Dissertations / Theses: 'Accounting Accounting Accountants'

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Hamilton, Susan Elizabeth. "Accounting for identity : becoming a chartered accountant." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/127.

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This is a qualitative study which draws on the interpretivist tradition to research the processes by which Chartered Accountant (CA) students begin to develop their sense of professional identity. The thesis draws upon recent research on identity in early professional learning, in particular the aspects of becoming and belonging through which people enter into a community of practice. The purpose of the research is to understand the developing professional identity of students of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (CA Students). In order to develop this understanding, data gathered at a number of focus groups at which CA Students were the participants, have been analysed. The transcripts from these focus groups are the primary source of data. This was analysed thematically and metaphorically in order to explore the senses that CA Students were making of their own entry into the accountancy profession. The analysis was used inductively to produce a resulting theory which has developed as a Professional Identity Map of the CA Student (PIMCAS). It elaborates the processes that impact on the developing professional identity of the CA Student. The findings of the research illuminate the processes by which CA Students become and belong, in particular marking the influence of the Training Firm and the Individual Values of the CA Student. The notions of becoming and belonging underpin the stories the CA Students tell of how they understand their developing professional identity. The practical implication of the results of this research for the future training of CAs is finally explored.

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Gustafsson, Julia, and Paulina Jerkinger. "Automation in accounting : A study of impacts in accountants' practice and attitudes towards automated accounting." Thesis, Jönköping University, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-52884.

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McKean, Gerald W. McCarthy John R. "Congruencies of computer competencies as viewed by accounting practitioners and accounting educators." Normal, Ill. Illinois State University, 1985. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ilstu/fullcit?p8514778.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1985.
Title from title page screen, viewed June 8, 2005. Dissertation Committee: John McCarthy (chair), Timothy Duffy, Gary Fish, David Franklin, Ronald Halinski, James Hallam. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-192) and abstract. Also available in print.

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Bennerson, Brigitte A. "Accountants and Accounting Educators' Perceptions of Accounting Certifications/Accreditations and Communication Divides." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4421.

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Global changes to business exchanges of goods, services, capital, technology, and knowledge requires accountants to have more diverse skill sets than in the past. Practitioners' documented concerns about accounting graduates' inability to function globally. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was twofold: (a) to explore accounting practitioners' and educators' perceptions of the Certified Public Accountant and other accounting certifications and accreditations, and (b) to explore possible communication divides between accounting academia and professionals that may be creating a gap between what employers expect and what they receive from graduates. Phone interviews were conducted with 5 practicing accounting educators and 5 practicing accounting professionals. Using NVIVO, a thematic analysis was conducted to examine and analyze the data for patterns and opposing views. Half of the participants believe that the curriculum should be modified; they were not convinced that existing accounting curricula prepare students for the workplace, even if they passed the CPA exam. Despite being aware of other certifications and the relevancy of specific certifications for various job trajectories, educators and practitioners view the CPA certification as most valuable and most recognized. Six participants perceived a communication gap and a need for conversation, due to educators' detachment from accounting profession. This research serves to unify educators and practitioners to foster a learning environment conducive to preparing graduates to communicate and work in a global business because a highly skilled workforce will contribute to trust and sustainable value creation; ultimately improving the economy by building enduring businesses and communities.

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Sundqvist, Ellinor, and Piia Hyytiä. "Accounting for Cryptocurrencies - A Nightmare for Accountants." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-161099.

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Cryptocurrencies are a phenomenon which has appeared more and more during the last years and is widely used by both individuals and entities. Their technological features have intrigued many, resulting in a significant growth of the number of cryptocurrencies available and an increased amount of areas of usage. More and more businesses have started using cryptocurrencies for example for investment purposes or accepting them as a means of payment. This has resulted in an urgent need of guidance from accounting standard setters to regulate how they are treated in financial statements. The result of the lack of such guidance has led to a variety of accounting treatments used in practice which have created significant challenges for preparers of financial statements. Up until recently the guidance for preparers of financial statements consisted of reports issued by the big accounting firms and recommendations from local regulatory accounting bodies. The lack of literature together with the possible consequences for the marketplace has resulted in an urgent need of guidance to avoid a patchwork of accounting treatments in the market. Furthermore, these challenges may result in possibilities of conducting earnings management or an increased information asymmetry between stakeholders and entities. The purpose of this study is to understand and discuss the practical accounting issues and challenges related to cryptocurrencies for preparers of financial statements. The research is based on four broad themes which seek to assist the purpose by including several perspectives to the issues and challenges faced. The themes that the research is divided into are assets, revenues, disclosures and risk factors associated with cryptocurrencies. Based on these four themes the research question this research aims at answering is: “What are the practical accounting issues and challenges for the preparers of financial statements related to cryptocurrencies?” The empirical findings of this research suggest that there are many challenges which need to be resolved when it comes to accounting for cryptocurrencies. There are issues present in all four themes, but the main challenges which were identified revolved around asset classification, valuation, disclosures and risk factors. Furthermore, based on the empirical findings it is evident that the knowledge of practitioners is of a more practical nature while literature is more based on specific standards and paragraphs which can be applied. However, this research provides practical contributions to existing literature and includes aspects of risk consequences for accounting and financial markets at large. It is concluded that more accounting guidance is needed for cryptocurrencies to increase the usefulness of financial information and to reduce possibilities of earnings management which occur because of divergent accounting treatments.

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Bland, Sandra J. K. Ashby Dianne E. "A comparison of the opinions of accounting academics and accounting practitioners about technology knowledge needed by entry-level accountants." Normal, Ill. Illinois State University, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ilstu/fullcit?p3064508.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2002.
Title from title page screen, viewed March 7, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Dianne E. Ashby (chair), Patricia Klass, John Rugutt, David J. Larkin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-149) and abstract. Also available in print.

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Yau, Kin-pong Harry. "The role of accountants in fraud detection." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2000. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B42575552.

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Sturgill, Olivia. "An Analysis of Robotic Process Automation for Accountants." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/638.

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The objective of this thesis paper is to answer the question: is robotic process automation efficient/beneficial and should accountants consider its implementation? For accountants, robotic process automation is a software that “perform[s] tasks such as processing sales and financial transactions, managing data, communicating between different systems, and access management, as well as monitoring and reporting” (Seasongood, 2016). In order to determine whether or not RPA should be implemented, a survey was found that had over 500 responses from varying companies currently using RPA. A statistical analysis will be performed in order to determine if any statistical significances exist between questions (both the benefits and challenges of RPA), by countries, by employee sizes, and by business functions. Based on the results, a conclusion will be provided on RPA’s implementation into the accounting field.

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Basioudis, Ilias Grigorios. "Accountants on the UK boards of directors and the market for accountancy and audit services." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1999. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/3024/.

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Several previous studies have provided empirical evidence concerning the pricing of audit services among different accountancy firms. These studies have examined the form of the auditor fee function by generally performing cross-sectional regressions of audit fees on a set of explanatory variables. This study is the first to investigate whether an "alumni effect" prevails the UK audit market and whether any "alumni effect" influences the pricing of audit services. The "alumni effect" has been defined in this study as the association between the auditor of the company where the director/chartered accountant is currently employed and the accounting firm that the director/chartered accountant originally qualified with, as a chartered accountant. The study has constructed an alumni network by matching the current director of the UK public company with the accountancy firm s/he qualified with as chartered accountant. By doing this, the "alumni effect" variable has been created which is a non-price factor conjectured to translate into price effects. The study provides a theoretical analysis and explanation of the "alumni effect" by combining several theories in microeconomics, organisational behaviour and socialisation of accountants. Using chi-square tests it provides evidence that an "alumni effect" does prevail the UK audit market for publicly traded companies. A classical regression model was constructed for the functional relationship between external audit fee and independent variables measuring the "alumni effect" and audit firm size. Other factors such as client size and complexity, client risk to fail, etc. are controlled for in the cross-sectional models. The findings show that the "alumni effect" leads to higher audit fees when a finance director, chairman or/and chief executive is/are alumni of the incumbent auditor in the large companies segment of the audit market. The findings also indicate that when the audit firm size is partitioned into three classes then a price premium is revealed.

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Maijoor, Steven Jacobus. "The economics of accounting regulation effects of Dutch accounting regulation for public accountants and firms /." Maastricht : Maastricht : Datawyse ; University Library, Maastricht University [Host], 1991. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=5630.

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Sato, Braxton. "Management Accountants, Risk Management, and Effective Communication." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/324.

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This paper seeks to explain the frameworks that the risk accountant likely operates in. It begins with a discussion of risk in the business context. Then the paper examines existing frameworks in light of the work of management accountants. The paper looks more closely at the tools the management accountant has at his disposal to identify, assess, and communicate risk as well as issues surrounding the use of these tools such as the calculative culture of the firm and biases in risk perception. It is meant to be useful to academics pursuing future research in risk accounting and also to management accountants in risk management.

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Wells, Paul K. "Perceptions of accounting and accountants an investigation into how and why these perceptions were formed : a thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), 2009 /." Click here to access this resource online, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10292/830.

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There is growing concern that a widespread perception of accounting and accountants is discouraging individuals with the required skills and capabilities from entering the accounting profession. At the same time, an inappropriate perception may be attracting those who lack the required skills and capabilities. Research suggests that not only are perceptions of accounting and accountants very negative but that they may also be inaccurate and difficult to change. This thesis applies social psychology theory on stereotyping to assist in identifying why these perceptions are resistant to change. Stereotype theory suggests that strategies for changing perceptions are dependent on how and why the perceptions were formed. Through a questionnaire, this study sought to identify the perceptions and through interviews and focus groups, how and why they were formed. A questionnaire, interviews and focus groups were used to collect data from sixty-five people from four distinct groups. These groups included the general public, users of accounting services, young people making career decisions, and accountants themselves. Additional data was collected from a further three accounting educators. The application of stereotype theory has assisted in explaining why common perceptions of accounting and accountants have been so resistant to change and in identifying suitable intervention strategies. This study found that the perceptions people have of accounting and accountants are inaccurate. They are either too specific and hence unnecessarily restrictive and limiting, or alternatively the perceptions are so abstract and lacking in specificity that they are absorbed into a broader level category. In the first instance, a single experience is overgeneralised to represent a participant‟s understanding of accounting. In the second instance, accounting is overgeneralised to represent all activity of the broader category label. That the accounting profession, in general, has appeared to make little effort to correct these inaccurate perceptions and has failed to disseminate more widely the findings from academic research is of concern. Overgeneralised perceptions of accounting and accountants were found to be resistant to change for a number of reasons. Participants who created a very broad category label to represent their abstract understanding of accounting usually lacked the motivation and/or cognitive capacity to add specificity to their understanding. On the other hand, participants who based their perceptions of accounting on single exemplar models lacked an understanding of the skills and capabilities that accountants possessed and how these competencies could serve them. The influence of the high school curriculum was a further reason that perceptions were resistant to change. When members of the wider community had studied accounting at high school, their understanding of accounting was narrowly focused on the scorekeeping role of accounting. The perceptions of people who had studied accounting at high school, both currently and in the past, were the most resistant to change. The following interventions to change the perceptions people have of accounting and accountants are proposed. First it is necessary for the professional associations to articulate clearly the advice from the academic community on how the role of accountants and the nature of accounting have changed and to increase the awareness of these changes among their members. It is then necessary to communicate this information to the public by aligning the diverse range of accounting outputs with individual goals while explaining how accountants‟ training has changed to accommodate these more diverse roles. Finally, it is necessary to reconsider how accounting should be taught at high school, providing less emphasis on the scorekeeping role of accountants and increasing the emphasis on how accounting impacts everyday life.

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Yip, Man-shan Tammy. "Total quality management for the accounting profession /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B19872215.

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Othman, Radiah. "Understanding accountants' participation in accounting information systems implementation : Malaysian evidence." Thesis, Aston University, 2007. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/10905/.

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The study is a two-part study starting with a nationwide survey in the private sector. The hypotheses derived from the Western literature were not significantly supported when the results were analyzed. It seems that the existing literature related to the phenomenon under investigation is mainly Anglo-Saxon culture oriented which is different from the Malaysian culture where the study was conducted. However, access barriers to private sector organizations shifted the focus of the research to the second part of the study that examined the issues in detail in four public sector organizations currently implementing accounting information systems – two hospitals and two universities. In the second part of the main study, the researcher developed formal and substantive propositions from the qualitative interviews which were substantiated using a cross-case analysis; as a result, a model for accountants’ participation in AIS implementation is proposed. The research shows that the process of influencing accountants to participate in AIS implementation is more complex than the literature suggests. There were many issues that surfaced during the case studies, such as conflict and empowerment which set a foundation for further research about how participation can be secured to help make the implementation of AIS part of an organizational agenda success.

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Rolley, Alison Hamblin. "Early Experiences of Accountants Transitioning to Virginia Community College Faculty." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/80964.

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Accounting faculty members in community colleges educate a large portion of accounting students each year. Accountants who become accounting faculty are the most common type of accounting instructor in community colleges and they have much to offer because of their prior work experience. Accounting faculty members who have transitioned from industry generally have the knowledge and expertise to be successful in practice but their work experience may not have prepared them for teaching roles in community colleges. The purpose of this research was to obtain information about the experiences and knowledge necessary for the successful transition from industry to teaching. Particular attention was focused on content knowledge, accounting skills, pedagogical knowledge and teaching skills. A basic qualitative research design was used to collect and analyze data for this study. Interviews were used to collect narrative data related to the experiences of accountants as they transitioned to teaching. Data analysis revealed that college academic experiences and on-the-job teaching experiences were influential transition experiences and knowledge of pedagogy was gained through teaching and professional development activities. Pedagogical skills and soft skills are essential skills needed to teach accounting to a diverse group of students. Pre-service teacher preparation and on-going membership was perceived as beneficial for new accounting faculty members. The findings in this study could provide a better understanding of the best ways of supporting entry into the teaching profession in community colleges and could influence recruitment and professional development of accounting educators in community colleges.
Ph. D.

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Tiggeman, Theresa Bath. "Accountants' Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment| A Correlational Study." Thesis, Northcentral University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10932864.

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Sustainability accounting reporting is an offshoot of corporate social responsibility. Accounting professionals are now producing sustainability reports. Sustainability accounting reporting is a combination of economic, social, and environmental issues incorporating both financial and nonfinancial elements. Sustainability reports may be assured (certified) by third parties. Recently, the accounting profession has been criticized for failing to prepare proper sustainability reports. To date, there has been no investigation of the social and environmental viewpoints of accountants. The problem this nonexperimental, correlational, quantitative study investigated was Openness to CSR, perceptions of proficiency in sustainability assurance reporting, and environmental attitudes of accountants. The study is important because it provided the first evidence of accountants being pro-environmental. The New Ecological Paradigm was the conceptual framework. Stakeholder and legitimacy theories were included. Stakeholder theory states organizations have a responsibility to those who influence or can be influenced by the organization. Legitimacy theory involves an organization’s ability to survive granted by the larger community. The New Ecological Paradigm scale provides a score of environmental worldviews. Corporate social responsibility was addressed using the Openness to CSR scale. Assurance was addressed using a perceptions of assurance scale. A survey method provided data and IBM SPSS Statistics was the analytical tool. The participants were U.S. CPAs. The results indicated CPAs were pro-environmental and younger CPAs were more likely to be pro-environmental. Gender was not found to be statistically significant. Openness to CSR and assurance were not found to be statistically significant. This study has relevance for accounting curricula in universities because sustainability accounting reporting is not addressed currently. Future research should replicate the study when not in tax season. Future research should also address the gap in the literature investigating accountants’ gender and age relating to sustainability accounting reporting.

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Ibrahim, Shahul Hameed bin Mohamed. "The need for Islamic accounting : perceptions of its objectives and characteristics by Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics." Thesis, University of Dundee, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.326696.

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Whitefield, Despina, and Despina Whitefield@vu edu au. "Personal and interpersonal skills development in an accounting degree : a case study of accounting education." Swinburne University of Technology, 2003. http://adt.lib.swin.edu.au./public/adt-VSWT20050502.170936.

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This thesis examines the perceptions of lecturers, graduates and employers of personal and interpersonal skills development in an accounting degree at Victoria University. The development of personal and interpersonal skills in students in higher education has been the focus of discussion amongst accounting educators, accounting practitioners and the accounting profession for many years. There is a general consensus on what skills are necessarily sought to ensure success within the accountancy profession but very few previous studies on how those personal and interpersonal skills are being developed. This research study presents a research framework which emphasises the complex interrelationships between an accounting curriculum, accounting lecturers, accounting graduates and employers of graduate accountants and their perceptions of how personal and interpersonal skills are developed. A case study approach, combining archival, qualitative and quantitative methods, is used to investigate how a Bachelor of Business Accounting degree in one Australian university facilitates personal and interpersonal skills development. The case study results indicate that the curriculum, as the vector for skills development, has both explicit and implicit references to skills outcomes. Graduates� perceptions of many of the personal and interpersonal skills considered in this study are closely related to the curriculum findings. However, there appears to be a lack of convergence between lecturers� perceptions, the curriculum and graduates� perceptions. Employers generally agree that graduates display most of the personal and interpersonal skills, albeit at a low level, in the workplace. There are curriculum implications arising from the results of this research for accounting academics who design and develop accounting programs where the value of graduates� personal and interpersonal skills are acknowledged. As a first step, academics need to improve accounting curricula by explicitly integrating personal and interpersonal skills in their subjects. Communicating to students the explicit nature of personal and interpersonal skills development and making them aware is the next step.

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Lin, Eng-Lung. "An empirical examination of ethical decision making by corporate accountants in Taiwan." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2010. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/364.

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The recent accounting scandals, characterised by the Enron affair, have not been confined to the U.S.A., but have been a worldwide phenomenon, embracing Taiwan. Most of them have involved dysfunctional behaviour incorporating earnings management. The factors which encourage earnings management decisions and the subsequent outcomes provide the motivation for this study. The study examines accountants’ earnings management behaviour in quoted firms in Taiwan, and addresses a primary issue: what are the factors which affect accountants’ ethical decision making in an earnings management context? The following subsidiary research questions were examined. (1) Does a firm’s ethical work climate affect earnings management decision making? (2) Do individual characteristics affect earnings management decision making? (3) Does moral intensity of ethical issue affect earnings management decision making?

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Neokleous, C. I. "The emergence and development of the accountancy profession in Cyprus : the case of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC)." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/20618/.

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Accountants have distinct status, niches and markets from other occupational groups. Moreover, they are professionalized differently in different contexts. Many former British colonies, for instance Nigeria, Australia and India, have adopted the British model of accountancy profession as it is shown in the extant accounting literature. However, little is known about the accounting profession in Cyprus; an island that was once a British colony and later became European Union (hereafter, EU) member. This thesis sets out to examine the emergence and development of the accountancy profession in Cyprus and the establishment of the local professional accountancy body, namely ICPAC. Using the lens of critical realism and supplementing it with the notions of capitalism, colonialism, imperialism and globalization, this research explores the societal relationships, interactions and structural factors that have influenced the local accounting profession and the establishment of ICPAC. The data of the study are derived oral history interviews and an analysis of archival sources. The study demonstrates that the accounting profession in Cyprus has emerged and developed with the help of the existing structures produced and reproduced throughout the years under the influence of local (e.g. the State, ministers, MPs, non-qualified accountants) and global (e.g. the EU, ‘Big Four’ firms, British professional bodies) forces. The evidence presented in the thesis illustrates how a small island with an emerging economy has been forced to change strategies, choices and plans based on colonial, local and later global influences. This transformation has had a profound impact on the emergence of the local accounting profession and on constructing the island’s identity. Cypriots continue to emulate the British accounting model, British professional bodies, their services and products. This thesis argues that the British legacies in the form of social structures have remained strong and uninfluenced throughout time. Cyprus still seems to be under British colonialism, perhaps in its new form, neocolonialism, in terms of the development and functioning of the accounting profession.

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Carnegie, Garry D., and edu au jillj@deakin edu au mikewood@deakin edu au wildol@deakin edu au kimg@deakin. "ACCOUNTING FOR GOODWILL ON CONSOLIDATION." Deakin University. School of Management, 1987. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20040618.165446.

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The issue of accounting for goodwill has caused considerable concern to accountants and academics. For over 100 years there has been diversity of views as to the nature, recognition and measurement of goodwill. Such diversity of views has contributed to the adoption of a variety of accounting practices for goodwill, which has lead to attempts to regulate practice by accounting professions in the Anglo-American world. The research conducted involves a literature review to identify the concepts and definition of goodwill and the criteria for its recognition and measurement. the investigation will then concentrate upon goodwill arising on consolidation of the financial statements of a group of companies. Major accounting practices will be examined, along with the requirements of the australian and mojor overseas professions on the issue. The findings of a study of listed Australian companies which investigated the accounting policies adopted for goodwill on consolidation before and after regulation of the issue and which sought views upon some of the conceptual issues involved are reported and discussed. Implications of the research for the Australian accounting profession will be addressed, and recommendations will be propsed together with a description of future research opportunities.

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Lucas, Brian J. "Continuing Professional Education for Licensed Accountants in Tennessee." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3318.

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Accounting is a professional occupation that is continually evolving and requires a dedication to continuing education to meet the legal demands of new regulations and to maintain professional competency. Continuing Professional Education (CPE) is required by state boards for certified public accountants (CPA) to meet these requirements and to maintain professional competence. CPAs are responsible for complying with all applicable CPE requirements, rules, and regulations of state boards of accountancy, as well as those of other professional organizations. The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of CPAs about the current requirements for CPE and to determine their level of satisfaction with the content and delivery of CPE instruction. CPE has come under scrutiny in recent years with some professionals questioning if the needs of accounting professional and the objectives of continuing education are being met. This survey research included 23 Likert-type items and 5 demographic questions. The survey was administered to 203 licensed certified public accountants to obtain their opinions about continuing education. The 5 dimensions of the survey were: Value (cost benefit), Delivery (methods and quality), Benefit to Self, Benefit to Others, and Barriers (to obtaining CPE). These dimensions were compared across the demographic variables of gender, years of experience, type of business, number of employees, and position with their employer. No significant differences were found among the 5 dimensions between gender or among different positions. Significant differences did occur among the Dimension of Value opinions based on years of experience, among the Dimension of Value opinions based on type of business, among Dimension of Benefit to Self based on type of business, among the Dimension of Value based on number of employees, and among the Dimension of Benefit to Others based on number of employees.

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Ahrens, Thomas. "Contrasting involvements : an ethnographic study of management accounting practice in Britain and Germany." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.362370.

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Addison, Patricia A. "Receptivity to a proposed change in accounting education." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1995. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1196.

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This cross-sectional correlation study is concerned with accounting practitioners' receptivity to a propose change in accounting education; specifically, that the existing three year degree course be extended to four years. This change is proposed by the Accounting Profession in Australia. A model of accounting practitioners' receptivity towards the proposed change, at the adoption stage, was revised and adapted from a general model of teacher receptivity to any system-wide change. The revised model has one dependent variable, receptivity, which is measured in three aspects; overall feelings, attitudes, and general behaviour intentions towards the proposed change in accounting education. It has eight Independent variables, and a number of situation variables. These independent variables are; attitudes towards the structure and content of the proposed change, general beliefs about the change based on the expanding scope of accounting practice, overall feelings about the strengths and weaknesses of accounting graduates, overall feelings about alleviating fears and uncertainties of the proposed change, overall feelings about the practicality of the proposed change in the lecture room and tutorial room in two aspects, general behaviour intentions about expectations and achievements for the proposed change, and general behaviour intentions to support instructors and the accounting profession. The relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables are examined in the context of a number of situation variables.

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Ferguson, Colin B., and mikewood@deakin edu au. "An investigation of the effects of microcomputers on the work of professional accountants." Deakin University. School of Accounting and Finance, 1994. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20050915.155628.

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Information technology research over the past two decades suggests that the installation and use of computers fundamentally affects the structure and function of organisations and, m particular, the workers in these organizations. Following the release of the IBM Personal Computer in 1982, microcomputers have become an integral part of most work environments. The accounting services industry, in particular, has felt the impact of this microcomputer revolution. In Big Six accounting firms, there is almost one microcomputer for each professional accountant employed, Notwithstanding this, little research has been done on the effect of microcomputers on the work outcomes of professional accountants working in these firms. This study addresses this issue. It assesses, in an organisational setting, how accountant perceptions of ease of use and usefulness of microcomputers act on their computer anxieties, microcomputer attitudes and use to affect their job satisfaction and job performance. The research also examines how different types of human-computer interfaces affect the relationships between accountants' beliefs about microcomputer utility and ease of use, computer anxiety, microcomputer attitudes and microcomputer use. To attain this research objective, a conceptual model was first developed, The model indicates that work outcomes (job satisfaction and job performance) of professional accountants using microcomputers are influenced by users' perceptions of ease of use and usefulness of microcomputers via paths through (a) the level of computer anxiety experienced by users, (b) the general attitude of users toward using microcomputers, and (c) the extent to which microcomputers are used by individuals. Empirically testable propositions were derived from the model to test the postulated relationships between these constructs. The study also tested whether or not users of different human-computer interfaces reacted differently to the perceptions and anxieties they hold about microcomputers and their use in the workplace. It was argued that users of graphical interfaces, because of the characteristics of those interfaces, react differently to their perceptions and anxieties about microcomputers compared with users of command-line (or textual-based) interfaces. A passive-observational study in a field setting was used to test the model and the research propositions. Data was collected from 164 professional accountants working in a Big Six accounting firm in a metropolitan city in Australia. Structural equation modelling techniques were used to test the, hypothesised causal relationships between the components comprising the general research model. Path analysis and ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the parameters of the model and analyse the data obtained. Multisample analysis (or stacked model analysis) using EQS was used to test the fit of the model to the data of the different human-computer interface groups and to estimate the parameters for the paths in those different groups. The results show that the research model is a good description of the data. The job satisfaction of professional accountants is directly affected by their attitude toward using microcomputers and by microcomputer use itself. However, job performance appears to be only directly affected by microcomputer attitudes. Microcomputer use does not directly affect job performance. Along with perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, computer anxiety is shown to be an important determinant of attitudes toward using microcomputers - higher levels of computer anxiety negatively affect attitudes toward using microcomputers. Conversely, higher levels of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness heighten individuals' positive attitudes toward using microcomputers. Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness also indirectly affect microcomputer attitudes through their effect on computer anxiety. The results show that higher levels of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness result in lower levels of computer anxiety. A surprising result from the study is that while perceived ease of use is shown to directly affect the level of microcomputer usage, perceived usefulness and attitude toward using microcomputers does not. The results of the multisample analysis confirm that the research model fits the stacked model and that the stacked model is a significantly better fit if specific parameters are allowed to vary between the two human-computer interface user groups. In general, these results confirm that an interaction exists between the type of human-computer interface (the variable providing the grouping) and the other variables in the model The results show a clear difference between the two groups in the way in which perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness affect microcomputer attitude. In the case of users of command-line interfaces, these variables appear to affect microcomputer attitude via an intervening variable, computer anxiety, whereas in the graphical interface user group the effect occurs directly. Related to this, the results show that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have a significant direct effect on computer anxiety in command-line interface users, but no effect at all for graphical interface users. Of the two exogenous variables only perceived ease of use, and that in the case of the command-line interface users, has a direct significant effect on extent of use of microcomputers. In summary, the research has contributed to the development of a theory of individual adjustment to information technology in the workplace. It identifies certain perceptions, anxieties and attitudes about microcomputers and shows how they may affect work outcomes such as job satisfaction and job performance. It also shows that microcomputer-interface types have a differential effect on some of the hypothesised relationships represented in the general model. Future replication studies could sample a broader cross-section of the microcomputer user community. Finally, the results should help Big Six accounting firms to maximise the benefits of microcomputer use by making them aware of how working with microcomputers affects job satisfaction and job performance.

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Thorne, Helen. "The financial statement data of failed companies : the role of the Australian accounting profession /." Title page, contents and summary only, 1986. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09pht511.pdf.

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Harris, Tanya S. "Employee Engagement| The Path to Understanding Public Sector Silent Heroes---Millennial Accountants." Thesis, California Baptist University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10931959.

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Millennials are the fastest growing generational cohort to enter the professional workforce. The workplace is changing, and public sector leaders need tools to attract, motivate, and retain the talent to fill the void left by baby boomers who are retiring in massive numbers. Engaging employees has been shown to increase productivity, efficiency, morale, and retention, and millennials indicated that they need and want to be engaged within their organizations. This research study explores the topic of millennial employee engagement by conducting a qualitative study using phenomenology to understand how millennials define employee engagement, their lived experiences, and the antecedents that influence their level of employee engagement. Twenty local public sector accountants were interviewed and confirmed that a universal definition of employee engagement would remain elusive. Drawing on relevant literature, individual and organizational employee engagement antecedents were selected and analyzed to determine if there is an impact on millennial public sector accountants. This study revealed that millennial public sector accountants were most influenced by management support, work/life balance, professional growth and development, having a voice, and providing technical expertise in order to help their organization serve the greater good. When millennials perceive that they will receive a benefit from their organization, they will then reciprocate with increased commitment and productivity. The results of this study may enable public sector leaders to understand how to engage millennials to bring out their greatest potential, and in turn, organizations will have the tools and resources to meet their organizational goals and mission and to provide the highest level of services to their citizens. Keywords: Employee engagement, millennials, antecedents, management support, perceived supervisor support, social exchange theory, reciprocal relationship, accountants, public sector

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Sadaka, Sami Fares. "Institutional work, agonism, and the accounting profession : the case of the Lebanese Association for Certified Public Accountants." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8958/.

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This thesis explores the development of the accounting profession with a specific reference to the case of Lebanon, utilising a qualitative research design. The establishment of the exclusive body of accounting in Lebanon, the Lebanese Association for Certified Public Accountants (LACPA), in 1994 constitutes a central element of this development. The analysis refers back to the period preceding the LACPA, specifically from when the first union of accountants in Lebanon was established in 1963. While the professionalization project of accounting in Lebanon, which is when the accounting profession was recognised by the state like other reputable professions, along with institutionalising entry requirements, could be understood in terms of several influencing factors, such as the French colonial legacy, or the Civil War and the reconstruction project associated with it, this case argues that this project is the outcome of the work of indigenous accounting practitioners. The data collected in this study is theoretically analysed within the concept institutional work, defined as the purposive action of individuals and organisations aimed at creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions (Lawrence et al., 2009). As institutions are traditionally framed within a structural understanding, the concept of institutional work, while not neglecting the significance of structural factors in relation to institutions, demonstrates that the role of actors and their actions in relation to institutions should not be overlooked. After addressing the establishment of the exclusive body of accounting in Lebanon, this case explores how the accounting profession is being maintained amid political, religious and sectarian divisions, and demonstrates that the survival of this profession is understood beyond the technical aspects of the accounting profession and practice, to embody these broader divisions. Given this multidimensional nature of the maintenance/survival of the accounting profession as an institution, the notion of agonistic pluralism (Mouffe, 2013) provided a more nuanced understanding of the accounting profession as an arena that is composed of different groups, and how these groups' interactions enhance our knowledge and understanding of the accounting profession. This study relies on semi-structured interviews with key players of the accounting profession in Lebanon, mainly executive members of the LACPA, and supports these interviews with archival documents. This approach was chosen because personal experiences and discourses enable a better understanding of actions and intentions of actors, and their inter-relatedness with political and religious/sectarian considerations. This study reveals what takes place in the backstage of governance, how and on what basis the different groups interact with each other, and ultimately how this is reflected on the function of the LACPA as the exclusive body of accounting in Lebanon. This thesis provides an empirical study that enables a re-thinking of the essence of the accounting profession, not only because this context is under-researched, but also because of the following reasons. First, this case addresses how local accounting practitioners, through engaging in strategies of institutional work, were able to grant the accounting profession authority and recognition at a time when the state and politicians were unwilling to legislate for the accounting profession. Second, this case understands the establishment and maintenance of the accounting profession in terms of agonising relations between groups with different perspectives. Thus, an integral part of institutional work is to establish an agonistic environment that would ensure the survival of the accounting profession, amid divided re-constructed identities of actors. Moreover, by addressing the work of actors of a professional association, this case illustrates how the accounting profession and its maintenance are related to other institutions operating at a broader level. This contributes to our knowledge about how professional associations engage in institutional work (Ramirez, 2013) by demonstrating that the aspired agonistic environment encompasses not only professional considerations, but also other political and religious considerations that are vital for the maintenance of the accounting profession. This case sheds light about phenomena, relationships, and divisions that are present nearly in all contexts, yet not explicitly associated with the accounting profession, hence, a broader understanding of the essence of the accounting profession is presented in this thesis.

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Hughes, Peter. "Decision-making processes in the context of ethical dilemmas : a study of accountants in training." Thesis, Northumbria University, 2010. http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/2049/.

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The ability to make sound decisions when faced with ethical dilemmas lies at the heart of being a professional accountant. Yet many of the recent corporate reporting disasters demonstrate that, despite being over a century old, the accounting profession has yet to find a way of dealing effectively with ethics. This is reflected in the ethical training of accountants which tends to follow a rules-based approach to instruction, thereby producing accountants who are often criticized for being rules-followers at a time when many are calling for a more principles-based approach. Within a qualitative framework, the study explored the difficulties trainee accountants confront in constructing a decision-making process whilst seeking to maintain the stance expected of them by, inter alia, professional codes. This is in contrast to mainstream, mainly positivist, research efforts which measure those factors influencing accountants? and accounting trainees? decision-making. Rule-following and deference to one?s profession is regarded as symptomatic of low-level ethical awareness and impedes ethical development (Harris and Brown 1990). The study will therefore be of interest to educators and the profession alike, both of whom seek to have graduates enter the profession with high-level ethical awareness. This study adopts a social constructivist and interpretive research approach informed by structuration theory and uses vignettes to explore accounting trainees? decision-making processes. Semi-structured interviews were held with 12 BA (Honours) Accounting students in their final year of study. Field notes and participant feedback augmented interview data. Thematic analysis, coding and categorization applied through template analysis was used to explore both students? decision-making inclinations and the structural elements reported as impacting on decisions at a particular point in time. A cross-case comparison showed that, contrary to much of the literature, students adopted a principles-based approach to decision-making. This finding, in itself, may have far-reaching implications for the way in which ethics is taught, whether by business schools or by in-house organizational programmes.

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Alsalloom, Abeer. "The role of women accountants and the implications for the accounting profession in Saudi Arabia." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2015. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/377942/.

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This study investigates the experiences of women accountants working in the Big Four accounting firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), to extend our knowledge of issues related to gender and accounting. Within the Saudi social context, gender experience is a shifting set of multiple experiences, where gender and religious and cultural aspects are interrelated and influence how accounting or auditing is practiced. Studying the dominant social context and its origins helps in understanding issues related to gender and accountancy, and identifying processes that reproduce gender domination and hinder women’s ability to access and progress at work. This study adopts a qualitative exploratory research design. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 42 female and male accountants working in the Big Four firms in the KSA are carried out, supported by documentary analysis and observations (observing women’s dress, the physical environment they work in, and their interaction with other staff). The data are analysed using thematic analysis and this study draws on feminist critical theory to understand the process of change taking place in the accounting profession in the KSA. The analysis of the data reveals that, despite the growing interest in women’s integration into KSA society, they continue to face various difficulties in joining the profession and gaining access to professional practice. Women’s recent access to the accounting profession has brought changes to accounting practices, with formal and informal gendered organisational practices (such as segregated space, and limited audit assignments) contributing to sustaining male dominance in the profession. These practices are strongly rooted in local socio-cultural traditions that overlap with selective interpretations of religion, and thus shape women accountants’ experiences in how they perceive change. Most of the barriers and exclusionary practices (such as gendered norms of working hours and socialising with clients and peers) are informal in the KSA; yet they are very visible and inform/direct how the formal practices (such as appraisal and mentoring practices) are reproduced within accounting firms. The study offers an understanding of how professions evolve differently in different countries, how accounting firms operate today, and how the globalisation of practice in accounting firms has its limits. The study presents new ways of thinking about change, and argues that women’s desire for change is a key aspect in the process of change taking part in the Big Four in the KSA. Change’ relates to, and is constructed by, one’s perceptions of the cultural, political, economic and social fabric of a society. Consequently, Saudi women accountants are experiencing accountancy and changes thereof in terms of phases, and whereby they see themselves as being part of the process of change within the profession. They are willing to be patient in order to open the way for others and achieve their desired change.

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McDaniel, Sarah Curran Hyten Cloyd. "Analyzing the effects of a performance pay plan on manager performance in an accounting firm." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2007. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-3641.

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Webster, Tammy Tanner. "Successful Ethical Decision-Making Practices from the Professional Accountants' Perspective." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3733.

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Unethical behavior includes all decisions and actions counterproductive to an organization's mission and can cause irrevocable damage to the organization's professional reputation. The Securities and Exchange Commission reported 807 ethical violations in 2015. This study was underpinned by the ethical leadership theory, which emphasizes leadership decision making based on fair and just practices, for all involved parties. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore the ethical decision-making best practices that not-for-profit accounting managers in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area needed to strengthen the ethical decision-making process in their organizations. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from 5 participants who were accounting leaders of not-for-profit organizations. The analysis of data involved coding techniques, while member checking ensured confirmability of participant responses. Three themes emerged from the analysis of data as the most effective in fostering an ethical climate within the organizations, notably: the importance of leveraging internal controls, staff education on ethical decision making, and the role of leadership in fostering ethical leadership. The findings from this study may contribute to social change by providing leaders with strategies to reduce the occurrence of fraud within organizations. The beneficiaries of this research may include not-for-profit leaders, accounting professionals, and business practitioners. The goals of these individuals are to aid companies in furthering their missions and ensure organizations remain operational and utilize ethical decision making.

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Barac, K., and B. Steyn. "The perspectives of South African distance-learning students on the accounting profession and accountants." Journal for New Generation Sciences, Vol 10, Issue 1: Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11462/595.

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Published Article
Accountants have been unfavourably stereotyped over the years, and this holds negative implications not only for the attraction of sufficient numbers of students, but also for the attraction and retention of high-aptitude students. Many studies have been performed on student's perceptions of accountants and the profession. A South African study at a residential university found that accountants are perceived as being structured, precise and solitary. This study provides a distance-learning perspective. By using an existing research instrument and applying statistical analysis, the study found that distance-learning students perceive accountants as exciting/interesting, precise/methodical, factual/predictable and structured/stable. Various areas for future research have been identified in the area of students' perspectives on the accounting profession, including a longitudinal study, studies on the work environment's impacts and studies to determine the motives or reasons for studying accounting.

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Brubaker, Thomas F. "Perceptions of assurance service services performed by certified public accountants: Accounting education assessment applications." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2001. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2912/.

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The overall purpose of this study was to examine how Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) perceive the potential use of assurance services to assess quality in accounting education programs. Survey questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 250 CPAs in the north central Texas area. The questionnaire was designed to obtain demographic information and information relating to the respondents' perceptions of quality assessment of accounting education programs. An analysis of the results of this study suggest the following: CPAs consider (1) certain established criteria, such as SAT scores and faculty-to-student ratios, as effective measures for assessing quality attributes in accounting education programs and (2) traditional measures currently used for quality assessment in accounting education programs as only moderately effective by CPAs. CPAs are apparently seeking increased involvement with accounting education quality assessment and formulation of educational standards. They view the potential application of assurance services to accounting education quality as a way to offer a wider range of services to the public. CPAs perceive assurance services as a type of quality assessment that can be used to complement, but not replace, some of the more effective traditional methods, and as a way of enhancing the quality assessment process for accounting education.

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Jones, Gregory Evan. "The link between emotional intelligence and graduate qualities implications for accounting education /." Access electronically, 2008. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/113.

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Musa, El-Khidir Ali. "The role of management accounting and accountants in selected Sudanese public and private enterprises." Thesis, University of Bath, 1987. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.760570.

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Kunz, Rolien. "Accounting practitioners' perspectives of professional skills and audit capabilities of first year trainee accountants." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60500.

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Accounting education at higher education institutions is influenced by various role players, each with their own expectations. Educators involved in accounting education are therefore required to balance the demands of higher education with those of the professional body that will accredit their students, while still delivering market-ready graduates fully equipped with the competencies employers expect, namely professional skills, technical knowledge and attributes such as values, ethics and professional attitudes. The importance of professional skills and technical knowledge to the accounting profession, as well as the degree of exposure graduates are expected to have received at university level, is known, but the specific levels of capability and competence expected of graduates have not yet been quantitatively determined. As a result of this unknown level of capability that the accounting profession expects of its newly employed graduates, the size of the expectation-performance gap has also remained largely unknown. Although earlier research has indicated that graduates' actual capabilities with regard to professional skills and technical knowledge did not meet the expectations of accounting practitioners at the beginning of their traineeships, the extent of the expectation-performance gap worldwide, and in South Africa, has not yet been quantitatively determined. The objective of this dissertation, in a research paper format, are to determine the expectation-performance gap firstly, by quantifying the levels of professional skills and technical auditing and assurance knowledge capability audit managers expect of newly employed first year trainee accountants, and secondly by determining whether the professional skills and technical auditing and assurance knowledge actually displayed by the newly employed first year trainee accountants meet the expectations of the audit managers. First year trainee accountants in the first three months of their training contracts will be referred to as newly employed first year trainee accountants for the remainder of the dissertation. The findings indicate that audit managers expect newly employed first year trainee accountants to be capable of demonstrating seven of the 22 individual professional skills, with minimal or without supervision, whilst their expectations regarding these newly employed first year trainee accountants' performance of technical audit and assurance tasks in the first three months of their training contracts are lower. Audit managers do not expect newly employed first year trainee accountants to be capable of performing any of the 12 identified technical audit and assurance tasks without or even with only limited supervision. The findings further show clearly that audit managers' expectations are not being met, as there were material expectation-performance gaps for all of the 22 individual professional skills being investigated, as well as for all 12 researched audit and assurance tasks. The sizes of the expectation-performance gaps for the professional skills being investigated varied between 37.9% (for newly employed first year trainee accountants' abilities to take responsibility for their own development) and 9.4% (for newly employed first year trainee accountants' abilities to display honesty and integrity). The audit and assurance task with the largest difference was the task requiring newly employed first year trainee accountants to consider and document the need to use computer assisted audit techniques to gather audit evidence (performance was 28.9% less than audit managers' expectations), and the technical task showing the smallest expectationperformance gap was that where newly employed first year trainee accountants were required to determine sample sizes and methods of selection to obtain sufficient testing for the performance of tests of controls or the design and implementation of controls (performance was 14.6% less than audit managers' expectations).
Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Auditing
MCom
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Stafford, Anne Patricia. "Capitalising education : exploring the development of professional identity in certified accountants through the role of education and training." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2002. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/3041/.

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The thesis takes a disciplinary approach derived from the work of Foucault (1977), but further developed by Hoskin (1993) and Hoskin and Macve (1986), to emphasise how disciplinarity has a double positive meaning as knowledge and power. Modern disciplinarity is produced through the exercise of certain key 'disciplinary practices', in particular those of writing, examining and grading, which engender both the modern forms of powerful expert knowledge and the application of expertise-based power to the forming of humans as individuals and populations. This disciplinary approach is used here to re-theorise the study of professionalisation as a historical process, and the constitution of professionals as powerful individuals through qualification in knowledge-powerful professions. The growth of the ACCA is studied as an exercise in disciplinarity, in part because it constitutes such an anomaly for the jurisdictional approach developed by Abbott (1988). It has staked a successful claim to professional independence and now claims to be the largest global professional accountancy body. The study traces the history of the ACCA's development through four major stages of growth. At inception, the ACCA's founder bodies set up an examination-based education and training system like that of the chartered bodies, but with expedient differences, e.g. no requirement for articles or to work in practice. Later various ways of becoming 'more disciplinary' were developed, including the use of more active forms of pedagogy in exam-preparation, and expanding institutional linkages with colleges and then universities. While status differences survived, the ACCA became increasingly undifferentiable from the old chartered bodies. The ACCA capitalised on this lack of difference to grow the organisation. At the same time, it has bought into the higher-level disciplinary knowledge that accounting has become, and now examines potential entrants on that knowledge, and maintains its jurisdictional space on that basis.

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Farahbakhsh, Arman, and Adam Elshani. "Mastering the accounting proficiency through practice : A dynamic view of the apprenticeship process between newly graduated accountants and supervisors as the accounting profession changes over time." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-48058.

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The accounting profession is through a natural progression constantly changing its shape. What was once known as traditional accounting is nowadays entailing moving towards a more service-minded occupation where the former bookkeepers are steadily transforming into accounting consultants. Nevertheless, since accountancy is commonly known as a craft which is supposed to be taught through supervision; this professional shift is crucially linked with the choice of teaching method within the apprenticeship process which takes place between an apprentice and an experienced supervisor. Prior research has revealed that a tolerant approach of teaching has beneficial impacts regarding corporative efficiency since it leads to a greater chance to adapt to environmental changes compared to a conservative approach of teaching.1Correspondingly, a conservative approach tends to result into limitations concerning creativity and innovation associated with an individual level. Accordingly, this paper has flourished a deeper understanding of the apprenticeship process by addressing insights and identifying reasons for why accounting firms which are examined in this study might possibly prefer a conservative approach instead of a tolerant approach given the comparative advantages related to a tolerant approach of teaching during the apprenticeship process. Aligned with this presented purpose, twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted within four different accounting firms located in Sweden; where one half of the respondents were newly graduated accountants while the other half supervisors. Through the identification of linguistic patterns stated during the interviews; we finally reached the conclusion that practical consistency and corporate values were arguments demonstrated in favor of applying a conservative approach during the apprenticeship process, while educational and technical reasoning was determinant factors for preferring a tolerant approach of teaching.

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Appiah, Emmanuel A. "Exploring the Perceptions of Northern Virginia Accountants on Internal Control Weaknesses Resulting in Accounting Fraud." Thesis, Northcentral University, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3745274.

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Internal controls play critical roles in all organizations. Internal control weaknesses that have resulted in accounting fraud have global and local ramifications including job and investment losses. The ramifications have been felt globally in the United States, Britain, China, and locally, in Northern Virginia. Weak internal controls or the lack thereof was the most preeminent factor contributing to accounting fraud. Many studies have discretely and narrowly examined either internal control weaknesses or fraud. Consequently, there was a dearth of research on internal control failures that have resulted in accounting fraud. The problem addressed in this study was the need to understand accountants’ perspectives on how they detected and handled internal control weaknesses within their organizations and their perceptions of their preparedness to detect and prevent fraud based on the academic and on-the-job training they have received. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to describe how accountants in the Northern Virginia area detected and handled internal control weaknesses within their organizations and their perceptions of their preparedness to detect and prevent fraud based on the academic and on-the-job training they received. In this study, informal face-to-face, open-ended semi-structured interviews and document review were conducted. Purposive snowball and criterion sampling were used to recruit 15 professional accountants. Lists maintained by professional accounting organizations were used to identify members who met the study criteria. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analyses to identify themes related to the research questions. Results indicated that lack of monitoring preeminently contributed to fraud. However, accountants shared strategies they used to detect and prevent internal control weaknesses and accounting fraud within their organizations. Additionally, accountants received inadequate internal control and fraud training both in college and from their employers. Recommendations for practical application include providing accountants with adequate internal control and fraud training in college and by employers. Future research should explore organizational managements’ perspectives on internal control weaknesses that resulted in accounting fraud to shed more light on the pervasiveness of the deficiencies identified. This study was limited to accountants in Northern Virginia, future research may replicate this study, but in different geographic locations.

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Al-Moghaiwli, Mohammed Hamed. "Economic consequences of accounting standards : implications for the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA)." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/0f2f4356-b176-40ea-84f8-e4eb9f99a014.

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This study aims at collecting empirical evidence on whether or not financial accounting standards which exist in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia give rise to economic consequences. Awareness of the potential economic consequences of accounting standards emerged first in the United States of America in the 1970s, but increasingly has attracted a great deal of attention in many different countries over the last twenty years. The impact of accounting standards on management behaviour has been cited as one of the consequences. Factors that affect management's attitudes in choosing among alternative accounting methods are established through the political cost theory and the contracting and agency theories. Using these theories, this study hypothesises that company size, the presence of Government debt and/or donations, the ratio of foreign employees to total employees, the presence of management compensation plans, and insider ownership provide incentives for the management of Saudi joint stock companies to adopt income-increasing or - decreasing accounting policies. The results of the univariate and multivariate tests show that company size, ratios of foreign employees to total employees, and insider ownership are significant determinants of inventory, research and development, and Zakat policies. These findings provide empirical support for the principal hypothesis of this thesis. That is, accounting standards which exist in Saudi Arabia give rise to economic consequences and managers of companies consider these consequences when selecting accounting policies. In summary, this principal conclusion is of critical importance to the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA), given that accounting standard setting processes are still in their early stages of development. It supports the view that SOCPA should acknowledge the possible adverse economic consequences that may result from its accounting standards decisions. In fact, the results of this study justify, in the very least, a wider and more detailed study by SOCPA of the economic effects of its potential accounting standards. The findings may also call into question the financial accounting standards which have been recently promulgated in Saudi Arabia.

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Kirk, Ngaire. "The true and fair view concept in New Zealand : a research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for 10.799, Massey University, 1998 /." Publications - School of Accountancy (Adobe Acrobat required), 1998. http://www-accountancy.massey.ac.nz/Publications.htm.

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Devonport, Bernadette Frances. "Women in accounting: their careers and membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in New Zealand." Thesis, University of Canterbury. History, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/986.

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This thesis studies the relationship between the careers of women in accounting in New Zealand in the twentieth century and their membership of, and contribution to, the major accounting association in this country, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand. The relationship is placed within historical context. In recent decades there has been much research on the experiences of female professionals in their workplaces but little of this research has been on the involvement of these women in their professional associations. Yet these associations have an important role in defining, controlling and representing professions. This thesis argues, using accounting as an example, that there is a parallel between the careers of professional women and their participation in their professional associations. In New Zealand, as the social climate changed during the twentieth century so too did women's membership in the Institute and their employment as public accountants. The level and type of women's contribution in the Institute has reflected their participation in the wider profession.

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Koeplin, John P. (John Peter). "A Comparison of Cognitive Moral Development of Accounting Students at a Catholic University with Secular University Accounting Students." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1998. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc278021/.

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Previous research has shown that accountants may be inadequate moral reasoners. Concern over this trend caused the Treadway Commission (1987) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) to call for greater integration of ethics into the student's training. Ponemon and Glazer (1990) found a difference in cognitive moral development (CMD) between accounting students at a public university and a private university with a liberal arts emphasis. This study expands Ponemon and Glazer's research by examining two liberal arts universities, one a private, secular institution and one a Catholic institution. The primary research question asks if Catholic university accounting students manifest greater CMD growth than secular university accounting students. Additionally, this study examines and compares the priority that accounting students from the different institutions place on ethical values versus economic values. It was expected that Catholic university accounting students would manifest both greater CMD growth and a greater concern for ethical values over economic values when compared with non-Catholic university accounting students. The study utilized a two-phase approach. In the first phase, an organizational study of two institutions was made to determine how each strives to integrate moral development into their accounting students' education. In the second phase, lower-division and senior accounting students were given three ethical and values related tasks to complete which propose to measure differences in ethical and economic values.

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Gardner, Tonja Annette. "Exploring the Importance of Soft Skills Training for Accountants." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3678.

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Regional accounting firm leaders face challenges with employees who possess strong technical skills, but lack nontechnical communicating and teamwork skills. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies regional accounting firm leaders use to train technical staff on soft skills. The human capital theory was the conceptual framework supporting the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with partners, leaders, managers, and human resource personnel with 5 years or more of experience who participated in the hiring, training, and professional development process at 3 regional CPA firms. The review of company documents and company website postings triangulated the semistructured interviews. Data analysis entailed coding, conceptualizing concepts and ideas, identifying themes, and member checking to ensure the trustworthiness of interpretations. Based on the data collected, 3 themes emerged after the analysis including soft skills needed for success, mentoring and leadership programs, and team building initiatives. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by providing strategies regional accounting firms could use to provide soft skills training and mentoring initiatives to technical staff. Improvement in soft skills training may improve employees' lives by increasing their employability, career progression, and transition within the workplace, which may improve the economic wellbeing of local communities.

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46

Shelton, Bryan. "An evaluation of two performance pay systems on the productivity of employees in a certified public accounting firm." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2005. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4930/.

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This study examined the effects of switching from an incentive pay system solely based on productivity to a scorecard-based incentive pay system. Performance of staff and senior accountants was analyzed across three departments for a two-year baseline and a three-year intervention period. Results showed that percent of charge hour goal remained high during the study. Once the scorecard-based incentive system was implemented, performance on the other line items increased or remained at or above goal levels. Incentive payouts were generally higher under the second incentive plan than under the first for top performers. Possible explanations for data trends, weaknesses of the measures within the scorecard, measure/line item alternatives and implications for future research are also discussed.

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Bunton, Anne D. "Public accounting's male power structure and its response to economic change /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1996. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9801627.

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Hays, Jerry B. "An Investigation of Management Accountants Intention to Report Fraudulent Accounting Activity: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior." NSUWorks, 2013. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/hsbe_etd/40.

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The perpetration of accounting fraud still remains a prevalent and significantly costly issue in today's business world. The names Enron, WorldCom, HealthSouth, and Madoff are still all too recent reminders of the devastating cost of financial statement fraud. Management accountants, as preparers of these statements, are in the best position to detect such fraud. Yet there exists no current measurement instrument or methodology designed to measure a management accountant's intention to report fraud. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs, concepts, and antecedents that provide the motivation to, or the deterrent from, the reporting of fraudulent accounting activity when witnessed by professional management accountants, and develop an instrument that might measure that motivation. The theoretical basis that framed this research was the Theory of Planned Behavior which provides for an analysis of a participant's attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in the development of the intention to perform a specific behavior. The population studied was the U.S. membership of the Institute of Management Accountants, and grant assistance and support was provided by the Institute's Research Foundation. The sample from this population formed a very appropriate representation of experienced, professional management accountants. . No previous research involving this population with the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the investigation of the reporting of fraudulent accounting activity had been conducted. Therefore, there were no existing survey instruments that could be applied. The development of an original survey questionnaire to specifically address this research was required. The distribution of this survey questionnaire resulted in 285 complete and usable responses. These responses measured the strength of the participant's positive or negative beliefs concerning the antecedents related to the three exogenous constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior - attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, and the endogenous construct of intention. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with measured variables was chosen as the methodology for the analysis of the results measured in the survey responses. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied to each construct individually, and construct items were modified to obtain the most reasonable model fit, validity, and reliability. Items were combined into composites to represent the constructs of interest in the theory, as measured by the survey. The relations among the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior were then specified using these composites in an SEM model. The results of the data and the findings of the SEM model indicated that professional management accountants form a strong positive intention to report the witnessing of accounting fraud. The positive beliefs that formed the exogenous variables that showed statistically significant effects on the endogenous variable of the formation of a positive intention to report fraudulent accounting activity were: support of the system of internal control, prevention of financial loss, retention of the integrity and ethical values of the profession, perceived support of significant others, and limited impediment due to fear of retaliation. A surprising result was that 32% of all respondents indicated a lack of easy/any access to an anonymous fraud reporting hotline, which is an issue for further research. This study provides additional insight into the concepts, beliefs, and antecedents that form a professional management accountant's intention to report fraudulent accounting activity. The study also presents the basis of a preliminary instrument for the measurement of the intention of management accountants to report fraudulent accounting activity. Further research is suggested for the identification of additional concepts, antecedents, and beliefs related to fraud reporting and for the development of an even more effective measurement instrument.

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Nel, Petrus. "Factors influencing persistence of aspiring chartered accountants : a fortigenic approach." Thesis, Link to the online version, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/450.

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Barcellos, Leonardo Portugal. "Cognitive reflection abilities and accounting practice: a two-way road of influences." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/18418.

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Submitted by Leonardo Barcellos (lpbarcellos@gmail.com) on 2017-06-20T00:02:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - Dissertation paper - Leonardo Barcellos.pdf: 2615722 bytes, checksum: c5b3c3f34e1c9b8347aec530d34e7f74 (MD5)
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This dissertation paper gathers three studies on the relationship between accounting practice and certified public accountants’ (CPAs) cognitive reflection abilities (CR-ability). The first chapter summarizes the three studies, presenting contextual information about how the research ideas and identification strategies relate to my doctoral studies. The study in the second chapter maps Brazilian CPAs’ CR-abilities to demographic characteristics, providing not only the foundational insights for the studies in the next chapters but also evidence that male and younger CPAs tend to present higher CR-abilities than female and older CPAs, as well as that employer firm size may determine CR-abilities of preparers and managers. The study in the third chapter applies a quasi-experimental approach to examine whether auditing practice is more likely to prevent CR-abilities decline than financial reports elaboration practice. The paper explores the unique counterfactual opportunity provided by the accounting setting to find that aging leads human beings to adapt information processing strategies towards Type 1 of reasoning in detriment of Type 2. But auditing practice may curb this trend. These findings make several contributions to psychology and accounting fields. The paper in the fourth chapter examines the influence of stable CPAs’ individual characteristics, i.e., CR-ability and professional experience in pressured firms, on the professional judgments behind the recognition of assets and cash flows arising from audiovisual content (AV-content). The findings suggest that CR-ability drives differential AV-content assets and cash flows classification at recognition and, ultimately, incomparable financial statements, but professional experience in pressured firms is likely to refrain such differences in the case of assets. Finally, I present my concluding remarks in the fifth chapter.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Accounting Accounting Accountants'

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