Oriol Amat

Developing a new national management accounting framework – the Spanish case

Comparative national management accounting is a young discipline. A recent survey of management accounting practice in Europe reveals five major issues that contrast across national management accounting practice. In the light of this work we undertook a survey of Spanish management accounts and found that there is declining use of official government guidance on management accounting; the emerging management accounting profession is qualified by university education, and is not generally involved in any professional body; although the literature indicates a strong Anglo‐American influence on modern Spanish management accounting, we found a strong, previously unreported, German influence; a wide range of innovative management accounting approaches have been tried; there is a move towards a planning objective as the focus of the management accountant’s work.

Impact of quality and environmental investment on business competitiveness and profitability in small service business: the case of travel agencies

There are few studies in the literature that examine the combined effect of quality and environmental policies on the financial performance of small service businesses. This gap becomes more evident in highly competitive segments with high mortality rates. This is the case of travel agencies in Spain. This study was carried out by analysing 198 surveys answered by managers of travel agencies, which represents the 5% of the sector. The data obtained were treated with structural equations. The results of this analysis do not find a direct relationship between the implementation of quality policies and financial performance. However, the data show a positive and indirect relationship between them, being both the improvement of the competitiveness as the implementation of environmental policies the mediators between quality and finance. In this sense, this study provides evidence that the commitment to sustainability can be a valid strategy to improve the financial performance of the company.

European accounting harmonisation: Myth or reality?

In the European Union, governments through Directives, and the accounting profession through the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), both claim to be seeking to harmonise accounting practices. In this article, John Blake and Oriol Amat explore these claims. They first identify the continuing wide variation in accounting practice within Europe and internationally. Second, they consider the demand for harmonisation of accounting practices within Europe and internationally. Third, they offer a list of the environmental factors that obstruct international accounting harmonisation. Finally, they discuss the limitations of the work of the European Union in achieving accounting harmonisation.

Manipulation of Earnings Reports in Spain - Some Evidence

Accounting regulation is a highly topical issue for listed companies in Europe. From 1 January 2005 all companies listed in the EU member states are required to produce financial reports compliant with international accounting standards. Financial reports will be comparable with each other only if full compliance with the international standards can be ensured. Historically, however, an enduring weakness of the international standard-setting regime has been its inability to enforce compliance with its standards. There is a danger that implementation and compliance will be variable across the adopting countries, and that deeply ingrained national reporting practices will persist. The purpose of this paper is to examine some distinctive elements of Spanish financial reporting practices. Spanish financial reporting by major companies demonstrates a tendency towards quite overt manipulation of the earnings figures. The research reported in the paper firstly identifies four common earnings manipulation practices, and then proceeds to examine their incidence in the financial statements of the IBEX-35 companies over a three year period.

Quality practices in travel agencies: A mediating factor in non-financial indicators of advanced information systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations for the adoption of quality management practices (QMPs) and the effects exerted by the advanced management information systems (AMIS) as mediating factors in a sector consisting of highly competitive companies with a high mortality rate in recent years: travel agencies. Design/methodology/approach – The results were based on a survey completed by 185 travel agencies with less than 50 employees, covering over 5 per cent of the SME travel agencies in Spain. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the links between the studied dimensions. Findings – The findings indicate that QMPs have a positive, direct influence on the adoption of AMIS and that the adoption of AMIS has a positive, direct impact on financial performance. The results suggest that quality policies facilitate greater use of financial indicators but not in the use of non-financial indicators, where the key to better business performance lies. Originality/value – Therefo...

Management of accounting: The case for an active role

Regulations imposed upon both the external and internal accounting reports of enterprises may evoke a variety of responses from managers ranging from the active to the passive. This paper explores the active, participatory role which managers may choose to adopt in influencing the direction of accounting regulations. Reference is made to a large number of cases arising in Europe and elsewhere which illustrate how managers have provided benefits to their businesses by actively lobbying for constructive changes in the accounting environment.