Translation in XBRL Standardization: An Actor-Network View

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) presents new opportunities for integrating information flow within communities of diverse organisations thereby significantly enhancing the business information supply chain. Vital to XBRL success, its standardization is proving to be challenging. This paper investigates the phenomena that occur when heterogeneous actors interact in attempts to standardize XBRL. Drawing upon actor-network theory (ANT) we “follow the actors” participating in XBRL standardization efforts in Australia. Supporting qualitative empirical evidence was collected via interviews and reviews of XBRL technical documentation. By presenting unsuccessful and potentially successful focal actors side by side, we enhance current understanding of the role of focal actors in technology standardization networks. Specifically, focal actors require clear and indispensable value propositions and solid political and financial support to achieve effective translations in technology standardization networks

Institutionalising XBRL for financial reporting:resorting to regulation

By integrating and streamlining financial information within and among various organisations, eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has been developed with a view to enhancing the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of corporate accounting information. Taking an inter-organisational focus, this paper investigates the process of how XBRL was institutionalised. It explains and offers insights on how institutional arrangements emerge and become relevant as heterogeneous organisations consider adopting accounting innovations while evidence concerning their benefits is unavailable. The original and overall contribution of this study is that it improves current understanding of coal-face actors' perceptions, behaviours, and strategies as they interact in the organisational field and become engaged in developing accounting innovations to produce the macro-level observations documented in existing institutional theory studies

Digital transformation of business-to-government reporting:An institutional work perspective

Traditional business-to-government reporting is a core remit of the accounting function but is associated with a significant administrative burden on business. This burden is a major obstacle hindering business efforts to achieve core efficiency and innovation objectives. We use the conceptual lens of institutional work to examine how traditional business-to-government reporting is abolished and how digital reporting is established to replace it in attempts to reduce administrative burden but without compromising regulation effectiveness. We adopt a comparative approach to analyse qualitative evidence from three jurisdictions, namely, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Australia. Regulators across these jurisdictions have been both pioneers and leaders internationally to transform business-to-government reporting in multi-agency settings. Our analyses illustrate how institutional work to develop digital business-to-government reporting across the jurisdictions was shaped by international influences and local factors. We also illuminate how actor engagement issues and the intertwined and mutually reinforcing nature of a mosaic of forms of institutional work shaped the path of these transformations. The study contributes to existing research by explaining how supportive conditions and structures are brought about and made to coalesce in the regulatory business reporting space for digital reporting to become established and widely adopted by business

Does information about wealth inequality and inheritance tax raise public support for the wealth taxes? Evidence from a UK survey

While greater use of wealth taxes has been widely called for in recent academic and popular literature, they seem to be particularly unpopular among the public. In particular, inheritance tax is often singled out the most disliked of all taxes. The unpopularity of wealth taxes matters because this undermines the use of these taxes as a way of potentially both reducing levels of wealth inequality and of providing alternative revenue streams to a Government in times of economic stress. But do the public really oppose wealth taxes from position of adequate knowledge of these taxes – given their relative limited use, and in inheritance taxes’ case, limited incidence? Rather, there is evidence that people are poorly informed about the extent of wealth inequality and the potential for wealth taxes to assist in improving equality. The research reported in this paper explores if information provision to correct false knowledge (or validate correct knowledge) about wealth inequality and inheritance tax could be a suitable, simple, intervention to help raise public support for the wealth taxes? This paper reports results from a face-to-face survey of 2,019 adults aged 16 plus in Great Britain carried out in July 2014. The survey shows that the simple provision of corrective/validating information prompted little change in the positive support for various wealth tax proposals currently being debated. In fact, there is evidence that some of the provision of information, in fact decreased initial levels of comparative support. One implication resulting from this research is that policy-makers will have to engage directly with moral arguments that have been constructed that arguably misinform debates or develop compelling narratives if there is a desire to build support for wealth taxes

The SEC’s retail investor 2.0: interactive data and the rise of calculative accountability

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States mandated a new digital reporting system for US companies in late 2008. The new generation of information provision has been dubbed by Chairman Cox, ‘interactivedata’ (SEC, 2006a). Despite the promise of its name, we find that in the development of the project retailinvestors are invoked as calculative actors rather than engaged in dialogue. Similarly, the potential for the underlying technology to be applied in ways to encourage new forms of accountability appears to be forfeited in the interests of enrolling company filers. We theorise the activities of the SEC and in particular its chairman at the time, Christopher Cox, over a three year period, both prior to and following the ‘credit crisis’. We argue that individuals and institutions play a central role in advancing the socio-technical project that is constituted by interactivedata. We adopt insights from ANT ( [Callon, 1986], [Latour, 1987] and [Latour, 2005b]) and governmentality ( [Miller, 2008] and [Miller and Rose, 2008]) to show how regulators and the proponents of the technology have acted as spokespersons for the interactivedata technology and the retailinvestor. We examine the way in which calculativeaccountability has been privileged in the SEC's construction of the retailinvestor as concerned with atomised, quantitative data ( [Kamuf, 2007], [Roberts, 2009] and [Tsoukas, 1997]). We find that the possibilities for the democratising effects of digital information on the Internet has not been realised in the interactivedata project and that it contains risks for the very investors the SEC claims to seek to protect

INSTITUTIONALIZING XBRL IN THE UK: AN ORGANIZING VISION PERSPECTIVE

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) presents opportunities for integrating the flow of financial information within communities of diverse organizations which can significantly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of underlying business information supply chains. Using the organizing vision framework to examine the emergence of XBRL in the United Kingdom, we explore how institutional arrangements are brought about and shape collective action when heterogeneous organizations engage in complex patterns of interaction in attempts to develop XBRL as an ICT innovation. We find that, initially, XBRL entrepreneurs in the UK may have undermined community understanding of XBRL by adopting a technical lexicon that created confusion in the community. Furthermore, lack of adequate tools prevented curious organizational actors from appreciating XBRL benefits in practice. Current and ongoing participation of regulators is increasingly legitimizing XBRL while their coercive influences are increasing urgency and enhancing organizational participation for refining the organizing vision of XBRL in the UK. This paper contributes to existing literature by highlighting the value of the organizing vision framework as a compelling tool to illuminate and explain the institutional impacts of heterogeneous networks of organizational actors on emerging ICT innovations such as XBRL

Developments in tax e-filing: practical views from the coalface

Purpose – Electronic filing (e-filing) of personal tax returns has become a global trend in developed countries. An increasing number of individual UK taxpayers are seeking help from tax advisers as ambitious e-filing targets increase the interaction between taxpayers, tax agents and government departments. This article aims to review the attitudes to information and communications technology (ICT) adoption between these three groups. Design/methodology/approach – This article has partly built on the work of Walsh and White, who use Moore's “Technology Adoption Life Cycle” to examine e-filing adoption by taxpayers and tax preparers in the USA. However, this article uses a mixed methodology that the authors argue is more suitable for the wider issues found in the UK. Findings – The results confirm that small/medium sized tax agent firms are more likely to be technology enthusiasts/early adopters of e-filing for their individual clients. As their business policies are more likely to be directly driven by technology enthusiasts, they have fewer issues with the incomplete e-filing system available at the early stages of its roll out and were more motivated by the visible benefits available from adopting e-filing. Larger firms have been slower and appeared more reluctant to embrace e-filing of personal tax returns being concerned that engaging in HM Revenue and Customs controlled systems and targets would compromise their internal systems, ICT integrity and control of complex tax cases. Practical implications – This split in e-filing attitudes by tax agents supports Moore's “chasm” argument for technology adoption processes, implying solutions for widening participation found appropriate for other domains could be equally applicable in this domain. The article reflects on these findings and proposes practical solutions that build on prior research to assist the government in achieving the future ambitious targets for e-filing. Originality/value – This paper reports the results of a national survey of tax advisers, supported by follow-up interviews, addressing the development of e-filing for personal taxation in the UK

Exploring the barriers to accessing personal financial planning advice

Shifts in welfare policy over the last forty years towards a greater neo-liberal stance have resulted in citizens needing to take greater responsibility for their finances (Rowlingson 2000; Strauss 2008; Sherraden and Ansong 2016). This coupled with low levels of financial capability across the UK population and consumers trying to make informed decisions from this low knowledge base (Sandler 2002; FSA 2004, 2006; Thoreson 2007, 2008; Arthur 2016; Stillwell 2016) suggests a growing need to understand the barriers that consumers face regarding access to financial advice. This paper argues that barriers preventing access to financial advice are not yet adequately understood. To build understanding three variables are explored, namely knowledge, trust and affordability/cost that are shown to affect consumers’ ability to access regulated financial advice. From these variables emerged the ideas that financial advice needed to be considered the ‘subjective norm’ and that ‘trust heuristics’, as a route to advice had certain embedded risks. As part of the research process a ‘Financial Advice Belief Model’ was developed as a tool to explore these variables more deeply and help interested stakeholders better understand factors that create barriers and may prevent consumers from seeking effective financial advice. Addressing these factors, we use the case of the UK to illustrate possible ways forward and argue that the findings could apply in other developed country settings. Further, these three key variables affecting access to needed financial services should be a key consideration for the UK’s Money and Pensions Service as it looks to develop a wider focus on financial well-being as the core of its strategy for UK citizens in need of financial guidance