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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the financial decision-making process of farmers and to highlight the potential role that improved farm financial management (FFM) could play in developing sustainable farm enterprises. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a qualitative approach with 27 semi-structured interviews exploring farmers’ financial decision-making processes. Subsequently, the interview findings were presented to a focus group. Sensemaking theory is adopted as a theoretical lens to develop the empirical findings. Findings The evidence highlights that FFM has a dual role to play in farmer decision-making. Some FFM activities may act as a cue, which triggers a sensebreaking activity, causing the farmer to enter a process of sensemaking whilst some/other FFM activities are drawn upon to provide a sensegiving role in the sensemaking process. The role of FFM in farmer decision-making is strongly influenced by the decision type (strategic or operational) being undertaken and the farm type (dairy, tillage or beef) in operation. Originality/value The literature suggests that the majority of farmers spend little time on financial management. However, there are farmers who have quite a high level of engagement in FFM activities, when undertaking strategic farm expansion decisions. Those FFM activities help them to navigate through operational decision-making and to make sense of their strategic decision-making.

Despite the wealth of discussion and ideas on how food systems might change, and all the plans and schemes created to provide solutions to unsustainable food systems, very few researchers have examined the accounting practices that define socio-economic relationships around food. In this article, I show that the imperative for each entity in food supply networks to obtain a discount on costs involved in food supply to survive on very thin margins, inhibits large-scale change. The approach here is introductory, providing an explanation of the accounting issues involved for a non-accounting audience, and an illustrative case study is used to show the embeddedness of always ‘getting a discount’. The case study is drawn from interview data with those involved in intermediary companies and in alternative food distribution in Canada and the USA. The difficulties faced by organisations distributing food on a more local level and the lack of lasting and widespread change despite their endeavours, is shown to linked to the inevitability that they too need to ‘get discounts’ to survive. This interdisciplinary study is important to provide context for sociological thinkers and activists seeking to understand the barriers to change in food behaviours and food strategies.

An increasing percentage of products in multichannel retail are being returned, yet many retailers and manufacturers are not aware of the importance and scale of this issue. Similarly, the literature on online returns is limited. Returns processes can be very complicated, contain many manual steps that have several variations, unclear decision-making rules and, at the handling stage, often involve low-wage third-party employees guided by patchy IT systems. This article maps the complexity of product returns processes, highlights challenges and identifies opportunities for improvement, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the emerging field of product returns research. It also concludes that it is essential for returns to be made a strategic priority at the senior management level, implementing a Lean approach to returns systems. The research was based on 4 case studies, 17 structured interviews and 3 retail community workshops, all with British and other Western European retailers. Through triangulation of individual data, a generic process map for retail returns was created and implications for sustainability, loss prevention and profit optimisation are examined.

PurposeThis article sheds light onto the increasing problem of product returns, which is exacerbated by growing e-commerce. Many retailers and academics are oblivious to the nature and scale of this challenge. Interdisciplinary research is needed to develop supporting theory, and cross-functional teams are required to implement measures addressing economic, ecological and social sustainability issues.Design/methodology/approachThe initial project adopted a multi-case study approach, whereby returns processes were mapped, vulnerabilities identified and a returns cost calculator was developed.FindingsProduct returns processes are usually complicated, prone to internal and external fraud, inefficient and lack sustainability. They can generate considerable losses to the business, especially as returns data are often not systematically collected, monitored or reported to senior management. There are important implications for strategic and operational management, namely the need to develop a concept for Lean returns systems.Originality/valueProduct returns are a unique and understudied but growing field in academic research, with only few publications over the last two decades. Yet the phenomenon is causing increasing problems in business and society. Robust solutions could achieve great financial and non-financial impacts.

Upon reading and reviewing Edwards’ A History of Corporate Financial Reporting, a sense exists of how many conversations have taken place on how accounting is practised, and how the nature of accou...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the measures taken by legitimate wine investment companies and enforcement agencies to counter alternative investment scams. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed wine industry and law enforcement specialists to understand the nature of wine investment fraud and the characteristics of the victims. They also drew on secondary data in the form of government agency research and media sources. Findings The majority of wine investment frauds are boiler room operations, using social engineering techniques to draw victims into the fraud. The authors conclude that countering wine investment fraud requires public education by government, the wine industry and the police. Research limitations/implications This is a small-scale study that uses interviews with experts in the industry and in law enforcement and secondary data as evidence. Despite the limitations in the number of interviews, the authors are able to comment on the social impacts of alternative investment scams and suggest a theoretical basis for future work in the field. Practical implications The authors make a case for regulators and investors to be part of collective action through education and public awareness campaigns to combat alternative investment fraud. Originality/value The authors outline how collective action theory might be extended to investigate fraud prevention measures in other financial and commodity markets.

The budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is €365bn (European Commission, 2018) for 2021–2027, with the majority allocated to farmers through direct payments. Given the economic vulnerability of many farm enterprises, and the concern about the sustainability of food supply for a growing worldwide population, these payments are provided to encourage food production. Despite this economic vulnerability, many farmers do not appear to run their business with the sole intention of profit maximisation. This paper explores various financial and non-financial influencing factors on the strategic farm expansion decision-making process of farmers with the aim of assisting policymakers and farm advisors to develop a deeper understanding of that process. As a result, agricultural policy may be more effectively formulated and advisory services to farmers may be improved. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 27 farmers who have undertaken strategic farm expansion decisions. Subsequently, the interview findings were presented to a focus group to probe them in more detail. A wide range of financial and non-financial influencing factors on the strategic farm expansion decision-making process of farmers emerge. Analysis of the influencing factors by the specific type of farm expansion decision undertaken and by farm type provides further insights. It is proposed that these influencing factors act as a cue which trigger a sensebreaking activity and cause the farmer to enter a process of sensemaking, culminating in a strategic farm expansion decision being undertaken.

The percentage of products being returned in multichannel retail are high and further increasing, yet many retailers and manufacturers are unaware of the importance and scale of this issue. They consider dealing with returns as a cost of doing business and are oblivious of the potential for conflicts between their corporate social responsibility commitments and their returns practices. This article investigates how far sustainable practices and circular economy concepts have been implemented in retail returns systems; it identifies vulnerabilities, barriers, and challenges to the implementation of sustainable, circular practices and suggests ways to overcome them, as sustainability, loss prevention, and profit optimisation can go hand in hand with the right approach to the organisation of the reverse supply chain. Implications of this research on strategic management are outlined. The research was conducted using in-depth interviews and observations with four major retailers in the United Kingdom, 17 structured interviews, 100 retailer website reviews, and three retail community workshops, all with British and other European retailers.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the importance of accountants’ networks inside organisations, the parties who comprise those networks and how accountants go about building and maintaining their networks. It also illustrates the use of strong structuration theory, which specifically considers the networks that surround agents. The theoretical discussion highlights the significance of communication as agency in the context of accounting practice through a strong structuration perspective. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach to the inquiry was adopted. Interviews were conducted with 30 Australian accountants from 22 not-for-profit organisations. A thematic approach was used to analyse the transcripts. Structuration theory, supplemented by strong structuration, informed the study. Findings The interviewees attested to the importance of communication and developing networks within their organisations. They actively sought to expand and enhance their networks. The accountants played a pivotal role in networks and they pursued both horizontal and vertical relations. The accountants’ knowledge of organisational positions and perceptions of their own roles were used strategically in attempts to alter the internal structures of networked others. Research limitations/implications The interviewed accountants worked in not-for-profit organisations and this may influence the findings. Future research might consider accountants working in for-profit organisations. The study provides insights into strategies to develop intra-organisational networks. Originality/value The study contributes to the meagre literature regarding accountants’ networks within organisations. It provides insights that may assist accountants in enhancing their own networks. Although structuration theory is well-established in accounting research, the enrichments offered by strong structuration are illustrated in this study.

Purpose This paper aims to present an understanding of what it means to infuse teaching with qualitative research and to introduce the papers in the special issue. Design/methodology/approach This is an introductory essay that provides a brief overview and analysis of the ideas to be found in the issue. Findings The special issue contributes to the understanding of the integration of teaching and research by showing how the authors as actors, as teacher-researchers, bring not just the findings but also reflexivity into the classroom and take knowledge out into both research and teaching. The papers in this issue all consider the agency of teachers in bringing an epistemology into the classroom, and in developing that epistemology. Originality/value The papers in this issue go beyond concepts of research-led teaching and the research-teaching nexus towards reflective pieces that develop understanding of epistemology rather than more conventional reports of classroom interventions.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of social theory as conceptual methodology in the design of case study research. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine how social theory can be used to design case study research when the choice of theory is made before or during the empirical enquiry. Rather than simply presenting the elements of design, the focus is on the ways the elements relate and connect to each other, i.e. how a researcher can design each step to facilitate the work that needs to be done in the others. Findings A circular research design starts and finishes with the theory. The conceptual tools that social theories offer can be used to guide researchers into the empirical field and out of it. A conceptually driven design facilitates the interconnection between the various steps of a research project and can keep theory, research problem and data closely connected. Research limitations/implications There is a role for systematic research design in interpretative case studies in management accounting and control. Although this paper uses strong structuration theory, the circular design proposed can be applied for other social theories and methodologies where an abductive approach is appropriate. Originality/value There are very few papers that explicitly demonstrate the implications of research design choices in case study research. In particular, the authors contribute to discussions on the conduct of interpretative research in management control and demonstrate that, especially for structuration theory, a conceptual methodology approach to research design, data collection and analysis can lead to theoretical insight.

Food systems in Europe, North America and Australasia are dominated by a small number of supermarkets supplying over 70% of the food consumers buy, and the model is being translated into other markets such as the Middle East and Asia. Relationships between suppliers and supermarkets are contentious in all such systems. Here, interviews were carried out with representatives of three major grower-packers supplying between them around 50% of the UK's fresh produce. We were interested in three questions, namely: how performance measurement, risk management and communication of accounting information are used by intermediaries in an allegedly unfair commercial environment; the extent to which the accounting and control practices observed support perceptions that suppliers in supermarket-dominated supply networks are treated unfairly; and what accounting and control practices would be indicative of fair commercial relationships? Researchers in the cross-disciplinary literature use John Rawls' theories of ‘justice as fairness’ in this context. Recent developments in business ethics and philosophy apply his theories to questions of relational power and fairness in commercial relationships. We follow these writers to understand where, if at all, the perceived unfairness of these food systems lies. Our empirical work and analysis can make an initial contribution from the discipline to this debate, because it has the potential to show how accounting and control practices are at the centre of the fragilities of the wider system, and of possible remedies.

In recent years, the issue of food fraud has become both widely discussed within the food industry and seemingly more prevalent, with incidents happening worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of different types of anti-fraud tools within the UK food industry. The study utilised an online survey questionnaire and food manufacturing companies were invited to participate in the study via email and calls for participation through industry networks i.e. Food Integrity Intelligence Network (FIIN), the Federation of Bakers and the Food and Drink Federation. Nineteen food manufacturers returned the completed survey. Of the food businesses surveyed, most used their own in-house food fraud vulnerability assessment (FFVA) tools followed by the Campden Threat Assessment and Critical Control Point (TACCP). Campden TACCP is the evaluation of threats, identification of vulnerabilities and implementation of controls of the entire production process. The threats controlled by TACCP include economically motivated adulteration (EMA) and malicious contamination. Around one third of the companies reported being victims of food fraud. Food manufacturers were divided about the impact of conducting food fraud vulnerability assessments. Half of the food manufacturers were optimistic about the impact of FFVA whilst the rest were uncertain or negative. Positive impacts include raising awareness and ensuring integrity of food supply chain whilst negative views were associated with cost and concerns for brand reputation. The adoption and conduct of FFVA is still at its infancy and the full impact remains to be seen. However, with time and constant vigilance from the food industry, FFVA will benefit the sector and the safety and integrity of the food supply chain.

PurposeThis paper aims to use Stones’ strong structuration theory (SST) that combines Giddens’ duality and Archer’s analytical dualism to deal with the paradox of embedded agency, focussing on resistance, in the budgeting literature. It also applies this framework to an illustrative case study that examines a failed attempt to implement performance-based budgeting (PBB) in the Egyptian Sales Tax Department (ESTD).Design/methodology/approachThe authors have used SST as an analytical framework. Longitudinal case study data were collected from interviews, observations, discussions and documentary analysis and from publicly available reports and other media issued by the World Bank.FindingsThe SST framework identifies the circumstances in which middle managers as embedded agency have limited possibilities to change their dispositions to act and identify opportunities for emancipation in the wider social context in which they are embedded. The official explanation for the failure to implement PBB in Egypt was obstruction by middle managers. The findings of this study provide an alternative explanation to that published by the World Bank for the failure to institutionalise PBB in Egypt. It was found that the middle managers were the real supporters of PBB. Other parties and existing laws and regulations contributed to the failure of PBB.Research limitations/implicationsAs a practical implication of the study, the analysis presented here offers an alternative interpretation of the failure of the Egyptian project for monitoring and evaluation to that published by the World Bank. This case and similar cases may enhance the understanding of how and when monitoring and evaluation technologies should be introduced at the global level to manage conflicts of interest between agencies and beneficiaries.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the extant management accounting literature on the use of ST in addressing the paradox of embedded agency in making or resisting structural change. It uses SST to integrate Giddens’ ST with critical realist theory, incorporating duality and dualism in a stronger model of structuration. The SST framework offers a means of analysing case studies that result from interactions and conjunctures between different groups of actors at different ontological levels. The paper also examines the issue of embedded agency in budgeting research using an illustrative case study from a developing country, Egypt.

Purpose - Governance models are increasingly driven by information technology and are being applied to measure the performance of all kinds of organisational activity including that of universities. This paper investigates whether the language embedded in the production and use of data for governance models based on information technology (IT) facilitates a governance culture that excludes the scholarly insights of university professionals.Methodology - Theoretically, the paper draws on the language philosophy of the live language games of capable habitus-based practices and that of the digital language of IT systems. The theoretical framework is illustrated by examples of university practices.Findings - We argue that the reductive, digital language embedded in IT-based performance measures might destroy the live language game through which scholars of universities produce and develop complex cognitive conceptual habitus. Managers in thrall to the digital language of control accessible via IT can use it to create operational paths that crowd out the free cognitive conceptual habitus of the university scholars. Accordingly, the culture of the corporate university is moving towards a post-truth state.Implications - Digitally based management systems have created a palpable change in university work place narratives, but the extended use of these systems has not solved governance problems. The situation suggests that the role of universities as the foundation for the whole project of enlightenment and knowledge-based society is threatened.Originality/Value – Our paper provides a novel insight into the changing discourses in university governance in an era increasingly characterised as post-truth.

With online sales growing massively over the last few years, product returns have also increased significantly, and for a variety of reasons. However, most companies strongly underestimate the effort and costs necessary for dealing with these returns. The reverse supply chains and systems used are often ad-hoc and have many weaknesses; research has shown that sustainability is a topic still completely neglected in the area. This chapter contributes to identifying vulnerabilities, explains best practice, suggests ways to achieve further improvement and points out where further investigation is required. The findings are based on a comprehensive study involving 100 retailers’ online returns policies; a review of other existing studies; four in-depth case studies with major UK retailers, including over 25 interviews, observations and site visits; and structured interviews with another 17 retailers in the UK and Europe. Feedback was sought from retail industry consortia.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to suggest a strong structuration-based framework for the study of management accounting change. Design/methodology/approach A retrospective field study was designed to investigate the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on budgeting and control practices of Greek hospitality organisations. Conduct analysis addresses agents’ perceptions of the changes upon themselves. Context analysis explores the changing context, and how the agents modified their in-situ control structures accordingly. The framework is demonstrated through one case study. Findings The agents in the case, triggered by the crisis, gradually come to criticise the way they practice budgeting. The first response is to practice budgeting more normatively, but later they criticise and modify these norms. As their formal mentalities co-mediated action, variance management became proactive rather than reactive. Variations in the ways agents draw upon structures – unreflectively or critically – and on how they act to reproduce structures – routinely or strategically – characterise change in management accounting practice. Agents’ reasoning and conduct leading to action is local, and these local changes in conduct and context are significant in understanding management accounting change. Originality/value This framework for studying management accounting change balances structural conditions of action, with action and interaction. It can be used to study how, why, and by whom institutionalised management accounting practices may change.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share interdisciplinary ideas about the purpose of social theory in empirical research. Design/methodology/approach The formal interview took place in front of an audience at the Strong Structuration Theory and Management Research workshop at IAE de Paris, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, on 10 May 2016. A recording was made, transcribed, and then edited. Elements from a recorded lecture on the same day are also included. A conversational format is retained to enhance the sense of interdisciplinary dialogue that characterises the research project. Findings The use of SST as a conceptual methodology is explained, and the use of agent’s conduct and agent’s context analyses is elucidated providing pointers regarding how accounting research can be developed further by basing the analysis in an understanding of the status and adequacy of knowledge on which people act to produce and reproduce structure. Originality/value The value of the interview is to provide insights into the process of empirical research and conceptualisation, which are likely to be particularly helpful for early career researchers.

This paper set out to explore the challenges posed by blockchain to forensic accountants in the prevention and detection of fraud. Blockchain will create a decentralised environment where transactions and data have no third-party control. This technology is capable of disrupting accounting and audit because it is capable of automating financial records and audit processes. The fraud analysis in a digital environment is complex and the evolution of new technologies or innovations such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and robotics have added to these challenges. The framework for analysis adopted is a qualitative study using the library research methodology. The findings portray that blockchain technology is not 100% flawless, impenetrable to malicious attacks and hacking. The results of the study found that technology will affect the core functions of accountants, but the overall effects on the roles of forensic accountants and auditors are still unknown.

Using structuration theory, this paper examines capital budgeting and its role in the ‘energy trilemma’. The key focus is on the role of knowledgeable agency inffq s. the analysis of strategic conduct. In particular, demonstrating how accounting tools can be used by executive managers, who whilst dominant in their own organisations, are themselves subordinate to the government in the United Kingdom and at the European level. The strategic conduct of actors is examined in a narrative, theorised case study setting, which spans across 11 years, 2006- 2017. The principal contribution to knowledge from this study is the extent to which strategic investment accounting played in changing regulatory and government policy and spending requirements in a privatised industry. The most dominant party, the government and regulators, were forced to take the generators’ concerns seriously, because the generators (based on knowledge derived from capital budgets) restricted their capital expenditure rather than mobilising their resources. The need for resources to reduce emissions provided an opportunity for the industry to force the government to consider the problem of energy. The generators highlighted that this was not only a problem of price for consumers and environmental sustainability, but as one of long term supply. The generators argued that government had to address all aspects of the trilemma when creating policy.

In the late 1960s, an attempt was made to implement throughout Australia an innovative scheme to develop and standardise management accounting in the agricultural sector. Despite enthusiastic support for the proposed scheme, it was not implemented, although elements of it can be found in farm consultancy practice today. The story of the “Blue Book” ( Accounting and Planning for Farm Management) and the Australian Committee for the Coding of Rural Accounts (ACCRA) is analysed in the context of diffusion of innovation frameworks. However, as these frameworks do not adequately capture the visions of the future and the related emotional investment in innovations, the concept of future making is introduced from the work of Barbara Adam on future time in social studies, as a further layer of analysis in this case study. In particular, the problems of embedding management accounting innovations in new software in a time when information technology is changing rapidly affected significantly the diffusion of the innovation in Australia.

If you are not an Anglo-American country, which set of accounting standards do you adopt? Do you go with the IASB or FASB, or do you stay with, and enhance, your own national accounting standards? What are the consequences for accounting practice, and what legacy are you acquiring when you harmonize with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs? These are essentially the questions being asked about fair value accounting by Japanese academics in this book, evaluating the extent to which fair value is relevant and welcome when making the choice of which set of standards to adopt. Izumi Watanabe (editor) (Tokyo, Japan: Moriyama Shoten, 2014, ISBN 978-4-8394-2139-7, pp. x, 270)

An Agri-food supply chain (ASC) is a network of individual companies that delivers agricultural products to end consumers (Christopher, 2005). However, within an ASC there is a greater tendency for companies to keep their own identity or autonomy than in other supply chain (SC) configurations (van der Vorst, 2006). The structure of an ASC can be complex and include many entities performing numerous interactions (Matopoulos et al., 2004). For example, intermediary companies have one-to-many relationships with retailers downstream and separate one-to-many relationships upstream. The relationships can dissolve and re-form frequently because, although they typically want the quality and delivery that comes from long-term relationships, retailers and processors also want the prices that come from trading (Jack et al., 2012). Therefore, ASCs provide an interesting environment in which to explore the use of performance metrics to manage relationships between SC partners. It is argued that the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach can provide a suitable basis for performance measurement in the supply chain context (Brewer and Speh, 2000). There is little survey evidence regarding key practical aspects of BSCs, such as the characteristics of the models tested, the information generated or the combinations of metrics that should be used (Chenhall, 2005). Limitations of BSC frameworks designed for SC performance measurement include their top-down approach, lack of formal implementation methodology and subjectivity of metrics selection (Abu-Suleiman et al., 2003). The identification of the appropriate set of metrics to be applied by multiple individual companies across a SC structure is not an easy task and there is insufficient literature about the selection of suitable metrics (Chan et al., 2003). The design of specific approaches addressing this issue could provide a significant contribution to this field of study (Lambert and Pohlen, 2001).The objective of this research note is to identify whether particular metrics used in BSCs relate to specific supply chain roles in ASCs. The overarching question to this investigation is whether common BSCs are possible between partners in supply networks. From data gathered in Brazil, customer satisfaction was the single common metric used by all roles (input suppliers, producers, distributors and retailers). In addition, the set of metrics and their distribution across the four perspectives of a BSC are different for each SC role. These findings suggest that it may be very difficult to achieve, in practice, a common BSC framework for all supply chain participants and that other alternatives should be investigated.

Strong structuration theory is a recent development in social theory that, among other attributes, makes the gap between ontological concepts and empirical research easier to negotiate. Giddens’ structuration theory is a developed ontology-in-general explaining at an abstract level how structure and agency are interrelated, being a duality in which neither can exist without the other. Strong structuration is a development of structuration theory that retains duality of structure but has a greater sense of ontology-in-situ (that is, a concern with social processes and events at particular times and places) to counteract the overly abstract and philosophical nature of Giddens’ work. In this essay, I set out three reasons why I believe that strong structuration theory is particularly suited to qualitative empirical research in management accounting. These are that it encourages and reminds researchers to use up to date scholarship from other disciplines in their research; that it refocuses research on agency and the intended and unintended effects that individual people have on structures; and that it encourages research design that have the intention of building new theoretical insights. A review of the small body of accounting research that has so far used strong structuration theory shows that researchers are using innovative approaches, based on Stones’ (2005) and later work, to investigate the relationships between different actors and their knowledge of the contexts which they inhabit to understand why accounting is done in the way it is, and the extent to which change is possible. The next step in this area of research is to consider the concept of active agency within the theory more closely, and in particular, to examine communication in management accounting as active agency.

Many factors influence consumers’ perceptions and purchasing decisions, with product labelling forming the primary means of communication. The extent to which labels should contain information about traceability is debated. Whilst traceability is an important tool used by food business organisations and regulators in assuring food safety, other drivers for information about traceability are less well understood. This paper reviews the issues related to drivers for traceability from a consumer perspective, and evaluates country-of-origin labelling (COOL), enabling technologies and food fraud as potentially significant drivers in consumer requirements for information. The implications for risk assessment, systems implementation and communications about traceability are also considered.

Pragmatic constructivism, on which the actor reality construction (ARC) model is based, provides a conceptual methodology with which to examine how organisational realities are constructed and the extent to which they are based on illusion. Agents in pragmatic constructivism are those acting on behalf of others, as in economic agency theory. This chapter investigates whether strong structuration theory offers a sound complementary theory to use in analysis of organisational groups alongside ARC. ARC offers a way of analysing organisational groups within strong structuration theory that would emphasise aspects of authoring and co-authoring as well as the dimensions of ARC. Englund et al. and Englund and Gerdin provide an insightful analysis of the use of structuration theory in accounting literature and directions for future research. The chapter applies the conceptual methodology that emerges to the organisational realities of organised crime.

PurposeThe authors aim to present an overview of the papers in this special issue on the theme of the role of management accounting and control in routine and change in organizations, which arose from the Management Control Association Conference at the University of Greenwich, London, UK in September 2010.Design/methodology/approachThe authors place the research undertaken and the interpretations offered by the authors in the context of ongoing developments in new institutionalism in sociology.FindingsThe authors' review shows that researchers are now exploring routine and change in the context of competitive environments in both the private and the public sector.Originality/valueThe review brings attention to emerging work in the area of management accounting and control that explores change in changing organizational forms.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interdisciplinary use of strong structuration theory and consider the impact of this for accounting research. The paper also provides an overview of the contributions advanced by the other papers in this special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ). Design/methodology/approach This paper draws together and identifies key issues and themes related to the rapidly evolving interdisciplinary use of strong structuration theory and considers the relevance of these issues to accounting research. Findings The paper highlights that there is a growing use of strong structuration theory in a number of disciplines, such as in healthcare, learning studies, management, migration studies and childcare as well as in accounting. Within the accounting discipline, whilst the interest began in management accounting and control, there are ongoing studies of the not-for-profit sector, social and environmental accounting, financial reporting standards and audit. Using strong structuration theory, researchers are more interested in the people (individually or collectively) and their analysis of their conduct and context. They are moving forwards from an overly static use of the quadripartite framework to a more dynamic approach that also includes the other important central elements of strong structuration that focus on the issue of agency in situ rather than on structure cut off from agency. Research limitations/implications The paper provides important insights into emerging issues and developments in strong structuration theory that have clear relevance to accounting research and practice as well as other disciplines. Originality/value This paper, and other contributions to this special issue of AAAJ, provide a basis and a research agenda for accounting scholars seeking to undertake empirical research using Stones’ strong structuration theory.

At a time when food producers have to make significant changes to their businesses in order to survive, a review of benchmarking in agriculture and discussion of its future potential is critical. This book meets that need by providing an overview of existing benchmarking practices in agriculture and the food supply chain, and evaluating the potential of these practices to drive sustainable innovation in food and farming. Increasing pressures from commodity markets, corporate buyers, government and rising input prices (particularly fuel prices) are creating an environment in which farmers and their advisors are keen to make greater use of performance information for survival and growth. Where farmers are diversifying into alternative production methods, non-agricultural enterprises and on-farm production and sales, the greater the interest in a wider range of accounting tools for decision making. Lisa Jack and her contributors draw on a wide range of data and sources from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK and Europe to provide critical evaluations of what might be considered 'state of the art' benchmarking practices at this time, including recent strategic developments such as the use of non-financial measures in balanced scorecards. The food and farming industry is unusual in that benchmarking takes place among large numbers of small, family-owned businesses working in a global industry. Not only, therefore, is this book important for those working in food supply chain businesses, but also for those involved in the general practice of benchmarking.

An examination of the history of attempts by regulators, practitioners and scholars from the mid nineteenth century to 2005 to establish an appropriate accounting measurement basis for financial reporting here leads to an evaluation of the likelihood of fair value accounting (FVA) practices becoming fully institutionalised. Using concepts drawn from theories of legitimation, it is shown here that historic cost accounting (HCA) only enjoyed an episodic legitimacy in the 1940s–70s and that prior and after this period mixed measurement incorporating market values is routinised. Although principles of FVA have been legitimised to an extent, it is argued here that this has resulted in the practice of mixed measurement bases being taken for granted.

The Registered Social Landlord (an independent housing association in the UK) examined here was widely recognized as providing an example of good governance. The organization was using extensive internal reporting, both corporate and quasi-governmental in language, to try to accurately capture different aspects of performance. This article reveals that reporting sustainable development has boundaries to be overcome, particularly in measuring performance of environmental and community activities. © 2008 The Authors.

The implementation and use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems raise fundamental questions about the role of management accountants in an organisation. The case studied here, involving an attempt to establish an ERP system in an organisation funded by both the European Union (EU) and the Egyptian government, is an exploration of conflicting beliefs about the role of management accountants. Elements of strong structuration theory (a reinforced version of Giddens’ structuration theory) are used to analyse how the contest over the role of the management accountant in a new organisation was played out during the partially successful attempt to establish ERP in conjunction with a system that was felt to better support the requirements of the EU for performance-based budgeting. Despite the forward-looking dispositions of key actors within the organisation and from the EU, the role of the management accountant here became compressed to the traditional one of cost information collector and provider.

From January 2005, all listed group companies in Europe were required to prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and, in all, over 100 countries have decided to adopt or converge with IFRS. Furthermore, a memorandum of understanding between the US and International Accounting Standards boards was published in 2006. The avowed aim of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), in the words of its Chairman Sir David Tweedie, is to produce a 'single set of high quality global accounting standards' benefiting both preparers and auditors of financial statements of multinational companies, and providing investors with comparable information about such companies. Yet the introduction of IFRS has also been a 'quiet revolution', as one journalist has observed, challenging accepted accounting principles. By Kees Camfferman and Stephen A. Zeff, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007, xxiii þ 676 pp., £75.00 (hardback), ISBN978-01-99296-29-3

The use of management accounting in the agricultural industry has received very little attention by accounting researchers. Agriculture is currently in an era of significant change and adjustment, where change in accounting practice needs to occur in response to external pressures. The traditional use of the gross margin system of accounting has tended to underline a notion that has had a powerful influence on farm business planning that most costs are fixed and that the best way of reducing them to achieve profit maximisation is to spread them by increasing the scale of operation. This logic has been supported by an economic environment heavily influenced by agricultural policy measures that focused on artificial support for market prices and/or direct payments linked to production activities. We argue that the decoupling of support from production has combined with a number of other changes related to payments and cost structures (including those linked to the recent dramatic rise in the price of oil) to provide a very different economic context for farm business planning. The response we advocate to this changed situation is to make greater use of two alternative methods of cost analysis; namely relevant costing and target costing. These have been developed and applied outside agriculture. They have not so far been used in a formal sense within agriculture but have links to existing methodologies used in farm business planning, such as partial budgeting, and in intuitive approaches already adopted by farmers as revealed in recent fieldwork.