"Advances in Management Accounting" ("AIMA") publishes well-developed articles on a variety of current topics in management accounting that are relevant to researchers in both practice and academe. As one of the premier management accounting research books, "AIMA" is well poised to meet the needs of management accounting scholars.

This work explores how reshaping budget rules and how they are applied presents a preferred means of public sector budgeting, rather than simply implementing fewer rules. Through enhanced approaches to resource flexibility, government entities can ensure that public money is used appropriately while achieving the desired results. The authors identify public budgeting practices that inhibit responses to complex problems and examine how rule modification can lead to expanded budget flexibility. Through a nuanced understanding of the factors underlying conventional budget control, the authors use budget reforms in Australia to show the limits of rule modification and propose "rule variability" as a better means of recalibrating central control and situational flexibility. Here, policy makers and public management academics will find a source that surveys emerging ways of reconciling control and flexibility in the public sector.iv>

This book facilitates a systematic comprehension of internal workings of corporate governance in practice. Facets of this multidisciplinary, constantly evolving field are discussed and interrelationships among them are explained to provide insights on how certain precepts come into play for various roles in governance. This book pragmatically explains and illustrates with a view to integrate. To keep the scope achievable, the emphasis is placed on the U.S.-based companies; where possible, differences in governance around the world are identified. Three rich sources of knowledge help shape the message of this book: existing paradigms, personal experience in governance, and research on issues and challenges of governance. Features: Permits a holistic view of the complex corporate governance landscape. Discusses and generously illustrates the practice of corporate governance. Aids understanding of issues and challenges of corporate governance. Identifies ways to advance the value of one's role in corporate governance. Teaches how to avoid crucial mistakes that compromise the value of one's contribution in the governance process. If you are a professional accountant, securities lawyer, economist, financial analyst, auditor, executive, entrepreneur, or an investor, you will find the book helpful in understanding the entire landscape of governance fairly quickly. Those already involved in the governance arena may find the book refreshing, and may use it to coach others. This book can serve as a reference book in any offering of a course at any academic level.

The only textbook on forensic accounting specifically written to cover UK business practice, this accessible and comprehensive introduction uses stories of real-world frauds and practical case studies to help develop students' skills. Offering a detailed explanation of the process for defending against and investigating fraud within the UK, the text considers the legal and corporate governance framework in which fraudsters operate, as well as the psychology of their behaviour. The text also covers non-fraud aspects of forensic accounting, such as litigation support, dispute resolution, quantifying damages or compensation claims and acting as an expert witness.

Stop crunching numbers and start truly serving your clients Integrative Advisory Services is the CPA, accounting professional and bookkeeper's guide to the future. As technology paves the way for increased self-reliance and DIY financial services, much of the traditional data entry tasks of accounting professionals and bookkeepers will be reduced. Yet, nothing can replace the human side of the client-advisor experience and the desire to improve your clients' businesses with financial information. Technology will continue marching on, so accounting professionals must adapt to the changing marketplace to thrive in this new paradigm. This book shows you how to provide the kind of value that technology cannot: human connection. Rather than simply reporting data, today's accounting professionals have an opportunity to take a much more active role in their clients' business by analyzing the story behind the numbers, understanding both operations and finance, and guiding the client toward the outcomes they need. Creating an ongoing relationship throughout the year allows you to be proactive rather than reactive, and help your client's business at a holistic level. Your business owner and CEO clients can get the numbers from the computer too but, they come to you for personalized advice, explanations, and guidance based on their unique situation and financial needs. This book shows you how to take on more of an advisory role and become a critical component of your client's success. * Spend less time crunching numbers and more time advising clients * Become an integral part of the client's decision-making process * Provide real value by clearly communicating financial data analysis * Become the strategic partner your client cannot do without Cloud technology, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are not the death knell for financial advisors; in fact, they're the opposite they do the number crunching for you, leaving you more time to provide the personal guidance that no computer could. As the financial advisory industry evolves, Integrative Advisory Services is your real-world guide to adapting and thriving.

Featured in Volume 20 are articles on: information overload and multiple constituency values related to environmental and social disclosures; the extent to which product life cycle cost analysis, customer involvement and cost management contribute to the competitive advantage of firms; the development of sustainable practices in complex organizations; how the cost performance of defense contracts varies among the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Department of Defense (DoD) and among five major defense contractors; and, whether the use of both financial and nonfinancial measures by top managers in their evaluations influences middle-level managers' evaluations of their subordinates when the balanced scorecards are used. This title also features articles on: an analytical and structural insight into the implementation and application of PMMS; the process by which a reliance on budget to evaluate employee performance affects the job satisfaction and performance; the issue of the difficulty in the operationalization of value-based management and the Balanced Scorecard in actual practice; the effect of incentivizing both outcome and driver measures of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS) on middle managers' proactivity in influencing the strategy formulation process; and, the factors that influence the design of the control arrangements involving non-strategic IT support services.

This book, first published in 1941, is a comprehensive study on the native banks that linked small Chinese traders and the larger Chinese and foreign banks. It is based on extensive research in Tientsin and Peking, and a large number of interviews with native bankers, and the result is an exhaustive study on the practice.

This expert guide walks you through the practice of cost segregation analysis, which enables property owners to defer taxes and benefit from "accelerated cost recovery" through depreciation deductions on assets that are properly identified and classified. A relatively new practice that evolved from various court decisions and Internal Revenue Service rulings, cost segregation can be applied to new buildings under construction, renovations of existing buildings, leasehold improvements, and purchased real estate - going back as far as 1987.

Cost segregation practice requires knowledge of both tax law and the construction process. In this book, the authors share their expertise in these areas with tax and accounting professionals, cost segregation consultants, facility owners, architects and general contractors - providing guidance on major aspects of a professional, defensible cost segregation study, including: The legal framework for cost segregation, as defined by the IRS, tax courts, and federal agenciesReview of key IRS cases, court rulings, and revenue proceduresClassification and depreciation methodsUnderstanding construction plans and specificationsProfessional takeoff and cost estimating proceduresOptimizing cost segregation in new construction - from design choices to proper project documentation

With a glossary of terms, sample cost segregation estimates for various building types, key information resources, and updates via a dedicated website, "The Practice of Cost Segregation Analysis" is a must-have resource.

This textbook presents concepts and applications of Management Accounting, one of the main approaches used by management to support future organisational performance. It covers methods and instruments of management and cost accounting, cost management, and management control and is based on the German textbook "Interne Unternehmensrechnung" by Ralf Ewert and Alfred Wagenhofer (Springer). The authors describe the managerial uses of accounting information, both for decision-making and decision-influencing, and provide a broad perspective on the subject combining the academic foundations of the field with recent cutting-edge research results. Moreover, traditions of German accounting theory and practice that are little known outside of the German-speaking countries are reflected in the book. With its unique approach based on information economics, the textbook offers a comprehensive and innovative presentation to a global audience.

Contains contributions from over 120 world-renowned experts;
Covers a wide range of topics in financial reporting, management accounting, auditing and social accounting;
Focuses on the contribution of research to the analysis of existing accounting practices and to the development of new practices;
Informs readers about different accounting topics and indicates how a variety of research perspectives can contribute to the debate over the future shape of accounting;
Provides references to important sources in the academic and professional literature.

"This is an impressive step in the development of company reporting. The proposed reporting system, based on business definition, business position, business reputation, and advanced cash flow, is actually a revelation. It shows a new way to expand today's business reporting systems, matching development trends in society. I see it as a welcome and even necessary step to bring company reporting in line with today's requirements."
--Pierre Berhin, international fund manager

"I just read Chapter Four . . . extremely interesting and very much in tune with the needs of companies today. Especially the parts about baseline reporting, business definition, and client relationships. It is amazing how many important international companies that I have done consulting for have such internal disasters going on and apply very little of the concepts that you speak of. I believe your book will be received very well and hopefully be placed on required reading lists for business students around the world."
--Christian G. Foucher, international business consultant performance management specialist

"A true enterprise risk management process. Not only should this book have an impact on how society and commerce look upon how we create, preserve, lose, or destroy value and how we account for our business activities, but also on the way we perceive and react to risks and opportunities. Through their teachings and business practices, the authors have significantly changed my own perception of the vast variety of factors and circumstances (risks) that may threaten the health and well-being of organizations."
--Per E. Aakenes, Chairman The Swedish Risk Management Association

"Accountingspecialists know that traditional accounting concepts are no longer adequate to describe today's companies, but for the most part they, and corporate managements themselves, have nothing to replace the current system. Now, along come Hans V. A. Johnsson and Per Erik Kihlstedt with Performance-Based Reporting, a clear and convincing description of why the old system can't work and what system can."
--Peter J. Wallison, Resident Fellow American Enterprise Institute

The successfully proven alternative system for relevant business reporting through performance management

Performance-Based Reporting shows businesses how traditional accounting fails to provide meaningful measures for performance and presents radically innovative and thoroughly tested methods for performance-oriented management, assessment, and reporting. Twenty-five years in the making, this helpful book also presents The Baseline Approach to management, assessment, and reporting--composed of eighty-percent accounting-free methods.

Performance-Based Reporting presents the culmination of intense experiments involving more than 1,500 businesses and over 4,000 executives. It definitively proves the need for new tools for realistic business planning and management in an unpredictable world. These tools already exist, and this helpful guide walks readers through the process of implementing them to help firms improve their ability to predict the direction they should take in the future.

The current degradation of sovereign balance sheets raises very real concerns about how sovereign creditworthiness is measured by credit rating agencies. Given the disastrous economic and social effects of any downgrade, the book offers an alternative and calls for more transparency about the quantitative measures used in calibrating the rating process and how sovereign ratings are validated. It argues that oversight is required and procedures improved, including subjecting methodologies of assessing default to more standardization and monitoring. Sovereign Credit Rating explains the process of sovereign creditworthiness assessment and explores the consequences of possible inaccuracies in the process. Developing an innovative new methodology to assess ratings accuracy, it shows that the announcement of each rating action by the major credit rating agencies show alarming inconsistencies. Written by an internationally recognized author and professor, this unique book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in corporate governance, accounting, public finance and regulation.

Luigi Einaudi (1874-1961) was a leading liberal economist, economic historian and political figure. This book provides the English-speaking world with a first critical edition of Einaudi's - hitherto unpublished - rewriting of one of his most unique and thoughtful essays. The relevance of this essay is crucial from several perspectives: history and methodology of economic thought, role of economics and its relation to other disciplines and to social values, role of economists in the public sphere, while also encompassing the discourse on man and the economist as a "whole man". The critical edition of On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgments in Economic Sciences includes a comprehensive introduction and afterword. An extensive reappraisal of this newly discovered essay will help to cast light on Einaudi's uniqueness and originality within and beyond the Italian tradition in public finance, thereby also illuminating his attempt to provide an epistemological account of his long lasting enquiry into the causes of good and bad polities. This book is of great interest to those who study economic theory and philosophy, as well as history of economic thought, public economics and legal and political philosophy.

Continuing the search for greater reflectivity regarding accounting's role in society, this volume identifies the many ways accounting contributes to knowledge creation and the consequences in socio-economic realms. Accounting practice has always been concerned with fraud, legitimacy and trust. One might speculate an essential premise behind the audit of publicly held corporations is potential management deception, and thus a raison d'etre for accounting and accountability. In this volume researchers, exploring themes of deception: examine financial statement manipulation in the decade after Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), consider internal control impacts on earnings management, deliberate on the usefulness of audit opinions, and contemplate tax evasion practices and their antecedents. In contextualizing the public interest these researchers contemplate cultural distinctions, conflicts of interest, regulation, and the dynamic interfaces and divides between practitioners and academics. Envisioning the facilitation of overall enhancement of the broad community, recommendations for increasing the quality of communication between scholars and professionals is deliberated. Contributing as well to the undeniable concern for broad environmental degradation, the role of the discipline in maintaining the status quo is challenged. Rather, accounting's characterization of accountability should include attributes of socio-environmental destruction: complexity, uncertainty and diffused responsibility. These emergent accounts would inform the journey of constructing more representative accounts of technological degradation. Such imaginative emancipatory accounting would enhance decision- making, develop social well-being, and unfold new forms of knowledge and possibilities.

This title was first published in 2001: Product and particularly customer profitability are black holes in most managers' understanding of their business. Identifying customer revenue is easy but identifying what they cost - so we can understand whether or not they are profitable - is difficult. In a world in which competition, regulation and the increasing use of the Internet put ever greater pressure on margins it is vitally important to understand both product- and customer-profitability. Activity Based Management (ABM) enables you to do this. This book explains the power of using ABM to increase the profitability of your business. It provides step-by-step guidance on basic principles, comparisons between traditional methods, definitions of processes, activities and cost-drivers as well as details of data collection techniques and implementation steps. Through the book's numerous detailed examples a logical picture builds up of how to obtain the benefits that ABM can deliver. On its own ABM will change management decision-making: by showing how ABM also supports other profit improvement initiatives such as Business Process Reengineering, Shareholder Value Added and Customer Relationship Management, managers will learn how they can use the best possible toolkit to put their business firmly on the road to leaps in profitability.

European venture capital (VC) funds have historically underperformed their US counterparts. This has resulted in reduced investment into European VC by the traditional institutional investors. This book investigates the factors that give rise to the performance difference. It is based on the author's research at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow which involved a qualitative study of some 64 VC firms in the UK, continental Europe and the US, supplemented by 40 interviews with other stakeholders, including limited partner investors, corporate venturers, entrepreneurs and advisors. Readers will gain an in-depth understanding of the various structural, operational and wider environmental factors that impact on the performance difference between UK/European and US VC funds. The study is unique in that it provides, for the first time, a holistic and extensive analysis of the entire investment process from sourcing deals to exiting deals specifically contrasting Europe and the US in terms of the variables pertaining to the investment process and the impact on the fund performance. Factors impacting on the performance differential are structural, resulting from characteristics of the funds themselves, operational such as the investment practices of the VC firms which manage the funds and environmental such as culture and attitude to risk and the wider ecosystem in which the funds operate. These factors are set out clearly for the reader. The characteristics of the better performing funds in Europe and the US are also investigated. The book is aimed at academics who are researching venture capital fund performance and investment practices and also at practitioners, advisors and policymakers who want to learn about best VC investment practices. Whilst the book is focused on European and US VC investing, the best practices are also pertinent for VC firms and funds setting up in other geographies, particularly in emerging markets. To this end, best practice guidelines based on the research are included.

Environment and sustainable development challenges are a matter of global concern. Trillions of dollars of mostly public money are invested every year in domestic and international policies and programs to address these challenges. The effectiveness of these policies and programs is critical to environmental sustainability. Performance audits that examine the effectiveness of governmental policies and programs heavily influence their implementation. Despite this, performance auditing in the environment field has received very little academic attention. This book takes a closer look at performance auditing of public sector environmental policies and programs. It examines trends in global environmental performance auditing; and how it is currently practiced drawing on a global survey and case studies from Canada, India and Australia. In doing so, it identifies issues and challenges faced by Supreme Audit Institutions in undertaking these performance audits. This book will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners of sustainable development, environmental auditing and public sector auditing as well as to donor organisations engaged in these areas.

The security criteria of the International Standards Organization (ISO) provides an excellent foundation for identifying and addressing business risks through a disciplined security management process. Using security standards ISO 17799 and ISO 27001 as a basis, How to Achieve 27001 Certification: An Example of Applied Compliance Management helps an organization align its security and organizational goals so it can generate effective security, compliance, and management programs. The authors offer insight from their own experiences, providing questions and answers to determine an organization's information security strengths and weaknesses with respect to the standard. They also present step-by-step information to help an organization plan an implementation, as well as prepare for certification and audit. Security is no longer a luxury for an organization, it is a legislative mandate. A formal methodology that helps an organization define and execute an ISMS is essential in order to perform and prove due diligence in upholding stakeholder interests and legislative compliance. Providing a good starting point for novices, as well as finely tuned nuances for seasoned security professionals, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone involved with meeting an organization's security, certification, and compliance needs.

This book offers a step-by-step guide to basic accounting and financial management techniques. It is written in plain language for people who have no previous experience of accounting and book-keeping. The procedures described in this book are not just specific to development programs.The success of any venture, whatever its size, depends on proper financial control. Using simple case studies, the author shows how to: construct a budget and cash-flow forecast; record and control cash payments; draw up an analyzed cash book, and a receipts and payments account; operate a bank account; and prepare a budget and actual statement. Each section is followed by activities to practice the material covered. Full solutions and notes for trainers and facilitators are also included. "Basic Accounting" is suitable for training non-governmental organizations in an international development context. This book should be useful to any small group that needs to keep accurate records of its financial transactions.

How can not-for-profit organizations be sure they play by the rules when the rules aren't clear?
Due to recent, very public accounting scandals and the resulting Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations, public companies have strict guidance on financial governance and accounting, including the functions and responsibilities of audit committee members. Though not-for-profit organizations are subject to increased scrutiny, there has been no detailed guidance for their audit committees. This book fills the void and helps not-for-profit organizations answer these questions:
* In today's skeptical environment, how can responsible financial governance and reporting reassure wary donors and supporters, and perhaps give the organization a competitive advantage?
* How should the audit committee be structured?
* Which Sarbanes-Oxley requirements (if any) should the audit committee adopt?
* Which best practices best fit the organization's structure and financial reporting needs?

Complete with checklists, sample questions, and an index for quick reference, Not-for-Profit Audit Committee Best Practices covers:
* Different types and unique characteristics of not-for-profit organizations
* The audit committee's role in preventing and detecting fraud
* Important internal controls and the internal audit function
* The relationship of the audit committee and the independent auditor

This heads-up, hands-on guide helps audit committee members select and structure appropriate best practices and function in the most effective manner for their unique not-for-profit organizations. It's also a valuable reference for board members, managers, independent auditors, and advisors of not-for-profit organizations.

The fully revised and updated version of the leading textbook on real estate investment, emphasising real estate cycles and the availability and flow of global capital Real Estate Investment remains the most influential textbook on the subject, used in top-tier colleges and universities worldwide. Its unique, practical perspective on international real estate investment focusses on real-world techniques which measure, benchmark, forecast and manage property investments as an asset class. The text examines global property markets and real estate cycles, outlines market fundamentals and explains asset pricing and portfolio theory in the context of real estate. In the years since the text's first publication, conditions in global real estate markets have changed considerably following the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Real estate asset prices have increased past pre-crisis levels, signalling a general market recovery. Previously scarce debt and equity capital is now abundant, while many institutions once averse to acquiring property are re-entering the markets. The latest edition - extensively revised and updated to address current market trends and practices as well as reflect feedback from instructors and students - features new content on real estate development, improved practical examples, expanded case studies and more. This seminal textbook: Emphasises practical solutions to real investing problems rather than complex theory Offers substantial new and revised content throughout the text Covers topics such as valuation, leasing, mortgages, real estate funds, underwriting and private and public equity real estate Features up-to-date sections on performance measurement, real estate debt markets and building and managing real estate portfolios Includes access to a re-designed companion website containing numerous problems and solutions, presentation slides and additional instructor and student resources Written by internationally-recognised experts in capital management and institutional property investing strategies, Real Estate Investment, Second Edition: Strategies, Structures, Decisions is an indispensable textbook for instructors and students of real estate fund management, investment management and investment banking, as well as a valuable reference text for analysts, researchers, investment managers, investment bankers and asset managers.

Not Required for Text Type.

The financial crisis of 2008 and its economic and social aftermath have highlighted the limits and risks of an increasingly global and embedded economy. Weakening society's trust in organizations and institutions, this has led to calls for new strategic paradigms that focus more on the ethical conduct of organizations. Performance measurement for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a central role in these new contexts. The landscape of performance measurement and reporting is changing quickly, with calls for more integrated reporting and compulsory non-financial disclosures. Keeping up with those changes is a significant concern of managers in many organizations. Including research on the effectiveness and quality of non-financial disclosure, CSR/sustainability disclosure and Integrated Reporting, this exciting new volume looks to bridge the gaps in environmental, social and financial performance so managers can understand and successfully implement a broader, integrated view of performance measurement and reporting. Aimed at researchers and managers interested in performance measurement, this volume includes innovative research that sheds light on topics such as the determinants of disclosure quality, the identification of appropriate metrics, the relationship among the different disclosure mechanisms and between voluntary and mandatory disclosure, and many more.

The book introduces pragmatic constructivism as a paradigm for understanding actors' construction of functioning practice and for developing methods and concepts for managing and observing that practice. The book explores, understands and theorises organisational practices as constructed through the activities of all organisational actors. Actors always act under presumptions of a specific actor-world-relation which they continuously construct, adjust and reconstruct in light of new experiences, contexts and communication. The outcome of the actor-world-relation is a reality construction. The reality construction may function successfully or it may be hampered by fictitious and illusionary elements, due to missing or faulty actor-world relations. The thesis is that four dimensions of reality - facts, possibilities, values and communication - must be integrated in the actor-world-relation if the construct is to form a successful basis for effective, functioning actions. Drawing on pragmatic constructivism, the book provides concepts and ideas for studies regarding actors and their use of management accounting models in their construction of organized reality. It concentrates on researching and conceptualizing what creates functioning reality construction. It develops concept and methods for understanding, analysing and managing the actors' reality constructions. It is intended for people who do research on or work actively with developing management accounting.