Traditionally, cash and accrual bases of accounting are used respectively for public and private sector accounting. This notion has been justified by the supposedly distinct fundamental differences that exist in the objectives and goals pursued in each sector and the purposes that the financial reports are expected to achieve. The different environment in which each sector operates also lends credence to this notion. However, the partitioning wall between the two sectors' bases of accounting is crumbling. It is fast being realised that resources are scarce in both the private and public sectors. Consequently, their efficient management and reporting in a given entity's operation is essential. This study first, presents an account of governmental accounting and budgeting as practised in Nigeria, and relates it to the experience of other countries to identify similarities and otherwise on the issues of accounting innovation. Second, it assesses the opinion and views of those most knowledgeable about the financial details of the public sector of Nigeria. These are the Accountants - General as the producers of governmental accounting information, and the users of the information are the directors of finance and budget executives of government and other top management officials. Thereafter, the prevailing opinion is adopted in analysing Professor Luder's Contingency Model that has been described as the paradigm of accounting innovation in the public Sector. The outcome of the study indicates that by Luder classification criteria, accounting innovation is not currently feasible in Nigeria. However, most of the stimuli that positively jolt other countries into the process of accounting innovation are present in the situation of Nigeria. Moreover, the users and producers of governmental accounting information in the public sector of Nigeria are overwhelmingly aware of the inadequacy of accounting information produced by the cash accounting basis. Nonetheless, they disagreed to a shift from the cash basis of accounting to accrual accounting. Instead, preference is indicated for a combination of the two bases of accounting (similar to the practice in Spain). Since accounting innovation has not taken place in Nigeria, it is concluded that the stimuli may not have existed in the appropriate proportion. However, more firmly, the other variables that will positively complement the stimuli are quite inadequate; and above all the political will for the change is yet to emerge.

The present dissertation addresses itself to methodological issues in conjunction with financial accounting research. Its objective is to assess the implications of the nature of financial reporting information for the design of academic research in this discipline. In the thesis, 'classification models' of national financial accountancy systems and the methodology of 'positive accounting theory' serve as examples of contemporary research in the subject. These theoretical notions are subjected to scrutiny from two different perspectives. Firstly, they are critically evaluated on the basis of an abstract analytical line of reasoning. Secondly, a survey of the accounting policies of British and German chemical companies provides empirical evidence which complements the aforementioned abstract critique. The enquiry arrives at the conclusion that the claims to the achievement of high 'scientific standards' in their research which are typically advanced by the authors of international accounting 'classification models' and by certain advocates of 'positive accounting theory', ought to be qualified. The analyses carried out in this dissertation indicate that such claims are logically flawed, in that they proceed from a number of fundamental metatheoretical misconceptions. Moreover, they turn out to be empirically valid only up to a point if confronted with financial accounting data prepared in distinct economic and legal frameworks. The above-mentioned findings suggest that the very aims of academic research in financial accounting need to be thoroughly reconsidered as a prerequisite for the proposal of theoretical principles

The current study investigates a novel area of accounting research; the use of online annual reports by corporate Websites' visitors. This study is of a cross-disciplinary nature as it involves knowledge from different fields including accounting, mass communication and computer science. It is argued that the examination of communication theory may provide insights into how best to enhance the value relevance of accounting information. The Internet, as a new means of communication, has many possible effects on the way accounting information is disseminated and the way its usage can be investigated. Traditional methods, including questionnaires and interviews, have been used to study the usage of annual reports. This study explores and applies a novel method, Web Server Log Analysis, to study how online annual reports are accessed by users. The study investigated the Web Server Log Files of six companies and found that the most accessed sections of online annual reports are the Notes to the Financial Statements, the Chairman Statement, and the Profit and Loss Account. Narrative sections were accessed more frequently compared to the financial sections of the annual report. In addition, the non-statutory sections were found to be more accessed by users compared to the statutory ones.

This study was conducted to address a growing concern that earlier studies had failed to enhance our knowledge about accounting in practice. It was intended to contribute by providing insights about accounting change, about the forces that contribute to accounting change and about the behavioral consequences of such a change. The objective is two-fold: first, to explain how accounting practices emerged, evolved and came to take their present forms, and second, to explain how changes in them led to changes in the behaviour of organisational members. The focus was on budgets and the processes of budgeting in a commercial television company in the UK. This research was carried out both as an exploratory and explanatory case study. The methodology adopted is interpretative in nature. Data was collected through a variety of methods over a period of eighteen months (the historical data collected, however. spanned a period of more than thirty years). The study was informed by insights offered by the social interactionist approach. Rationales from economic, cultural and sociological perspectives were drawn in the analyses to provide insights on the change, the process of change and the behavioral consequences of such a change.

The purpose of this study is to investigate some aspects of the relative usefulness of some alternative accounting measures for reporting to shareholders. Several theoretical arguments have been advanced in the literature which suggest that accounting numbers produced under alternative accounting models would be more useful to users of accounting information than those produced under the historical cost accounting model. One of the ~ priori arguments supporting these suggestions is that better predictions, and thus a greater degree of usefulness, are achieved when one of the alternative models is applied. However, little research aimed at testing the relative usefulness of accounting alternatives according to users' informational needs has been reported. Some of the studies available have been criticised for lack of relevance of the chosen object(s} of prediction to the informational requirements of users, an~or for the use of arbitrarily chosen, non-optimal prediction models in specifying the relation between objects of predictions and the accounting numbers tested. In addition, it has proved difficult to evaluate empirically the relative desirability of the alternative accounting measures under a variety of general and specific price changes conditions, sufficient for general conclusions to be reached, due to the unavailability of the necessary real-world data for a large sample of firms operating under different conditions.

This thesis investigates the role and contribution of external auditing as practised in Malaysian society in the post-independence period of the last 40 years. It applies the political economic approach introduced by Tinker (1980) and refined by Cooper & Sherer (1984), which emphasises the social relations aspects of professional activity rather than economic forces alone. The former is considered capable of providing greater insight and a fuller understanding of the issues involved in the question "Why audit in Malaysia?" The political economic approach is applied in this study by utilising an enlarged exogenous framework of processual change analysis developed by Smith (1973) and adapted to accounting by McKinnon (1986). This particular interpretive framework views external auditing in Malaysia over the forty year period (1957- 1997) as an open, dynamic social system comprising two pattern transformations. Each pattern transformation is analysed through decomposition into source, diffusion and reaction phases, and in terms of the four aspects of the enlarged exogenous framework: intrusive events, environment, trans-systems activity and intra-system activity. Data for change analysis are obtained from primary and secondary source documentation and from personal interviews conducted with various parties who can be considered as having significant interests in the country's audit practice. The study focuses specifically on the historical development of, and environmental influences on the country's audit practice. The conclusions of the study provide understanding of the operational form of contemporary audit practice and the historical, social, economic and political determinants of that form. The conclusions also attempt to extrapolate what the future of audit practice may look like. Racial concern and the operation of strong and pragmatic government in contrast to the influence of an industrialisation drive appear to have constraint progress in the manner that audit has been developing in Malaysia. Although at one level it appears that changes have actually taken place in both the audit and its neighbouring systems of government, companies and capital funds, deeper analysis shows that much of this change is superficial. Auditing development has been implicated in broader ideological and political struggles in the society. In short, external audit in Malaysia cannot be interpreted as simply a technical phenomenon, but rather as a social activity imbedded in its social, economic and political context. The function of auditing in Malaysia society is devoid of any essence of mission; instead it is created, shaped and changed by the pressures which give rise to its development over time. It is implicated in action, rather than being prior to it. The role that it serves is intertwined with the contexts in which it operates. The more frequent perception of auditing is in legal and political terms rather than in terms of intrinsic merit or adding value to statements prepared by management.

This thesis examines the workplace learning experiences of accountancy trainees. It provides an insight into how and what accountancy trainees learn during their training and also explores how individual experiences of learning within the same learning situation may differ. A qualitative life course approach is adopted and data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews, with trainees in an Irish Big 4 firm. The interrelated concepts of legitimate peripheral participation and communities of practice are employed to consider how trainees learn through participating in the community of practice represented by their employing firm. As these concepts have not been developed in a way which enables diversity amongst individual experiences of learning to be explored, the metaphor of 'learning as becoming' is employed for this purpose. The findings of the study reveal how accountancy trainees develop technical and social competence through participating in the work of their community and draw attention to the extent to which trainees' learning is facilitated and influenced by work colleagues. In addition to relying on colleagues for guidance and advice, trainees also learn from observing and listening to them. The thesis shows how differences between individuals' experiences of learning within a community of practice may be understood to result from variations in how individuals interact with that community of practice. The thesis also provides an insight into the power a community of practice may wield over a participant's access to learning opportunities and demonstrates the reproductive nature of communities of practice, particularly in the field of accountancy training.

This thesis has two interrelated objectives. First, it examines the demand-side determinants of auditor choice of listed Chinese companies. Unlike most previous studies just based on agency theory or signalling theory, I consider an institutional perspective on auditor selection and audit fee determinants. The traditional theories focus on the nature of companies and the companies' inherent motivations to safeguard reliable accounting information. However, the theory in relation to institutions argues that external institutional factors such as legal system and government intervention impose legal and political costs on companies and auditors, which in turn affect the demand for, and supply of, auditing services. The second objective is to study the determinants of audit fees. I pay particular attention to the impact of auditor selection bias on audit pricing, which has been largely neglected in most prior studies. This study adopts a multi-strategy research design including an exploratory qualitative interview study and a quantitative cross-sectional study. The latter is based on a sample of 933 listed Chinese companies and estimates two-stage empirical models: a multinomial logit model (MNL) for auditor selection in the first stage and weighted least squares (WLS) regression models for audit fee determinants in the second stage. The results show that the Chinese listed companies' internal motivations to select high quality auditors are not strong, but the institutional factors impose legal and political costs on companies, which in turn motivate those with a large size or a high level of state ownership to hire high quality auditors. In addition, this work documents evidence of the existence of selectivity bias in audit fees in China. Controlling for the selection bias, company size and the number of subsidiaries are significant fee determinants for all Chinese auditors while company net cash flow and auditor tenure have a differential influence on audit fees charged by Big Four firms, large and small local firms. The study also provides evidence that all Chinese auditors do not have their audit fees sensitive to company risks, and Big Four firms do not have a fee premium relating to large local firms. Listed companies select auditors between Big Four firms and large local firms who can minimise their audit fees, controlling for other fee determinants and selectivity bias.

The process of international accounting regulation is somewhat diffuse. Many organisations, e.g., the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations (UN) are involved -- each with its own different constituency, authority structure, and more importantly, its obj ectives. The third world nations' demands for greater disclosure by Transnational Corporations (INCs) have been taken up by the UN -- a debate to which the OECD and the lASC have also contributed. Negotiations over an acceptable set of disclosure standards have been carried on at the UN for more than twelve years. During this period the UN has repeatedly changed its position and has eventually failed to come up with a comprehensive set of final recommendations. It has, in effect, abandoned its pioneering stance as an accounting policy maker. This research attempts to investigate this failure of the UN by examining in some depth the accounting policy making process of the UN - - which in many senses reflects the tussle between the third world nations and the developed market economies. The political nature of accounting policy making is recognised and political concepts of '~' are used to understand and explain the process. In particular. the decision-oriented (i.e. One-Dimensional) pluralist methodology of power is used to analyse the conflicts and policy outcomes at the UN. tv Empirical evidence shows that organised pressures from the TNCs, co-ordinated under the joint forum of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) , was strengthened by the support given by governments of developed market economies active within various UN bodies and committees. The rule of one-nation, one-vote and decision making by majority vote -- provided for in the UN Charter - - was frequently overriden with a claim for decision making by absolute unanimity. This claim, coupled with a threat of non-compliance if decisions were taken otherwise, compelled the third world majority to accept the 'de facto veto' of a powerful minority. The United Nation's position on accounting policy issues has been significantly shifted through he use of such 'de facto veto' by the developed market economies. The conclusion is reached that given the present state of international economic relations, the economic power of the TNCs and their home countries, and in spite of the formal power (i.e. voting majority) in the hands of the third world countries the 'status guo' has largely been maintained. Also, in order to avoid the present embarrassing reality of frequently facing a host of developing nations at the UN the developed nations have seen other forums, particularly the OECD and the lASC, as being more amenable to their own purposes and eventually have been successful in converting the UN into a mere discussion forum rather than an accounting regulatory body.

This thesis investigates the development of financial reporting in Jordan over the 10 years between 1988 and 1998, a period during which the Jordanian government sought both to internationalise the economy and to facilitate this through adoption of accepted international standards for accounting. A survey of accounting practices adopted by Jordanian companies for measuring assets and profits was conducted and indices used to measure the degree of consistency between companies. The survey shows that the Jordanian companies were continually changing their accounting practices and that these changes affected the degree of consistency over time. The degree of compliance between Jordanian accounting practices and the requirements of international accounting standards (IAS) was measured for a selected number of areas of accounting, for individual items required by standards in each area, and for individual companies against all the IASs included in the study. This study reports the degree of consistency between companies and the degree of compliance with the international accounting standards both before and after their endorsement by the Jordanian Association of Public Accountants in 1990 and before and after their adoption by the Jordanian regulations in 1997. It concludes that neither event was associated with any material increase in the overall degree of consistency or in the degree of compliance. Multivariate analysis and the nonparametric statistics are applied to test the association between companies' compliance and factors such as asset size, ownership spread, international trade, foreign investment, international or local audit firm, rate of return, earnings margin, leverage and industry. The findings are consistent with the prior expectations concerning the association between asset size and individual company degree of compliance. However, the opposite was the case in relation to the sign of the relationship between the rate of return and individual company degree 01 compliance. The nonparametric statistic findings reveal that asset size, ownership spread, international trade and industry are factors associated with variations in the individual company degree of compliance. Neither the multivariate analysis nor the nonparametric statistical findings reveal that foreign investments, audit firm and leverage were factors associated with compliance levels. The survey evidence and statistical analysis is complemented by the collection of views of certain groups of participants in the financial reporting process through the conduct of interviews and completion of questionnaires. Comments expressed include the view that the IASC is capable of satisfying the needs of developed and developing countries and therefore, the adoption of the IASs is suitable for the Jordanian environment. Local users' needs, the international lending associations and linked audit firms were considered to be the most influential factors in the adoption of the IAS. It is also suggested that maximising profit was the main objective of companies' management when deciding to apply IASs.