Zahirul Hoque

Understanding Non-Financial Performance Measurement practices in Japanese Banks: A New Institutional Sociology Perspective

This paper reports the performance measurement practices of four Japanese banks. The research is a field study informed by the new institutional sociology theory. It sought to understand and explain what factors affected the design and use of non‐financial performance measurement systems in the banks studied. The results indicate that several institutional forces influenced the banks to implement a particular performance measurement system. Of these, economic constraints appeared to be the most forceful factor, followed by the central bank’s regulatory control, accounting standards/financial legislation, management’s strategic focus, bank size, competition, and organizational tendency to copy best practices from others.

Public sector reform – Implications for accounting, accountability and performance of state‐owned entities – an Australian perspective

Faced by increased globalization, the dissatisfaction of Australian citizens, and a curtailing of spending, the Australian Government has embarked on a major reform agenda centered on new public management ideals to achieve greater economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. A major driver of reform in all levels of government has been the introduction of the national competition policy. Describes the recent developments in Australian public sector and discusses reform implications for accounting, accountability and performance in Queensland local governments. Suggests that accounting plays a significant role in promoting accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of public sector services.

Political and Industrial Relations Turbulence, Competition and Budgeting in the Nationalised Jute Mills of Bangladesh

Abstract This paper reports an empirical investigation, based on triangulation methods, of how a set of environmental facts affect budgeting characteristics in the nationalised jute mills of Bangladesh. The key factors were derived from intensive fieldwork. Five external factors (political climate, industrial relations, competition, aid agencies and government regulations) were deemed to affect budget-related factors (such as participation, accountability for budget, budget evaluation, budget analysis, interactions among managers and budget flexibility). Data from 38 state-owned jute mills within the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) are used to test the propositions. The analyses of data reveal a significant relationship between environmental factors and budget-related behaviour. Political factors, industrial relations and market competition were major influences on how budgeting systems were perceived. The study shows how political volatility and industrial relations can render the formal systems...

Management accounting change in South Africa

Most research on management accounting change relates to practices in developed countries. This paper reports on a field study of management accounting change in the South African context. It uses a contingency theory framework within four retail companies to understand the processes of their management accounting systems change and to explore the rationales for such change processes. The findings indicate considerable changes in management accounting systems within the four cases. Such changes include increased use of contemporary management accounting practices notably activity‐based cost allocation systems and the balanced scorecard approach to performance measures. The paper suggests that recent environmental changes in the South African economy arising from government reform/deregulation policy and global competition largely facilitated the management accounting change processes within the participating organisations.

Policing the police service: A case study of the rise of "new public management" within an Australian police service

Recently public interest in the police service in Australia has emanated from extensive media coverage and from rising public accountability expectations. In light of this, the current paper explores how far the accounting, accountability and performance management systems within “new public management” ideals have evolved within the Australian police services. More specifically, it explores the accountability framework, information for performance evaluation and public sector reform implications for an Australian state police service as a whole, and an individual police station, in particular. The findings suggest that the police service in Australia has a rigid accountability structure and is continuously subject to performance evaluations. Further, it has been found that there is considerable rise of “new public management” ideals within the police services in Australia. It was apparent that the reforms in the police service had a dual purpose – legitimizing the police service to the electorate and ordinary citizens, while encouraging efficiencies of resource use.

Securing institutional legitimacy or organizational effectiveness?: A case examining the impact of public sector reform initiatives in an Australian local authority

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a major initiative (the National Competition Policy) and pieces of legislation (the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance Standards) on the internal practices of a large Australian local authority.Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical framework is developed using new public management (NPM) and neo‐institutional theory literatures to explain the findings. A case study approach was applied to collect the data for the research.Findings – The findings reveal that the National Competition Policy 1993, the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government Finance Standards 1994 mainly have brought about significant changes to the organisations internal management control processes, such as financial reporting, budgeting and performance appraisal. The changes brought in appeared to be coincidentally similar to NPM ideals. Furthermore, senior managers (such as the chief executive and divisional heads) played a major role in ...

TQM adoption, institutionalism and changes in management accounting systems: a case study

In recent years many organisations have moved towards a total quality management (TQM) path in their quest for quality. Accounting researchers have become interested in understanding how accounting systems are implicated within a TQM environment. This paper reports on a case study of TQM adoption and changes in management accounting systems (MAS) within a New Zealand construction company. It evaluates organizational approaches to implement TQM as a strategic option and the subsequent change in MAS. The paper suggests that an organisation may initiate TQM practices to promote ‘institutional’ and ‘quality’ culture rather than for purely technical reasons. It also suggests that when an organisation adopts new management practices such as TQM, it may lead to changes in the organisations internal control mechanisms, such as management accounting and reporting processes.

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND THE BALANCED SCORECARD APPROACH: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THEIR POTENTIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH

Abstract Total quality management (TQM) practices have been implemented by firms interested in enhancing their survival prospects by including quality and continuous improvement into their strategic priorities. Using financial and non-financial measures, the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach appraises four dimensions of firm performance: customers, financial (or shareholders), learning and growth, and internal business processes. This paper attempts to establish a link between these two approaches and in so doing it identifies future research opportunities in relation to these two approaches. The paper suggests that TQM does not consider employee satisfaction in its search for continuous improvement, but the BSC does consider employee satisfaction. Therefore, by adopting a BSC a firm that has adopted TQM will overcome this oversight which will in turn increase employee satisfaction and subsequently firm performance. These issues are assessed from the managerial and critical literatures. The final part of this paper identifies research issues into the nature, impact and value of the TQM–BSC “fit”.

Measurement of sustainability performance in the public sector

Purpose – This article identifies current performance measurement practice within state, territory and federal government departments in Australia with a particular emphasis on the importance of sustainability performance measures. Whilst voluntary sustainability reporting by private sector organisations aligned, for the most part, with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines is growing, there is little sustainability reporting by organisations in the public sector. This raises questions as to the extent to which public sector sustainability performance is managed. This research aims to assess the use of sustainability performance measures for supporting organisational performance improvement. Design/methodology/approach – A mail out survey approach has been adopted within government departments. Findings – The performance measures utilised by organisations to a great extent were in the areas of cost efficiency and quality measures and those utilised to least extent were for learning and growth measu...

The rise and use of balanced scorecard measures in Australian government departments

This paper examines the rise and use of balanced scorecard performance measurement systems in Australian government departments. Through a survey of all Australian federal, state and territory government departments we find that Australian government departments include a broad set of financial and non-financial measures within a balanced scorecard approach. Theoretically, our findings lend support for both economic and ‘external’ institutional rationales for the implementation and use of balanced scorecard measures. We find that those government departments reporting greater implementation of balanced scorecard performance measures also report greater benefits for organisational decisions. Our findings shed light on the use, and further potential, of BSC performance measurement systems as part of the management control system in Government departments.