Browsing by Division "ACA - Institute of Accounting, Control and Auditing"

Purpose - Increased business competition requires even more rapid and sophisticated information and data analysis. These requirements challenge performance management to effectively support the decision making process. Business analytics is an emerging field that can potentially extend the domain of performance management to provide an improved understanding of business dynamics and lead to a better decision making. The purpose of this positional paper is to introduce performance management analytics as a potential extension of performance management research and practice. The paper clarifies the possible application areas of business analytics and their advantages within the context of performance management. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs a literature based analysis and from this a conceptual argument is established. Finally, a business analytical model is presented to be used to undertake future research. Findings - The paper clarifies the possible application areas of business analytics and their advantages within the context of organizational performance management. Originality/value - The main implication is that the paper provides evidence of the use of business analytics for understanding organizational performance. Several insights are provided for management accounting research and education.

In an age of increasing access to and power of artificial intelligence (AI), ethical concerns, such as fairness, transparency, and human well-being have come to the attention of regulators, standard setting bodies, and organizations alike. In order to build AI-based systems that comply with new rules, organizations will have to adopt systems of governance. This study develops, based on existing frameworks and a multiple case study, a governance framework specifically designed with these challenges in mind: The St. Gallen Governance Framework for Artificial Intelligence focuses on identifying stakeholder concerns and strategic goals, building a management control system, assigning roles and responsibilities, and incorporating dynamism into the system of governance.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the interrelation between formal control and trust in dyadic buyer-supplier relationships when facing appropriation concerns. From a methodological perspective our starting point is not to take as given an often suggested humped-shaped relationship between theses control devises (Dekker, 2004, Tomkins, 2001), but to provide a dynamic model that generates endogenously such a pattern. This model involves trust generation mechanisms that interrelate with formal control in the contract and execution phase of a buyer-supplier relationship. The model structure involves feedback loops that contribute to diminishing causality concerns and is able to go beyond a comparative analysis. From a theoretical perspective, we reconsider the control problem of appropriation concerns when buyers face a performance risk. Our simulation results imply that a performance shock triggers a complementary (substitutive) relationship between goodwill (contractual) trust and monitoring frequency. Efficiency or effectivity gains are able to restore the humped-shaped relationships between the trust types and formal control. From a practical perspective and a transaction costs economics view, these results imply that giving a second chance to a supplier in favor of a long-term relationship may establish cost saving trust as a control devise despite the shock. Two directions determine the next steps for theory development induced by the model. First, the model is extended by asset specificity and partner selection. Asset specificity via idiosyncratic investments is regarded as a further antecedent of appropriation concerns; partner selection, is considered as an alternative to formal control. Second, the causal structure of the dynamic model may be tested empirically with a survey-based, non-recursive structural equation model. We consider these recommondations as invitations for future work. In conclusion, we consider our dynamic model that involves a humped-shaped relationship between the control devises as a candidate for extending existing theories regarding interfirm relationships.

This study investigates the value-relevance of non-financial information published in the narrative part of SPI annual reports. Our research contributes to the issue by introducing a new and objective approach for measuring non-financial information: based on a combination of content and factorial analysis, we quantify the extent of profitability and sustainability related information and find evidence for a positive relation to share price. The measurement aims to take both quantity and variety of expressions into account and proves that this is of investors' interest. Furthermore, consistent with prior studies based on Ohlson´s (1995) value-relevance model, we consider financial statement data and find that net income and book value of equity are positively related to market value. Our findings implicate that both, numerical and non-numerical information influence investors' perceptions and are therefore, crucial to be included in annual reports as the major communication tool.

This study critically reflects on the concept of 'accountability as responsiveness' by investigating the co-responsiveness of the other within accountability relationships. The research focuses on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and recent 'localisation' agendas in the humanitarian sector, which prioritise supporting and empowering local response efforts in crisis-affected areas. Drawing on an affirmative view of the other (Braidotti, 2006a, 2011a, 2013b, 2019, 2021), the study examines how this is manifested in specific participatory accountability practices. Two such practices within the ICRC, namely 'threats and risk assessments' and 'mapping the journey of the affected person,' are explored to demonstrate their role in the epistemic endeavour of understanding the other in a grounded, embodied, and affirmative manner. It is observed that these practices are designed to elicit specific levels and types of co-responsivity from the other. Furthermore, the study reveals how the intention to know the other in a situated and affirmative sense materialised across three main modes of knowing: the transformative experience of 'becoming' an affected person, the coping mechanisms employed, and the navigation of humanitarian crises. These findings contribute to the literature on accountability as responsiveness by providing specific insights and alternative understandings of responsiveness in accountability relationships. Additionally, the study proposes that accountability practices of this kind can generate specific types of knowledge and facilitate empowerment.