Spreadsheet software as a teaching and learning tool: perspectives from an undergraduate financial modelling subject

Technology based teaching of accounting curriculum is widely researched by accounting educators. This paper reports the findings of the use of computers and Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program as a means to reflect on, and to enhance prior learning, of financial accounting, managerial accounting and finance concepts and problems, through a financial modelling subject, in an undergraduate program in an Australian regional university. Data were collected from the researched university's formal feedback systems, Student Feedback on Subjects (SFS), and archived course materials, over a three year period (2003-2005). Using pattern matching approach (Yin, 2003), data were analyzed for making generalizations about the effectiveness of spreadsheet software usage as a pedagogical and educational tool. The study finds that spreadsheet based teaching and learning equip students with computer literacy, and spreadsheet application skills in the areas of management accounting and finance. The study also finds that the students with a few years of work experience outperform the students without any work experience, and appreciation of the course among the students without work experience is lower than their counterpart with five years of work experience. The study has implications for accounting educators, in that difficult to learn accounting and finance concepts can be taught using a spreadsheet based modelling subject; this can provide significant insight into the relationships among numerous variables, which are difficult to manipulate and solve manually, in a traditional chalk and talk teaching environment

The role of prior warning on test performance: how effective it is to improve students' grades?

Students' use of test information to prepare for a test in a controlled or supervised test environment has been examined in studies outside Australia. This paper reports the findings of the use of test information and its value, in terms of an improvement/decline in marks, in an actual test of an undergraduate subject taught at an Australian university. Using a questionnaire survey of students, the study finds that students overall don't perceive test information useful, there is no statistically significant difference in performance between known and unknown questions, students' scores improve from the use of information and in some instances the improvements are statistically significant between students with different characteristics. The paper contributes to our understanding of students' willingness to use information and the benefits of such information to study and perform for improved test scores. The study has implications for educators making test information available as a preferred practice or universities using it as part of a policy to improve student retention rates or supplement evaluation of students' learning

The considerations for the implementation of an Activity Based Costing System (ABC)

Activity Based Costing (ABC) as a costing tool is widely discussed in the academic and practitioners' circles for nearly two decades. There are theoretical and empirical accounts of ABC implementation processes and techniques in different studies. This study is a synthesis of past studies on ABC implementation in organizational contexts. Using a literature analysis of published papers over the last ten years, the study develops a typology of implementation issues by three major themes: types of organizations, methodologies used to explain the implementation processes, and the factors leading to the adoption or abandonment of an ABC system. The findings suggest that ABC is used in manufacturing, service, and even government sector organizations, organizational, economic and sociological theories are used to explain the implementation processes and finally, technical and human factors affect the implementation or abandonment of an ABC system in any organization. The comprehensive account of an ABC system implementation related major considerations reported in this paper will enhance the knowledge base of the interested academic researchers and practitioners. This research can be extended to a quantitative analysis of the themes reported here to improve the reliability and the validity of the conclusions reached in the paper

Capital structure and firm performance in Australian service sector firms: a panel data analysis

Using cross-sectional panel data over eleven years (2009-2019), or 1001 firm-year observations, this study examines the relationship between capital structure and firm performance of service sector firms from Australian stock market. Unlike other studies, in this study directional causalities of all performance measures were used to identify the cause of firm performance. The study finds that long-term debt dominates debt choices of Australian service sector companies. Although the finding is to some extent similar to trends in debt financed operations observed in companies in developed and developing countries, the finding is unexpected because the sectoral and institutional borrowing rules and regulations in Australia are different from those in other parts of the world

The considerations for the implementation of an Activity Based Costing System (ABC)

Activity Based Costing (ABC) as a costing tool is widely discussed in the academic and practitioners' circles for nearly two decades. There are theoretical and empirical accounts of ABC implementation processes and techniques in different studies. This study is a synthesis of past studies on ABC implementation in organizational contexts. Using a literature analysis of published papers over the last ten years, the study develops a typology of implementation issues by three major themes: types of organizations, methodologies used to explain the implementation processes, and the factors leading to the adoption or abandonment of an ABC system. The findings suggest that ABC is used in manufacturing, service, and even government sector organizations, organizational, economic and sociological theories are used to explain the implementation processes and finally, technical and human factors affect the implementation or abandonment of an ABC system in any organization. The comprehensive account of an ABC system implementation related major considerations reported in this paper will enhance the knowledge base of the interested academic researchers and practitioners. This research can be extended to a quantitative analysis of the themes reported here to improve the reliability and the validity of the conclusions reached in the paper

Institutional theory based research for the study of management accounting change (2008-2018): A qualitative meta-synthesis

Qualitative meta-syntnesis is a new approach to aggregating research findings from multiple singular cases for theory development. Using the protocols of qualitative meta- synthesis tradition of summarizing and aggregating findings, this paper develops abstract theorizing of management accounting change for later use. Though a number of earlier research works has summarized common elements of institutional theory based research in management accounting change, this current study uses the systematic review tradition used in medicine, education and nursing sciences to improve the credibility of the reported synthesis. The key contribution of this study is a synergistic body of synthesis of different dimensions of institutional theory based qualitative research in management accounting change. Such a synthesis is superior to meaning, understanding, generalizability and validity gleaned from a single qualitative study in general and in the area of the study examined in this paper

A theoretical model to solve cost shifting problem

Cost shifting strategy in service organizations causes difficulties between co-existing internal business units each competing for scarce resources. Within regulatory and legal constraints, cost shifting between business units instigates concomitant changes to each unit's profitability/budget-surpluses. For internal monopoly and competitive units, this strategy has shortcomings. Through management sponsored training programs, employee learning and productivity improvements offer a long-term approach to better address this short-term cost shifting problem. We mathematically model this solution, and outline further research that builds on this long-term cost shifting approach

An Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach in Decision-Making for Material Selection in an Automotive Company: A Case Study

This study is an approach to investigate and to choose the suitable material for the fabrication of tools trolley to ensure the good quality of the product. The project team of an automotive manufacturing company is planning to fabricate 100 sets of tools trolley in the assembly shop. This study was developed to describe an approach based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) that can assist decision-makers and continuous improvement engineers in determining the most suitable material to be employed in fabrication process at the early stage of the product development to reduce the cost. The selected main criteria are Material Strength, Material Cost, Procurement Lead Time and Duration of Fabrication Process while the four materials that will be considered in this study are Aluminium, Steel Tube, and Square Tube. Finally, the results show that Square Tube is recommended as the most suitable material for the in-house tools for trolley fabrication

Consumption-Based CO2 Emissions on Sustainable Development Goals of SAARC Region

Consumption-based CO2 emission (CBE) accounting shows the possibility of global carbon leakage. Very little attention has been paid to the amount of emissions related to the consumption of products and services and their impact on sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially in the SAARC region. This study used a CBE accounting method to measure the CO2 emissions of five major SAARC member countries. Additionally, a Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and a causality model were used to investigate the long-term effects of the CBE and SDG variables between 1972 and 2015. The results showed that household consumption contributed more than 62.39% of CO2 emissions overall in the SAARC region. India had the highest household emissions, up to 37.27%, and Nepal contributed the lowest, up to 0.61%. The total imported emissions were the greatest in India (16.88 Gt CO2) and Bangladesh (15.90 Gt CO2). At the same time, the results for the long-term relationships between the CBEs and SDGs of the SAARC region showed that only the combustible renewables and waste (CRW) variable is significant for most of these countries. The sharing of the responsibility for emissions between suppliers and customers could encourage governments and policymakers to make global climate policy and sustainable development decisions,which are currently stalled by questions over geographical and past emission inequities

The Effects of Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) on Nerves

Background: If a critical nerve is circumferentially involved with tumor, radical surgery intended to cure the cancer must sacrifice the nerve. Loss of critical nerves may lead to serious consequences. In spite of the impressive technical advancements in nerve reconstruction, complete recovery and normalization of nerve function is difficult to achieve. Though irreversible electroporation (IRE) might be a promising choice to treat tumors near or involved critical nerve, the pathophysiology of the nerve after IRE treatment has not be clearly defined. Methods: We applied IRE directly to a rat sciatic nerve to study the long term effects of IRE on the nerve. A sequence of 10 square pulses of 3800 V/cm, each 100 ms long was applied directly to rat sciatic nerves. In each animal of group I (IRE) the procedure was applied to produce a treated length of about 10 mm. In each animal of group II (Control) the electrodes were only applied directly on the sciatic nerve for the same time. Electrophysiological, histological, and functional studies were performed on immediately after and 3 days, 1 week, 3, 5, 7 and 10 weeks following surgery. Findings: Electrophysiological, histological, and functional results show the nerve treated with IRE can attain full recovery after 7 weeks. Conclusion: This finding is indicative of the preservation of nerve involving malignant tumors with respect to the application of IRE pulses to ablate tumors completely. In summary, IRE may be a promising treatment tool for any tumor involving nerves