Corporate governance

This chapter considers corporate governance and control at the board level, a perspective little addressed in the critical theory informed accounting research literature and in the accounting research literature generally. With some exceptions, financial accounting, management accounting, auditing and social-environmental accounting literatures have largely focussed on other aspects of corporate governance and the critical accounting community has remained largely silent on board importance and involvement in corporate governance. This chapter critiques the currently extant dominant research approaches, advocating an engaged insider research strategy that examines and critiques governance processes within and surrounding the boardroom that relate to strategy, control and accountability. A theoretical and field based ongoing research agenda is consequently proposed

Accounting historians engaging with scholars inside and outside accounting: issues, opportunities and obstacles

Originating in a panel presentation at the eighth Accounting History International Conference, this study offers a reflection on the issues, opportunities and obstacles which may arise when accounting historians engage with other accounting scholars and scholars outside of accounting. Supporting the view that accounting scholars need and should make an effort to engage with other scholars inside and outside accounting, various aspects are considered as enhancing the interdisciplinarity of accounting history research. Then, issues such as researchers and the community, research problems, theories, methods and data are addressed. The opportunities arising from interdisciplinary interactions with a wide range of scholars are then developed. Finally, the potential obstacles are addressed. These obstacles can be overcome by the development of robust communication and the invention of a new genre of discourse and research focus and by working with those outside our discipline and embracing the challenge of the new and the different

Surface acoustic wave stabilized oscillators

Four areas of surface acoustic wave (SAW) controlled oscillators were investigated and a number of 401.2 MHz oscillators were constructed that showed improved performance. Aging studies on SAW devices packaged in HC36/U cold weld enclosures produced frequency drifts as low as 0.4 ppm in 35 weeks and drift rates well under 0.5 ppm/year. Temperature compensation circuits have substantially improved oscillator temperature stability, with a deviation of + or - 4 ppm observed over the range -45 C to + 40 C. High efficiency amplifiers were constructed for SAW oscillators and a dc to RF efficiency of 44 percent was obtained for an RF output of 25 mW. Shock and vibration tests were made on four oscillators and all survived 500 G shock pulses unchanged. Only when white noise vibration (20 Hz to 2000 Hz) levels of 20 G's rms were applied did some of the devices fail

An Investigation of Changes in Contributions of State Lotteries to Education Over Time

Arkansas is one of many states in this country that is experiencing an education funding crisis. Despite the fact that states have started taking more responsibility for the funding of their public schools since the mid-1950s, litigation over education funding has occurred in almost every state in the United States. Litigation in Arkansas began in the 1980s and continues today with the Lake View case. Several alternatives have been proposed to reform the state\u27s education system and its methods of funding, including school consolidation, raising taxes, and adopting an education-supporting lottery. Lotteries have become very popular revenue raising mechanisms in the United States since the 1960s. Supporters of lottery adoption claim that lotteries are significant revenue raisers for new and existing programs and that they are better than increasing taxes. Opponents of lottery adoption contend that lotteries are regressive, implicit taxes and that the revenues from lotteries are fungible and do not increase education funding. Data will be analyzed to determine whether lottery prize payout ratios have increased significantly over time, and whether changes in lottery prize payout ratios have had an impact on the money expended on public education. Based on this information and previous research, a recommendation will be made as to whether adopting an education-supporting lottery would be an effective and adequate way to help fund public education in the state of Arkansas

Henri Fayol, accounting and control: An environmental reflection

Henry Fayol (1841-1925) was a leading administrator in the French mining and metallurgy industry. After studying at the Lycee at Lyons and the Ecole Nationale Des Mines de Saint Etienne, he was appointed engineer of the Commentry pits of the S.A. Commentry-Fourchambault combine in 1860. By 1888 he had risen to the managing directorship of that company, retiring as chief executive in 1918 but remaining as a director. During his lifetime he was awarded a number of prizes and honors.1 In 1916 he published his now famous Administration Industrielle et Generale-Prevoyance, Organisation, Commandement, Coordination, Controle, in the Bulletin de la Societe de l\u27Industrie Minerale.2 Fayol attempted to develop a teachable theory of general management via a comprehensive set of principles. This theory was intended to demonstrate the benefits of adopting a scientific approach to the management of large organizations and represented the first attempt to outline a general theory of administration

Accounting History Research Methodology Committee: Committee report

I have pleasure in presenting this report on the committee\u27s activities for the year ended August 1986. The development of a comprehensive bibliography of historical research methodology sources continues on schedule