Emerald | Asian Review of Accounting | Table of Contents

Management Accounting Practices and the Turnaround Process

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - The paper provids a longitudinal view of sucessful turnaround phases and of how management accounting practices played a significant role in improving performance in one company.Design/methodology/approach - The company provided internal documents to cover the period of the study and permitted access to key individuals who were able to elaborate and clarify the motives which underpinned the numbers reported and the strategies employed.Findings - The success of the corporate turnaround appeared to be attributable to an effective leadership style that was able to motivate and support the employees whilst making strategic changes to the organization's capital, financial well-being and operations.Originality/value - Recognition of the key factors in the turnaround process has implications for the implementation of corporate recovery strategies elsewhere.

Exploring hegemonic change in China: a case of accounting evolution

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Lina Xu, Corinne Cortese, Eagle Zhang) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - This paper provides an understanding of how accounting systems have changed across four distinct periods of hegemonic leadership in China.Design/methodology/approach - Using Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, periods of leadership and accounting change throughout Chinese history are examined, including the Confucian tradition, the rise of the socialist system followed by the Cultural Revolution under the Maoist era, and the move towards the socialist-market system in the Dengist era.Findings - This paper shows how political leaders in these different time periods effectively achieved leadership by destroying an existing hegemony, creating a new ideology, and implanting this into people’s daily lives in order to successfully mobilise their ideological systems. Consistent with changes in leadership, Chinese accounting systems are shown to have responded to hegemonic shifts across these periods.Originality/value - This paper contributes to understandings of Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, explanations of, and motivations for, accounting change, and provides an insight into the evolution of accounting systems throughout time in the context of China.

Executive Remuneration in China A Literature Review:

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Peter Rampling, Ian Eddie, Jackie Liu) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - Kato & Long (2005) state that executive compensation has attracted much attention from economists in the past two decades yet most academic work on executive compensation has been concentrated on a few developed countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., mainly due to data availability. In light of the mounting interest in the vital role that corporate governance may play in economic development, however, it is of considerable importance to study how firms in developing countries compensate their top executives. In particular, for transition economies struggling to transform their state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into profitable modern firms through various reform measures, the provision of efficient managerial incentives is a crucial ingredient of the successful transition of the economy. Since executive pay-performance link represents the bulk of managerial incentives for top management, a closer look at the nature of pay-performance link for top management in transitional economies will provide much needed information for the evaluation of the current reform effort and the designing of future reform measures.Design/methodology/approach - A review of available literature for this topic was sourced, collated and summarised.Findings - The significant pay-performance link for top management in China’s listed firms is overall encouraging news for current policy makers in China, who consider public listing in the stock market as a key mechanism of achieving such a goal for large SOEs. However, not all news is good. Perhaps most importantly, they have found that government ownership of China’s listed firms is weakening pay-performance link for top managers and thus possibly making China’s listed firms less effective in solving the agency problem. Originality/value - Taken in context with other literature and research, this paper provides an insight into the link between Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOE’s) and other publicly listed firms and executive remuneration.

Developing critical thinking skills and effective co-operative international accounting degree programs in China

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Hong He, Russell Craig, Jing Wen) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - We critically review the co-operative education program conducted between 20 Chinese universities and the Certified General Accountants’ Association of Canada.Design/methodology/approach - The assessments made are influenced by the results of a questionnaire survey of the opinions of students in the co-operative education program; and by the experiences of the authors variously as a current teacher, former student, and independent observer of this program.Findings - We offer suggestions to improve accounting education in China in areas of curriculum and teaching. In doing so, we emphasize the need to develop critical thinking skills.Originality/value - This paper provides good insights to how many Chinese universities co-operate with foreign universities and/or foreign professional accounting associations to educate accountants. This is particularly important in an era in which China’s rapidly expanding international trade and overseas investment has prompted a growing need for it to develop more internationally-proficient accountants.

ESTABLISHING A LINK BETWEEN COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION SELF-EFFICACY IN ACCOUNTING STUDENTS

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - To establish a link between communication apprehension and communication self-efficacy in accounting students.Design/methodology/approach - This is achieved by the use of two questionnaires jointly distributed to the students involved. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) developed by McCroskey (1984) to measure oral communication apprehension (OCA) and the instrument for written communication apprehension (WCA) developed by Daly and Miller (1975) and a questionnaire to measure communication self–efficacy. This had been developed using the guidelines set out by Bandura (2006) and was designed to measure two constructs: oral communication self-efficacy, and written communication self-efficacy. Findings - The two separate statistical tests to identify the connection between the two concepts both indicated the existence of a strong relationship between the two. This was shown not only in the overall relationship between communication apprehension and self-efficacy but also equally strongly in their constituent components Practical implications - The existence of this relationship is important because it provides a possible development in terms of understanding the barrier to the development of communication skills and also indicates a possible redirection to alleviate and remove the barrier. In order for accountants to meet future challenges there is substantial evidence that the development of communication skills will be vital. Originality/value - Draws the conclusion that in the future consideration needs to be given to incorporating into the pedagogy of accounting education, especially in those areas involving the development of communication skills, approaches that increase self-efficacy.