Management accounting change and the implementation of GFMIS: a Jordanian case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nizar Mohammad Alsharari ◽  
Mayada Abd El-Aziz Youssef
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the processes of management accounting change (MAC) in the Jordanian Customs Organization (JCO) within its social context following public sector reforms. It focuses on the regulative way in which a new accounting system of government financial management information system (GFMIS) was implemented throughout three levels of an institutional framework. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an interpretive case study in which the GFMIS was imposed by the government. It draws on a framework that comprises three institutional approaches: old institutional economics; new institutional sociology; and power mobilization. Findings In the JCO case, the GFMIS contributed effectively to the development of a comprehensive approach to the preparation of the budget while it works to facilitate the estimated process of expenditures and revenues. The study recognizes that the implementation of GFMIS may have emerged primarily as a response to external political and economic pressures. The MAC was carried out in the “from-top-to-bottom” level of institutional analysis, which confirms the “path-dependent” and evolutionary nature of the change. It concludes that the evolutionary MAC in the JCO case study was not only a decorative innovation in management accounting, but was also represented in the working practices. It has produced comprehensive and timely information about strategic planning, chart of accounts and classification of assets, liabilities, and revenues and expenses at all levels of management and programs. The study also confirms that management accounting is not a static phenomenon but one that changes over time to reflect new systems and practices. Research limitations/implications The need for having an integrated GFMIS in the authors’ case arises from two key dimensions: increasing pressures from the International Monetary Fund to improve fiscal management and reporting, and the government needs to respond to the demand of better information disclosure. GFMIS has provided an integrated solution for public financial management through the automation of the entire life cycle of budget preparation, budget execution, and financial reporting. The system operates across all budget organizations to ensure transparency and accountability in all public resources transactions, including allocation, use, and monitoring. Hence, it has important implications for policy decision makers through linking all budget organizations, for the purposes of supporting the process of decision making in an informed manner. The study has important implications for the ways in which change dynamics can emerge, diffuse, and implement at three levels of institutional analysis. It also explains the interaction between the external origins and internal accounts, which identified that GFMIS is both shaped by, and is shaping, wider socio-economic and political processes. Originality/value This study fills a gap in the literature, as it explains the processes of MAC associated with the introduction of GFMIS in the JCO within its social context. It recognizes the institutional pressures that affected the emergence and diffusion of GFMIS and how they interacted through three levels of institutional analysis.

Multilevel institutional analysis of accounting change in public management

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nizar Mohammad Alsharari
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Multilevel Analysis ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Interpretive Case Study

Purpose This paper aims to provide a multilevel institutional analysis of public sector accounting change. It seeks to explain the implementation of changes to state-sector budgeting systems, taking into account the complex of factors that drive and shape the cumulative processes of accounting change. Design/methodology/approach The study presents the results of an interpretive case study set in a Jordanian public organization, Jordan Customs. It uses triangulation of data collection methods including interviews, observations and documents and archival records. The study adopts a multilevel analysis of institutions to better understand the implications of public accounting changes for the re-engineering and improved delivery of public services in Jordan. Findings The paper concludes from its analysis of public sector organizations that change in their accounting systems has occurred on three institutional levels. New budgeting methodologies were produced and reproduced based on re-consideration and re-enacting of theoretical accounting bases and procedures. Through this process, accounting change was itself reformed and new accounting routines further embedded extant accounting institutions and norms. Budgeting change, as a fundamental accounting change, is in this conception generated by external pressures and institutionalized in accounting routines over time. Research limitations/implications The paper is subject to the limitations of the case study approach. The propositions presented from the case studied need to be confirmed in further research into accounting system changes in other public organizations. The authenticity of the conclusions of this study would be greatly enhanced if supported by findings from other studies. The study has significant implications for the ways in which the dynamics of accounting change emerge at three levels of institutional analysis. By explaining the interaction between the “external” sources of and “internal” responses to change, accounting practice is shown to be both formed by and formative of broader socioeconomic processes. This overall sensitivity to the nature of accounting has significant implications for how accounting change can be studied. Originality/value The paper presents an interpretive case study of the practical issues of organizational change in a multilevel analysis that considers the experience of institutional pressures from the perspective of organizational actors. The study contributes to both management accounting literature and institutional theory by providing further understanding of the dynamics of accounting change in a developing nation’s public sector.

Global Synfuels' financial and strategic appraisal of a coal-to-liquid project

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Narender Lal Ahuja ◽  
Sweta Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Corporate Finance ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Coal Gasification ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Managerial Accounting ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government

Subject area Financial management, corporate finance, strategic management, managerial accounting and project management. Study level/applicability The case is suitable for courses such as MBA, Bachelor level business courses (in finance, business strategy) and training programs for working executives. Case overview The case study deals with financial and strategic appraisal of a unique coal-to-liquid project. India imported about two thirds of its crude oil requirements resulting in huge outflow of precious foreign exchange. As a result, it became necessary for the country to look for alternative sources of energy. The coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology of coal gasification offers a credible alternative source of fuels as proved by Sasol of South Africa. The Government of India short-listed Global Synfuels Company (name changed) as one of the selected few companies to build a CTL project. While the project is strategically important to the company and highly desirable for the country, there are serious doubts about the commercial viability of the project because of which the company is in dilemma whether to go ahead with the project. The case study presents this decision dilemma in a very interesting way and will be useful for teaching courses in corporate finance and strategic management. Expected learning outcomes The case can be used to engage participants to make a SWOT analysis for a new business opportunity, discuss environmental and financial issues facing a company, use DCF techniques to evaluate the project viability, carry out scenario analysis of the project to the changes in variables as well as challenge the participants to generate strategies for the success of a new project. Participants would also develop a better understanding of: environmental issues involved in CTL projects and new technologies to deal with such issues; and the employment impact of large projects such as the CTL. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.

Beyond Budgeting and change: a case study

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Sandalgaard ◽  
Per Nikolaj Bukh
Keyword(s):  
Management Accounting ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Global Company ◽  
Made In ◽  
Management Accounting System

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate reasons for going Beyond Budgeting and the practical issues organizations face when they change their management accounting system based on inspiration from the Beyond Budgeting model. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply a case study approach. The primary data source is interviews. The case company is a global company in the agri-food industry that is organized as a cooperative. Findings – The authors propose that many organizations that change their management accounting system on the basis of inspiration from Beyond Budgeting will maintain fixed budget targets. Furthermore, the authors propose that even when the use of budgets at the corporate level focuses on few line items, the diagnostic use of budgeting at lower levels in the organization may focus on a larger number of line items. Research limitations/implications – The study is subject to the usual limitations of case-based research. The propositions made in the paper should be further investigated in other organizations attempting to change their management accounting system with inspiration from Beyond Budgeting. Practical implications – This study shows that the lack of internal benchmarks and the need to deliver the expected results to the company’s owners might hinder the implementation of the Beyond Budgeting model as described in the practitioner-based Beyond Budgeting literature. Originality/value – The paper is one of the few case studies in the academic literature to analyze the practical issues organizations face when changing their way of budgeting on the basis of inspiration from Beyond Budgeting.

Implementing an integrated ABC and TOC approach to enhance decision making in a Lean context

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 906-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majed Alsmadi ◽  
Ahmad Almani ◽  
Zulfiqar Khan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Product Mix ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Action Research Approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to implement an integrated activity-based costing (ABC) and theory of constraints (TOC) approach to enhance decision making in a Lean company. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature, this paper proposes an integrated ABC and TOC approach and applies it to a Lean plastic manufacturing company to improve its product-mix decision. Findings – The results of the case study show that the current conventional product-mix decision used by the company and the proposed integrated approach can give significantly different results concerning the optimal product-mix and the associated bottlenecks. Moreover, the paper suggests that managers who implement Lean production without utilising a supportive management accounting system may experience disappointing financial results. Research limitations/implications – The validation of the suggested method is based on a single case study with an action research approach. For future research, the authors suggest the implementation of the approach in different industries. Practical implications – Overall, the integration of ABC and TOC provides managers with an accurate, timely and reliable tool that can help in making decisions about pricing, production line development, process improvements and product-mix. Originality/value – This paper contributes to Lean and management accounting literature by demonstrating the value of a method of integrating ABC and TOC. Also a case study is chosen for the empirical aspect of the study as there are no case studies available in the literature that illustrate a real life case of integrating ABC and TOC within Lean companies as an alternative to the current used cost accounting systems.

scholarly journals The role of identity and image in shaping management accounting change

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1075-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda C. Taylor ◽  
Robert W. Scapens
Keyword(s):  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Retail Company ◽  
Negative Identity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implementation of a new accounting system in the accounting department of a large retail company. The paper seeks to understand and explain how management accounting change can be shaped by the identity and image of particular groups in an organisation. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal explanatory case study. An institutional framework was initially used to inform the research, but was subsequently extended using the concepts of identity and image. Findings – By changing existing accounting systems, the accountants “inside” the accounting department sought to challenge their current “negative” identity and image. However, the case shows that the new accounting system was not well received by accountants “outside” the accounting department. The case illustrates that the differing identity and image of the two groups of accountants were crucial factors underlying the different perceptions of the accounting change. Originality/value – The conceptual framework developed in this paper highlights the role which identity and image can play in shaping processes of change, and it enriches the understanding of the reasons for change, stability and resistance to change.

The processes of accounting changes as emerging from public and fiscal reforms

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nizar Mohammad Alsharari ◽  
Hoda Abougamos
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Fiscal Reforms ◽  
Ministry Of Finance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence processes of accounting change in the Jordanian Ministry of Finance as well as the Jordanian public sector within its socio-economic contexts, as brought about by public and fiscal reforms. The study explains the ways in which accounting change dynamics can emerge on the basis of interaction between “external” origins and “internal” accounts; which identifies that accounting is both shaped by, and shaping, wider socio-economic and political processes. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an interpretive case study approach. The study adopts institutional and structuration theory as a theoretical lens and uses triangulation in data collection, including interviews, observations and documents and archival records. Findings The paper concludes that the new budgeting systems together with the Results-Based Management emerged as a result of interaction between “external” origins and “internal” accounts. It also highlights the interaction between these levels from one side, and the accounting and organizational change from the other side. The study confirms that factors other than economic may also play an influential role in the emergence of accounting change. It also concludes that there is a radical change of accounting systems in the case study (Ministry of Finance), which is not only a cosmetic change in accounting but is also represented in the actual working practices. The study also confirms that accounting is not a static phenomenon, but one that changes over time to reflect new systems and practices. Research limitations/implications The paper has important implications for institutional research on accounting change and public sector reforms in responding to recent calls to bridge the gap between the extra- and intra-organizational levels of analysis. Hence, it has essential implications for the way in which successful change can be defined in accounting and organizational change literature. It also identifies that management accounting is both shaped by, and shapes, wider socio-economic and political processes, which has important implications for the methods of studying management accounting change. Originality/value The paper is one of the few case studies in the accounting literature to analyze the practical issues organizations face when changing their method of budgeting as influenced by public sector and fiscal reforms. The study contributes to both accounting literature and institutional theory by providing further understanding and “thick explanation” of the dynamics of accounting change in the public sector.

Smart city dynamics and multi-level management accounting: unfolding a case of sustainable enterprise resource planning

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Loai Ali Zeenalabden Ali Alsaid
Keyword(s):  
Enterprise Resource Planning ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Management Accounting System

Purpose This study aims to explore the complex, multi-level institutional dynamics of smart city reforms and projects and their potential sustainability pressures on the implementation of a management accounting system in an Egyptian state-owned enterprise (SOE), which has a politically sensitive institutional character. Design/methodology/approach This study adds to institutional management accounting research using a multi-level perspective of institutional dynamics in the smart city context. Data were collected from an interpretive case study of an Egyptian SOE that was under socio-political sustainability pressures to implement a smart electricity network project in New Minya city. Findings Smart city projects have formed social and political sustainability pressures, which introduced the enterprise resource planning (ERP) network as a new management accounting system. A new (complex and multi-level) management accounting system was invented to reinvent the sustainable city as an “accounting city” (which appeared rhetorically as a “smart city”). “Smart” being the visibility and measurability of the sustainability performance of the collective body, which calls the city and its connectivity to different institutional levels brought out in a city network project for the ERP-enabled electricity distribution. Research limitations/implications This study examines a single case study from a single smart city and identifies the accounting community’s need for multiple and comparative case studies to further analyse the potential impact of smart city reforms and projects on the sustainable implementation of management accounting systems. Practical implications City policymakers and managers may benefit from the practical findings of this interpretive field-based case study in planning, implementing and monitoring smart city projects and objectives. Social implications Individual and collective well-being may be enhanced through new management accounting forms of multi-level local governance and increased political, field and organisational sustainability. Originality/value This study provides important insights into the sustainability dynamics of management accounting in achieving smart city reforms. The achievement of sustainability management accounting systems has connected to multiple ERP roles at different institutional levels, which resulted in accommodating the socio-political objectives of smart city projects.

scholarly journals Institutional contradictions and change of organisations and accounting

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-330
Author(s):  
Sof Thrane ◽  
Lars Balslev
Keyword(s):  
Management Accounting ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Level ◽  
Management Accounting Systems ◽  
First Case ◽  
Legislative Influence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how contradictions between institutional pressures shape accounting and organisational change within Air Greenland. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies document analysis and retrospective interviews to trace accounting and organisational change spanning 50 years and analyses developments on multiple levels: societal, governance and micro levels. Findings The paper illustrates the didactical development of the organisation and management accounting. The contradictory impetus from the institutional level generates a space where actors are able to affect development and change management accounting systems. Actors at the company level further acted on the institutional level to affect change in governance and institutions. Research limitations/implications The case differs from case studies in emerging countries owing to the low number of inhabitants in Greenland, its income per capita and the legislative influence asserted by Denmark, the former colonial power, restricting the generalizability of findings. Originality/value The paper extends extant research on development of organisations and management accounting change in developing countries through a longitudinal study of how contradictory demands from the governance and legislative levels affect accounting and organisational change. Moreover, the paper is the first case study to address management accounting practices in Greenland.

ACCOUNTING SYSTEM DESIGN FOR THE OPERATION OF RENTAL FLATS AND SPORTS VENUE OF RIAU PROVINCE

Jurnal Niara ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
Neneng Salmiah ◽  
Fahmi Oemar ◽  
Reni Farwitawati
Keyword(s):  
System Design ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Design System ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Service Agency ◽  
Operation System ◽  
Management Procedure ◽  
The Government

The study aimed at conducting an analysis towards the operation of Athlete Homestead for the National Sports Week in 2012 belonging to Riau Province. Regarding the Finance Operation System in the form of Sub-district Development Program-Regional Public Service Agency (PPK BLUD), the researcher designed the Accounting System for the Regional Public Service Agency of the Rental Flats and Sports Venue. The data analysis in this study used the descriptive qualitative method by describing the accounting system design for the operation of Rental Flats and Sports Venue through the Sub-district Development Program-Regional Public Service Agency (PPK BLUD) with the procedure comprising: designing the rent system and procedure of the Rental Flats and Sports Venue, designing the system of cash management from the rent income, implementing focused-group discussion with the related parties and the government, working on the policy improvement draft for the operation of the Rental Flats and Sports Venue belonging to Riau Province.Based on the result of the study and discussion, it can be concluded that in order to improve the effectiveness of the service and operation of Rental Flats and Sports Venue with sound business practice, it is necessary to implement the Finance Operation System in the form of Sub-district Development Program-Regional Public Service Agency (PPK BLUD). The design system of the Sub-district Development Program-Regional Public Service Agency (PPK BLUD) comprising the organization chart, the transaction proof document, and the financial management procedure

Accounting without accounting

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Frezatti ◽  
David B. Carter ◽  
Marcelo F.G. Barroso
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Accounting Information System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Perspective

Purpose – An effective management accounting information system (MAIS), as well as the accounting discourse related to it, can support, facilitate, enable, and constrain diverse business discourses. This paper aims to examine the discursive and organisational effects of an organisation accounting upon absent accounting artefacts, i.e. accounting without accounting. Situated within the discursive literature, this paper examines the construction of competing articulations of the organisation by focusing on what accounting does or does not do within an organisation. In particular, the paper acknowledges the fundamental importance of the accounting discourse in supporting, facilitating, enabling, and constraining competing organisational discourses, as it illustrates how the absence of accounting centralises power within the organisation. Design/methodology/approach – From a rhetorical, discursive perspective, the authors develop an in-depth qualitative case study in a manufacturing organisation where MAIS has been abandoned for approximately two years. Interpretive research approaches, from a post-structural perspective, provided the base for the structure of the research. The authors studied how other organisational discourses (such as entrepreneurship and growth), which are traditionally constructed with reference to accounting and other artefacts, continued to be produced and sustained. The non-use and non-availability of management accounting information created a vacuum that needed to be filled. The lack of discursive counterpoints and counter-evidence provided by MAIS created a vacuum of information, allowing powerful, proxy discourses to prevail in the organisation, increasing risks to business management. Findings – The absence of MAIS to support an accounting discourse requires that contingent discourses “fill in the discursive gap”. Despite appearances, they are no substitute for the accounting discourse. Thus, over time, the entrepreneurial, growth and partners' discourses lose credibility, without the corresponding use of management accounting information and its associated discourse. Originality/value – There are at least two main contributions from the case study and the findings presented in this paper: first, they provide a new perspective for studying MAIS, as a specific organisational discourse among other discourses that shape people relationship within the organisation as an examination of accounting without accounting. Second, this discussion reinforces the relevance of accounting discourse for other organisational discourses, supporting, facilitating, enabling, and constraining them, by demonstrating the effects of its absence.

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