Richard J. Palmer

Examining the impression management orientation of managers

The motive to manage impressions has been broken down into protective and acquisitive orientations. A protective orientation exists when an individual is concerned primarily with encountering disapproval, rather than approval, from the relevant audience. An acquisitive orientation exists when an individual is concerned primarily with obtaining approval from the audience. This study tests the proposition that organizational managers have primarily an acquisitive orientation. The affective sentiments of 95 international middle‐ and upper‐level business managers toward their organization, its leaders, and its business control mechanisms were compared with their perceptions of the acquisitiveness and protectiveness of their work environment. The results indicate that affective sentiments of managers are correlated with the acquisitiveness, but not the protectiveness, of the work environment, supporting the notion that managers have primarily an acquisitive orientation.

Cost accounting for rational FCIM investment analysis

Purpose – Aims to review accounting practice with regard to the calculation and attribution of technology costs (i.e. depreciation) to products, to evaluate the impact of expected depreciation charges on FCIM system investment, and to propose an alternative depreciation method that is congruent with FCIM resource consumption patterns and better enables rational managerial analysis of the FCIM system investment decision.Design/methodology/approach – Reviews and extends existing models to propose a new model of cost accounting for rational FCIM investment analysis.Findings – The proposed model better enables rational analysis of FCIM system investment options, resulting in a more accurate prediction of income and product line profitability attributable to FCIM system investment.Originality/value – The logic embodied in this paper should be employed to further the development of more refined models of technology cost attribution. Simulations of machine use and maintenance by engineers, analogous to that pres...

CONNECTING CONCEPTS OF BUSINESS STRATEGY AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE TO ACTIVITY-BASED MACHINE COST ALLOCATIONS

As manufacturers continue to increase their level of automation, the issue of how to allocate machinery costs to products becomes increasingly important to product profitability. If machine costs are allocated to products on a basis that is incongruent with the realities of machine use, then income and product profitability will be distorted. Adding complexity to the dilemma of identifying an appropriate method of allocating machine costs to products is the changing nature of machinery itself. Depreciation concepts were formulated in days when a machine typically automated a single operation on a product. Today’s collections of computer numerically controlled machines can perform a wide variety of operations on products. Different products utilize different machine capabilities which, depending on the function used, put greater or less wear and tear on the equipment. This paper presents a mini-case that requires management accountants to consider alternative machine cost allocation methods. The implementation of an activity-based method allows managers to better match machine cost consumption to products. Better matching of machine costs to products enables better strategic decisions about pricing, mix, customer retention, capacity utilization, and equipment acquisition.

A brief history and review of purchasing card use by the U.S. government: 1990-2005

After fifteen years of use by U.S. Federal government agencies, purchase cards are still caught in a debate between the drive to improve governmental efficiency and the need to prudently manage and control spending of taxpayer resources. This paper gives decision makers facts by which to evaluate the purchase card experience to date by providing a brief history of legislative actions related to purchase cards, analyzing patterns of purchase card spending by Federal government agencies, estimating the potential size of the purchase card program, and identifying the costs and benefits of shifting low-value transactions to the purchase card. The paper concludes with recommendations for government action.

The Impact of Changing Patterns of Commercial Card Use by the US Government on Governmental Efficiency and Cost Savings

The US Government has used bank commercial card technology since the 1980s to simplify and reduce the cost of the process to acquire goods and services. The term “commercial cards” includes purchase, travel, and fleet cards. Generally, purchase cards are used to acquire non-travel-related goods and services of lower dollar value; travel cards are used to facilitate employee travel on government business and primarily used to purchase airline tickets, hotels, and auto rentals; and fleet cards support employee purchases of fuel and other automotive services for government vehicles.