The Stokes phenomenon in the confluence of the hypergeometric equation using Riccati equation

In this paper we study the confluence of two regular singular points of the hypergeometric equation into an irregular one. We study the consequence of the divergence of solutions at the irregular singular point for the unfolded system. Our study covers a full neighborhood of the origin in the confluence parameter space. In particular, we show how the divergence of solutions at the irregular singular point explains the presence of logarithmic terms in the solutions at a regular singular point of the unfolded system. For this study, we consider values of the confluence parameter taken in two sectors covering the complex plane. In each sector, we study the monodromy of a first integral of a Riccati system related to the hypergeometric equation. Then, on each sector, we include the presence of logarithmic terms into a continuous phenomenon and view a Stokes multiplier related to a 1-summable solution as the limit of an obstruction that prevents a pair of eigenvectors of the monodromy operators, one at each singular point, to coincide.Comment: 22 pages v2: revised versio

Motherhood: The key to the glass ceiling ? the case of the big four in France

Women in public accounting firms are still proportionally much fewer in the highest levels of the hierarchy than men, whereas the recruitement at a junior level tends to be more and more gender balanced. The aim of this paper is to propose ana analysis of the mechanisms that explain the barriers encountered by auditor mothers in their hierarchical progression within the Big Four in France.case study; glass ceiling; gender; public accounting firms; motherhood.

Corporate governance and profit manipulation: a French field study

Profit manipulation has been largely studied through Positive Accounting Theory (PAT). However, the weakness of the results obtained would suggest using different theoretical and methodological approaches to examine this subject. In France, management controllers play a central role in profit manipulation. This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of their profit manipulation practices. Using results from 32 interviews in 13 companies, we argue that the spread of Anglo-Saxon corporate governance model has fostered such behaviour. Far from the opportunism hypothesis supported by Positive Accounting Theory, profit manipulation is used as a tool by management controllers to gain broader legitimacy within organisations and/or to adopt what they claim to be ethical behaviour.profit manipulation; management controllers; corporate governance; field study

Mothering or Auditing? The French Big 4's Desperate Auditors

Les femmes restent proportionnellement moins nombreuses dans les plus hauts niveaux de la hiérarchie des cabinets d'audit, alors qu'au moment du recrutement, la parité est désormais quasiment respectée. L'objectif de cet article est de proposer une analyse des mécanismes à l'origine des obstacles rencontrés par les mères auditrices au sein des Big 4 en France. A partir de 24 entretiens menés auprès d'auditeurs et d'auditrices de niveaux hiérarchiques variés, nous montrons que les femmes sont confrontées à un dilemme en termes de gestion de leur vie personnelle/ vie professionnelle qui les amène à modifier leurs habitudes de travail et à opter pour des trajectoires spécifiques (spécialisations ou fonctions support). A terme, l'ensemble des contraintes s'imposant à elles les conduisent souvent à se retrouver exclues du groupe de « ceux (celles) qui sont susceptibles de devenir associé(e)s ».genre, plafond de verre, cabinets d'audit, maternité

"Be yourself or rather be your Brand"! care of the self as a control tool in a cosmetics firm

Care of the self, a technique for governing the individual in society, proves to be equally a control technique for the individual in the firm. In a firm dedicated to the cult of beauty, there is a blurring of the lines between employee and consumer individual. This blurring makes care of the self a control tool whose rising power over individuals is all the greater because it is nurtured and maintained by the individuals themselves.brand; marketing; individual behavior; human resources management

The making of the management accountant. Becoming the producer of truthful knowledge

In this paper, the authors analyse the practices through which the management accountant is constructed as a knowing subject and becomes a producer of truthful knowledge. They draw on a case study of an automobile equipment manufacturer in which management accountants play a central role. The centrality of their role is evidenced, among other aspects, by their participation in online reverse auctions, wherein they commit themselves and their company to long-term projects. This commitment is constitutive of their identity as knowing subjects and organisational truth tellers. However, the “validity” of the truth they produce can only be assessed over time. They argue that, in this firm, monthly performance review meetings constitute “accounting trials of truth” during which peers and senior management crossexamine the accounting truth presented. Preparations for these trials of truth constitute a form of subjectivation whereby management accountants act on their ways of being in the firm and become the producers of truthful knowledge.management accountant; subjectivation; trials of truth; Foucault

Roles, authority and involvement of the management accounting function: a multiple case-study perspective

Recent techniques and shifts in the environment are often foreseen as leading management accountants to adopt a business orientation. However, empirical evidence pointing to fundamental shifts in the roles played by management accountants remains relatively scarce. The authors explore this paradox and give sense to the various roles played by the management accounting function by focusing on how management accountants are involved in and endowed with authority in decision-making situations.management accountant; role; business partner

Who is she and who are we? A critical essay on reflexivity in research into the rarity of women executives in accountancy

This paper proposes a critical stance on research into the rarity of women at the highest levels of accountancy. The authors aim to unravel the discourses produced on this topic in the accounting literature and question their own experience and perception as scholars building on Bourdieu’s work on reflexivity (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Bourdieu, 2001, 2003).Gender; accounting profession; methodology; reflexivity

Control and Change. Analysing the Process of Institutionalisation

This paper studies the process by which a change in the institutional logic of an organisational field is institutionalised in management control systems of a firm. In particular, three elements of organisational control, inspired by the control mix defined by Abernethy and Chua (1996), are studied: management culture, division of powers between functions, and accountability principles. The theoretical framework proposed by Hasselbladh and Kallinikos (2000) enables us to describe the institutionalisation process of management control systems in more detail by observing how ideals are translated into discourse and in turn control techniques. The paper also investigates the internalisation and “decoupling” occurring between the implementation of control systems, and their actual use when applied for monitoring operational managers. Indeed, the empirical findings, based on a field study conducted in the French subsidiary of a pharmaceutical laboratory, enable us to identify a persistent decoupling. Our results show it stems from ambiguous managerial choices and the resistance of the actors to the new norm. However, it appears that, when discourse can not be heard, it can be partially bypassed using techniques. In fact, these techniques enable an insidious institutionalisation of the new institutional logics when “what can be done can not be saidcontrol, change, process of institutionalisation

Control and change studying the process of institutionalisation

This paper studies the process by which a change in the institutional logic of an organisational field diffuses through the management control system of a firm.change; institutionalisation; management control systems; decoupling; salespeople