the value chain, in primary as well as support activities. The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA, 2006) stresses that the LM concept is becoming a prerequisite for firms to survive in the global economy, where the main focus lies on creating customer value that allows for the creation of value for the company owner. In many cases the adoption of a lean management philosophy oriented towards added value maximization and waste elimination leads companies to internal outsourcing, establishing Shared Service Centres (SSC) or external outsourcing in the form of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). The principles underpinning the lean concept that Womack and Jones (1996) originally defined for primary processes in the value chain (lean manufacturing/production) were eventually extended to also support activities, for example accounting. In the literature and in practice, accounting which is transformed according to the lean concept is generally termed lean accounting, but for analytical purposes the term should be subdivided into two fields that, although distinct, are closely related to each other. These are: 1) accounting for lean (focused on the product of accounting), where the type, scope and usefulness of accounting information are adapted to account for the new information needs of managers at the different levels of a lean enterprise and for changes in its functioning (Kennedy et al., 2010); 2) lean for accounting (focused on the process of accounting), where the lean management tools are used to ensure that the accounting process is efficient and effective, and delivers the expected products.

Finansowe i niefinansowe czynniki motywujące darczyńców indywidualnych i instytucjonalnych do finansowania organizacji pożytku publicznego

Celem artykulu jest odpowiedź na pytanie, czy informacje ujawniane przez organizacje pozytku publicznego w sprawozdaniach finansowych wplywają na decyzje polskich darczyncow dotyczące wyboru organizacji charytatywnej. Badania ujawnily, ze informacje finansowe w ograniczonym stopniu są wykorzystywane przez polskich darczyncow.

Management Accountant's Role and Functions in the Enterprise Resource Planning Environment - Author's Own Research into Enterprises in Poland

Management Accountants Role and Functions in the Enterprise Resource Planning Environment - Authors Own Research into Enterprises in Poland ERP systems have revolutionized practically all aspects of business processes in enterprises. They help improve the processes by ensuring their integration. Ensuring integration between financial and non-financial data, an ERP package gives new quality to the management of enterprise value. All these features make ERPs particularly important for specialists responsible for providing management information and measuring performance of the company. This article seeks to answer whether the implementation of an ERP system has an effect on the management accountants tasks and functions, especially in the field of performance measurement and internal reporting. The ERP impacts on the controllers role in the organization will be evaluated using field studies on six enterprises owned by multinational corporations. The question that should be asked here is whether controllers functions and tasks will also be unaffected. Rola i Funkcje Specjalisty Do Spraw Rachunkowości Zarządczej w Warunkach Zintegrowanych Systemów Informatycznych- Badania Własne Przedsiębiorstw w Polsce Zintegrowane systemy informatyczne rewolucjonizują praktycznie wszystkie obszary działalności przedsiębiorstwa. Przyczyniają się one do ulepszenia procesów biznesowych poprzez integrację wszystkich obszarów działalności przedsiębiorstwa. Co więcej dzięki tej technologii następuje zintegrowanie danych finansowych i niefinansowych przedsiębiorstwa, pozwalając na jeszcze lepsze zarządzanie wartością przedsiębiorstwa. Toteż systemy ERP szczególne znaczenie odgrywają dla specjalistów zajmujących się dostarczaniem informacji niezbędnych dla zarządzania przedsiębiorstwem. Celem badania jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie czy zastosowanie zintegrowanego systemu informatycznego w przedsiębiorstwie zmienia zadania i funkcje specjalisty do spraw rachunkowości zarządczej. Na podstawie studium przypadku sześciu przedsiębiorstw będących częścią koncernów międzynarodowych zostaje dokonana ocena wpływu zastosowania ERP na rolę kontrolera w organizacji. Autor odpowiada również na pytanie czy w funkcjach i zadaniach kontrolera nie zaobserwowane zostaną zmiany w związku z implementacją ERP.