Coupling Performance Measurement and Collective Activity: The Semiotic Function of Management Systems. A Case Study

Theories about management instruments often enter dualistic debates between structure and agency: do instruments determine the forms of collective activity (CA), or do actors shape instruments to their requirements, or are instruments and concrete activity decoupled, as some trends of new institutionalist theory assume? Attempts to overcome the dualistic opposition between structure and activity stem from diverse sources: actors’ networks theory, structuration theory, pragmatism, theory of activity, semiotics. Performance measurement and management systems can be defined as structural instruments engaged in CA. As such they constrain the activity, but they do not determine it. Reciprocally, they are modified by the way CA uses them and makes sense of them. The central thesis of this paper will be that it is impossible to study the role of performance measurement as a common language in organizations independently from the design of the CA in which it is engaged. There is a not deterministic coupling between structure (i.e. management technical tools) and CA (i.e. business processes). The transformation of CA entails a transformation in the meaning of the “performance” concept, in the type of measurement required and in the performance management practices. The relationship between performance measurement and CA is studied here in the production division of a large electricity utility in France. The research extended over several years and took place when two new management systems were simultaneously implemented: a new management accounting system and an integrated management information system (ERP), both in the purchasing process. The new management accounting system was designed by the purchasing department; the new management information system was designed by the operational departments. Whereas the coherence between both projects could have been given by their common subordination to the rebuilding of CA (the purchasing process), their disconnection from concrete CA opened the possibility of serious dissonances between them. Both the new performance management system and the new ERP met difficulties to provide common languages, since the dimension of CA was taken for granted and consequently partly ignored in the engineering of both systems. When CA incurs radical transformations, actors’direct discursive exchanges about it, “collective activity about collective activity”, become necessary to ensure a flexible and not deterministic coupling between CA and new management systems. This reflexive and collective analysis of the process by actors themselves requires the establishment of “communities of process”, which can jointly redesign the CA and its performance measurement system. We conclude that performance measurement can be a common language as far as there is a clear and shared understanding of how CA should concretely take place and should be assigned to the different categories of actors.Business Process; Collective Activity; Community of Process; Management Instruments; Performance Measurement; Semiotics; Theory of Activity

Making sense of enterprise systems in institutions: a case study of the re-implementation of an accounting system

Whereas previous research provides a number of accounts of failure prone enterprise system (ES) implementations, empirical evidence of the re-implementation of an accounting system in a Scandinavian high-tech company shows how the system became highly integrated, accepted by its users, and well-aligned to the work processes. To learn from this case study, we investigate the interactive and dynamic relationships among the enterprise system, people and institutional properties. We investigate the institutional structures and the sensemaking processes at play to identify how the idea of an efficient accounting system travelled from a national to a local level, how the system moved from being highly customized to becoming a standard package and how the users’ enactment of the system reinforced existing institutional practices. Based on the findings, we frame our contributions into five lessons learned: (1) An ES implementation entails mutual adaptations between the organization, human actors and enterprise system; (2) “small is beautiful” is almost a truism but may turn out to be an appropriate starting point; (3) a certain level of resilience is essential to cope with future upgrades and enhancements; (4) the recognition of professional identity and roles is vital for ES adaptation; and (5) first customizing and then un-customizing the ES may be a valuable approach towards integrating the system. We relate these lessons to ES adaptations in general in discussing the study’s contributions and implications

The relationship between ERP systems and budgeting: Uncovering the limited ERP system impact on budgeting

This paper investigates the relationship between enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and budgeting to address the limited impact of ERP systems on management accounting. Budgeting is considered as a social phenomenon which requires flexibility for decision-making and integration for management controls. The analysis at the activity level, guided by the concept of ‘conflict’ in structuration theory (ST), suggests that ERP systems impede flexibility in decision-making. However, the systems have the potential to facilitate integration in management controls. The analysis at the structural level, guided by the concept of ‘contradiction’ in ST, concludes that there is a contradiction between them because ERP systems operate in terms of integration alone while budgeting assumes both roles. This research offers three new insights. First it offers a theoretical contribution by employing new theory. Second it offers empirical insights on the limited impact of ERP systems on budgeting. Third it shows how other IS technologies supplement them

WebTrust program : availability principle and criteria, Version 3.0, October 24, 2000; Exposure draft (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), 2000, October 24

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_prof/1497/thumbnail.jp

WebTrust program : availability principle and criteria, Version 3.0, January 1, 2001

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_prof/1498/thumbnail.jp

ERP systems facilitating XBRL reporting and regulatory compliance

Today, the global economic environment requires that information is readily available across the supply chain (SC) and value chain and that the information is available in a costeffective manner. The information must be accurate, credible, timely, cost-efficient, reliable, traceable, pertinent, and possess data transparency. The information must be available to members within a particular organization, its vendors and customers, and outside governmental and regulatory agencies. All associated stakeholders and stockholders are entitled to the availability of trustworthy financial information to aid them in decision making, therefore, the controls regarding the data are critical for the compilation of the data. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reviews the financial report data a company submits on a yearly basis and this aids in the validity and credibility of the data, so that the ultimate end-user, who is the stockholder has the afforded protection from deception which is mandated and provided by the government

WebTrust program : security principle and criteria, Version 3.0, October 16, 2000; Exposure draft (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), 2000, October 16

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_prof/1494/thumbnail.jp

IT GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS CORPORATE STRATEGY – BASED ON EMBEDDING THE PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT WITH THE IT&C VALUE CHAIN

This paper presents the key concepts related to the current process of IT Governance in modern corporations. The first part addresses the definitions of IT Governance and its life-cycle model, the covered strategic areas and the effective governance management ways, the IT value management for ensuring value delivery, and the IT value chain based on projects and programs together with the organizational value of the IT&C programs and projects. The second part deals with the IT value chain based on operations, the strategic-factors of success and the services delivery chain, the value chain management and the contribution measurement to the organizational business, with a final presentation of practical applicability of the mobile value chain to the 3G mobile communication services. Recent IT&C and corporate strategic management field references bring an additional support to the paper value.IT Governance

Lessons for China and other developing economies from the crisis in US auditing

The continuing series of business scandals, from Enron to WorldCom have severely undermined the credibility of auditors and audited financial statements in the US. With developing economies such as China looking to emulate western models of corporate governance, what lessons should they draw from these apparent failures in auditing? There is a danger that those opposed to modernization of accounting and auditing will use these scandals as an excuse to delay the adoption of new standards and methods. Indeed, the Enron/Andersen scandal was apparently one reason that Chinese authorities watered down proposals to require firms seeking new Class-A shares to hire a foreign auditor to supplement their local auditor. In this paper we discuss a more productive lesson that developing countries seeking to bring their accounting infrastructure up to Western levels can draw from the recent US experience, using China as a case study. China is the most important of all developing economies, and its impending entry into the WTO makes reform there particularly urgent. The path that China takes is also likely to serve as a role model for much of the rest of the developing world, especially in South East Asia. We argue that developing countries have the opportunity to “leapfrog” existing auditing techniques in the West that have proven to have serious shortcomings, and instead, go straight to the cutting edge methodologies of continuous assurance and tertiary logging. Continuous assurance is a type of auditing which, by making use of the “electronization” of the firm, produces audit results simultaneously with, or a short period of time after, the occurrence of relevant events. In comparison with the traditional financial statements audit, continuous assurance is distinguished by being timelier, more comprehensive, more accurate and more supportive of the management process. These capabilities are especially valuable for Chinese firms who face an environment with weaker legal, regulatory and management controls than in the West. However, the tenuous nature of The International Journal of Digital Accounting Research Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 33-60 ISSN: 1577-8517 34 the auditing infrastructure in China makes it essential that it also adopts tertiary logging as a way of “guarding the guards”. We discuss how logging the audit in a continuous assurance setting will increase the deterrence capability of peer review, as well as serving as a source of institutional memory in the case of mandated auditor rotation, the separation of auditing from consulting and the unique Chinese proposal for dual auditing.La constante serie de escándalos financieros, desde Enron a WorldCom, han perjudicado considerablemente la credibilidad de los auditores y las auditorías financieras en la US. Con economías desarrollándose como China imitando los modelos occidentales de gobierno corporativo, ¿qué lecciones deberían extraer de estos fracasos aparentes? Existe el peligro de que aquellos que se oponen a la modernización de la contabilidad utilicen estos escándalos como una excusa para aplazar la adopción de nuevos estándares y métodos. De hecho, el escándalo Enron/Andersen fue una de las razones por las que las autoridades chinas rechazaron propuestas que requerían la búsqueda de un auditor extranjero para complementar a su auditor local. En este artículo discutimos la productiva enseñanza de que los países en desarrollo que buscan alzar su estructura financiera a los niveles occidentales pueden aprender de la reciente experiencia americana, usando China como caso de estudio. China es la más importante de todas las economías del desarrollo, y su próxima entrada en el WTO hace que una reforma sea particularmente urgente. El camino que China siga probablemente servirá como modelo para el resto de países en desarrollo, especialmente en la Asia del sudeste. Debatimos si los países en Desarrollo tienen la oportunidad de hacer el “salto de rana” con respecto a las técnicas comerciales que en oriente han probado presentar serios problemas, y en su lugar, ir directos a las metodologías de filo cortante de constante asesoramiento e inserción de tertulias. El asesoramiento constante es un tipo de audición en el que mediante el uso de la “electronización” de la empresa, produce resultados de auditoría que simultáneamente, o un corto periodo de tiempo después, comparables con la ocurrencia de sucesos importantes. En comparación el sistema tradicional financiero, el asesoramiento continuo es distinguible por ser flexible en el tiempo, más comprensivo, más acertado y por apoyar más el proceso de desarrollo. Estas capacidades son especialmente valiosas para las empresas chinas que afrontan su entorno con controles legales, reguladores y de gestión más débiles que en occidente. Aun así, la naturaleza tenaz de The International Journal of Digital Accounting Research Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 33-60 ISSN: 1577-8517 34 declara que la infraestructura de gestión en China hace necesario adoptar la deforestación terciaria como una manera de “guardarse las espaldas”. Discutimos cómo hacer esto en un escenario de asesoramiento constante incrementará la capacidad persuasiva de las reseñas de personal, así como servir como una fuente de memoria institucional en el caso de que se necesitase una rotación de auditores, o la separación de la auditoría con respecto a las consultas y la propuesta única de China acerca de la auditoría dual

Strategic enterprise management systems : tools for the 21st century

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