A research report submitted In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (Accounting), University of the Witwatersrand / The success of public sector accountancy reform as part of the ‘new public management’ is dependent on the common goals of all stakeholders. This research applies new institutionalism to understand the isomorphic pressures being exerted by accounting professionals and international organisations on government agencies to drive these reforms. It analyses the preferences of different stakeholder groups to the opposing doctrines of new public management and progressive public administration. These preferences were analysed through a content analysis of the comments letters submitted to the IPSASB during their recent conceptual framework project. Accounting professionals were found to be motivated by normative and mimetic isomorphism to bring about institutional change under the themes of private sector mimicry, inter-generational equity and performance focused reporting. They were strongly motivated to lobby for these changes by their own self-interest. Government agencies showed a resistance to these changes. Their self-interest reduced the level to which they were influenced by isomorphic pressures. Such resistance was strongest in Canada but weakest in Australia and the United Kingdom. No conclusions could be reached on the role of international organisations in supporting institutional change. / MT2017

Missing pages 108 and 109. Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / The purpose of this thesis is to explore the opportunities that so-called management services may present for the public accounting profession. The public accountant's position with respect to management consulting will be appraised and an inventory will be taken of the rewards and the pitfalls attached to this field of activity which is developing as a new challenge to the profession.

The major thrust of this study is to identify factors that contribute to turnover of black accountants in public accounting and to identify the factors that lead to the success or failure of black accountants. This research was limited to the eight largest national public accounting firms in the United States (the Big Eight). Open-ended questions about the reasons for (1) turnover of black accountants in public accounting firms, (2) success of black accountants in public accounting firms, and (3) failure of black accountants in public accounting firms were presented to three groups of respondents. The population includes (1) personnel managers and supervising personnel in Big Eight firms, (2) black accountants who are either presently or were previously employed by Big Eight firms, and (3) accounting faculty members at predominantly black institutions.

No description available.

Audit Quality is the most important factor to a public accounting firm. The financial crisis of lots of companies shows that the audit quality of public accounting firms has problems. The audit decision-making process in the Big 5 and other middle size accounting firms has been structured, but there are short of discussing to understand the behavior of auditor in public accounting firms. The existing literature suggests that fairness can provide a reasonable explanation for employees¡¦ satisfaction and job performance, but the answer of what can improve the perception of justice is not clear. The emphasis on this research is the effect of justice perception by leadership style and communication in the accounting firm. According to the questionnaire and regression analysis this research found when the degree of leadership style is high, the degree of the perception of justice will be higher. And the communication situation has positive effect on the perception of justice. Not all of the interaction effects on the perception of justice are positive and signature. The result of this research suggests that the leader in the public accounting firms can change their behavior and the information quality and quantity to improve the justice perception of employee.

No description available.

It is the purpose of this study to examine the underlying nature of the relative risk associated with an audit engagement.

This dissertation examines the effects of healthy lifestyle of auditors in public accounting as a mitigating influence between role stress and job outcomes (performance, satisfaction, and turnover). Based on coping and self-determination theories, the study was designed to investigate the impact of healthy lifestyle as a coping measure that is within the control of the individual, regardless of firm policies or the firm's work environment.To address the research issues, a survey was conducted of professional auditors employed by a large national public accounting firm with offices located throughout the United States. The sample included 1,026 auditors from various regions of the United States and at various levels in the firm. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the causal effects of role stressors and healthy lifestyle in a fully-mediated model on job outcomes of performance, satisfaction and turnover intentions.The hypothesized model demonstrated acceptable fit statistics and, generally, the hypotheses were supported. The results indicate that role stress as mediated by job burnout and its effect on psychological well-being will have a negative impact on job outcomes. However, the negative effects of role stress and job burnout can be mitigated by a healthy lifestyle which, mediated by its effect on vitality and psychological wellbeing, is positively related to job outcomes.

Nos últimos anos, com a necessidade de suprir as demandas por novas infra-estruturas, aliada a falta de capacidade financeira dos governos, as Parcerias Público Privadas (PPPs) surgiram como uma alternativa. Essa participação privada nos investimentos públicos tem trazido resultados positivos nos governos que já as implementaram, como no caso da Inglaterra. No Brasil, a Lei n. 11.079/04 ? ?Lei das PPPs?, foi sancionada produto da percepção daqueles resultados no exterior, conjugada à própria necessidade interna. Com base nas práticas inglesas, a Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional emitiu a Portaria n. 614/06 que estabelece as normas relativas à consolidação das contas públicas aplicáveis aos contratos de PPPs. O critério adotado, segundo a norma, visa refletir a essência da relação econômica entre as partes contratantes, porém encontra-se necessário realizar uma análise em termos da essência econômica do objeto que envolve o contrato de PPP, por ele ser, em última análise, o fenômeno a ser contabilizado. Assim, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi identificar se existe concordância entre a essência econômica do objeto do contrato e a forma jurídica dos contratos de Parcerias Público-Privadas na geração de infra-estruturas rodoviárias no Brasil, visando iniciar uma discussão em matéria contábil no âmbito nacional. Para tal efeito se estabeleceram os seguintes objetivos específicos: contextualizar a implementação dos contratos de PPPs no Brasil, caracterizar o formato jurídico das PPPs no âmbito nacional e analisar os pronunciamentos contábeis existentes em relação à categorização dos gastos públicos quando da criação de infra-estruturas. A pesquisa caracteriza-se por ser de natureza exploratória, descritiva, bibliográfica e documental. Os dados foram coletados visando sua estruturação em três unidades de análise: antecedentes das parcerias, contexto econômico e estratégias empreendidas. Além disso, foram analisados os mencionados pronunciamentos contábeis para identificar o critério mantido pela STN até a emissão da Lei das PPPs a respeito da essência econômica da criação de infra-estruturas. O conjunto de análises realizadas permite sugerir que não existe uma concordância entre a essência econômica do objeto do contrato e a forma jurídica dos contratos de Parcerias Público-Privadas na geração de infra-estruturas rodoviárias no Brasil. A forma jurídica desses contratos é abrangente para projetos executáveis em diferentes setores e, portanto, não permite refletir a essência do objeto econômico de cada parceria. Finalmente foram sugeridos temas para futuras pesquisas, principalmente, no sentido de aprofundar a discussão sobre a essência dos projetos PPPs ou aplicando a metodologia utilizada neste estudo a cada setor da economia. / Last years, because of the need of supplying demands for new infrastructures, allied the financial lack of government\'s capacity, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have appeared as an alternative. This kind of private participation in public investments has brought positive results to governments that had already implemented them, like England. In Brazil, the Law n. 11.079/04 ? PPPs Law, was born from the perception of those abroad results, conjugated to the proper internal necessity. Based on English practices, the Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional ? STN - emitted the Portaria n. 614/06 that stated norms for public accounts consolidation of PPPs contracts. The adopted criterion, according to the norm, aims to reflecting the essence of the economic relation between the contracting parties, however it needs to accomplish an analysis in term of the essence of the object which involves the PPP contract, due this to being, at the end, the phenomenon to be entered. Thus, the general objective of this research was to identify if there is an agreement in economic essence terms between the PPPs contracts object about road infrastructure generation in Brazil and their legal form, aiming to starting a national discussion at the accounting area. For such effect, these followed specific objectives were pointed: contextualizing the PPPs contracts implementation in Brazil, characterizing the legal form of the PPPs in the national scope and analyzing the existing accounting statements related to the categorizing of the public expenses for infrastructure generation. The study is characterized for being a exploratory, descriptive, bibliographical and documentary research. The data had been collected in order to be structured into three analysis units: the partnerships precedents, the economic context and the undertaken strategies. Moreover, the mentioned accounting statements were analyzed aiming to identifying the STN?s criterion about the economic essence in infrastructure generation, kept until the emission of the PPPs Law. The set of accomplished analyses permit to suggest that there is not an agreement about the economic essence between the PPPs contracts object of the road infrastructure generation in Brazil and their legal form. Such legal form of these contracts is widely applied to execute projects in different sectors and, therefore, it does not allow to reflect the essence of the economic object for each partnership. At the end, subjects for future researches were suggested, specially, in terms of a deeper discussion about the essence of the PPPs projects, or by applying the methodology used in this research for others economic sectors.

Employee turnover is extremely costly to any business in terms of training costs and loss of pertinent knowledge and experience. This paper explores the contributors to the high rates of employee turnover seen in public accounting by focusing on the Big Four accounting firms, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Employee retention is a factor of corresponding employee motivation, as seen through the analysis of popular motivational theories and their applications to a career in public accounting. This paper also delves into the possible contributors to the differences in retention rates between males and females in this occupation. Lastly, an analysis of current firm programs and initiatives is conducted, with suggestions for ulterior areas of focus and improvements to current programs. The popular motivational theories explored signify important areas of focus for current and suggested programs. The opportunities presented by effective and accessible mentors are of extreme importance to reducing turnover and aiding an employee in developing ownership over a firm’s mission. Additionally, stereotypes associated with females in the business world and the inherent work of public accounting inhibits young professionals from establishing longevity with a firm. The current programs offered by the Big Four firms are likely to be enhanced and improved upon by new generations of professionals entering into the higher ranks of leadership.