127 research outputs found

    An analysis of the role of the textbook in the construction of accounting knowledge

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    This report examines the role of the textbook and training manual in the teaching of introductory financial accounting. Although it has long been recognised that the textbook plays an important role in the education process, the issue has not been systematically examined in a comprehensive manner with respect to the teaching of introductory financial accounting. Based on research carried out in 2005, the current report addresses this issue. It does so using a research framework proposed by Thompson (1990) which recommends a comprehensive approach to the understanding of texts involving three separate aspects: the production of the textbook/training manual; the content of the textbook/training manual; the usage of the textbook/training manual

    Constructing meaning in the service of power : an analysis of the typical modes of ideology in accounting textbooks

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    This paper provides an analysis of the typical modes of ideology in introductory financial accounting textbooks and training materials. Drawing on Thompson's (1990) schema concerning the typical linguistic modes through which ideology operates, this research suggests that the operation of ideology is apparent within educational accounting texts, with particular strategies being more evident than others: in particular, the strategies of universalization, narrativization, rationalization and naturalization. Given the predominantly technical nature of introductory financial accounting textbooks and training manuals, the modes of ideology identified in the texts were often quite subtle; more specifically, the ideological characteristics displayed in each of the six texts analysed were often expressions of implicit or taken-for-granted assumptions

    Understanding Power-related Strategies and Initiatives:The Case of the European Commission Green Paper on CSR

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    Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically informed analysis of a struggle for power over the regulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) within the European Union. Design/methodology/approach The paper combines insights from institutional theory (Lawrence and Buchanan, 2017) with Vaara et al.’s (2006) and Vaara and Tienar’s (2008) discursive strategies approach in order to interrogate the dynamics of the institutional “arena” that emerged in 2001, following the European Commission’s publication of a Green Paper (GP) on CSR policy and reporting. Drawing on multiple sources of data (including newspaper coverage, semi-structured interviews and written submissions by companies and NGOs), the authors analyse the institutional political strategies employed by companies and NGOs – two of the key stakeholder groupings who sought to influence the dynamics and outcome of the European initiative. Findings The results show that the 2001 GP was a “triggering event” (Hoffman, 1999) that led to the formation of the institutional arena that centred on whether CSR policy and reporting should be voluntary or mandatory. The findings highlight how two separate, but related forms of power (systemic and episodic power) were exercised much more effectively by companies compared to NGOs. The analysis of the power initiatives and discursive strategies deployed in the arena provides a theoretically informed understanding of the ways in which companies acted in concert to reach their objective of maintaining CSR and SEAR as a voluntary activity. Originality/value The theoretical framework outlined in the paper highlights how the analysis of CSR and SEAR regulation can be enriched by examining the deployment of episodic and systemic power by relevant actors.PostprintPeer reviewe

    Giving voice to equitable collaboration in participatory design

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    An AHRC funded research project titled Experimenting with the Co-experience Environment (June 2005 – June 2006) culminated in a physical environment designed in resonance with a small group of participants. The participants emerged from different disciplines coming together as a group to share their expertise and contribute their knowledge to design. They engaged in storytelling, individual and co-thinking, creating and co-creating, sharing ideas that did not require justification, proposed designs even though most were not designers 
and played. The research questioned how a physical environment designed specifically for co-experiencing might contribute to new knowledge in design? Through play and by working in action together the participants demonstrated the potential of a physical co-experience environment to function as a scaffold for inter-disciplinary design thinking,saying, doing and making (Ivey & Sanders 2006). Ultimately the research questioned how this outcome might influence our approach to engaging participants in design research and experimentation

    Shareholder primacy in UK corporate law : an exploration of the rationale and evidence

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    The aim of the research project described in this report was to examine the rationale for the traditional business objective in the UK which is the maximization of shareholder value (MSV). The project included an analysis of relevant aspects of the Company Law Review (CLR) process in the UK which ultimately led to the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) and which determined that shareholder primacy would be maintained as a key principle of UK company law. The CLR had raised the central question: ‘in whose interests should companies be run?’ and put forward two alternatives: one based on shareholder primacy, and the other based on balancing the interests of a range of stakeholders. The two alternatives were described as ‘enlightened shareholder value’ and ‘pluralism’. Specific objectives of this research report included a review of the relevant literature; a study of the official documentation issued in connection with the CLR insofar as this related to the question ‘in whose interests should companies be run?’; an examination of contemporaneous views and debate about the CLR process by studying media coverage of the issues; and ascertaining the views of key individuals who carried out the CLR about how the central question of ‘interests’ was considered, and about the evidence that was used as the basis for its recommendations. The main findings of the report are based on interviews held with 15 individuals, most of whom were directly involved in the CLR, as well as evidence from the literature. The CLR was generally seen as a useful tidying up and modernising exercise; it was also widely thought to have been very ably led. But one of the most striking findings from these interviews was the frustration and strength of feeling about the real value of the CLR exercise amongst some of those who were closely involved. Regarding its consideration of the central debate between enlightened shareholder value and pluralism, the CLR was described as a ‘waste of time’ by one Steering Group member who thought that there was never any intention to have a ‘meaningful discussion of the issues’ while another Steering Group member said there was little interest in discussion of principles or ‘the bigger picture’. Other participants took a quite different view: it appeared to the researchers that those who supported the ‘enlightened shareholder value’ outcome were generally content about the quality of the examination which took place, while those who leaned to the ‘pluralist’ view, which was rejected, were very much less so. Having said that, a number of interviewees, even some who were supportive of its outcomes, felt that the breadth of expertise and opinion represented on the Review was rather narrow; and a more critical view was that it was set up to fail. In response to a question about the evidence that was considered as part of the CLR we gathered that the process was ‘less a matter of evidence and more one of debate’ though it was also suggested that the knowledge and experience brought to the Review by the participants meant that evidence was not lacking. However a very specific criticism was the absence of discussion of comparative international evidence. A detailed consideration of differing types of capitalism, including the significance of legal traditions, is a feature of the literature review in this report. A key part of that review is the description of two competing approaches to capitalism which are widely acknowledged. One approach, the Anglo-American, is found in the developed English speaking countries, and is sometimes characterised as ‘stock market capitalism’, in contrast to what may be called ‘social market’ capitalism which can be found, in differing forms, in continental Europe and in Japan. Arguably the central feature which distinguishes these two approaches is the objective which companies pursue. In the Anglo-American countries this is typically MSV, while traditionally in the other group a balance is struck between the interests of different stakeholder groups. Thus the two approaches may be characterised as ‘shareholder value’ and ‘stakeholder’ capitalism respectively, corresponding to the alternatives presented by the CLR. It is also worth noting that, within the literature and in the business media, there have been calls for the ‘shareholder value’ model to be adopted in what have traditionally been ‘stakeholder’ countries; though such arguments have also been strongly challenged. Interviewees were asked about the new wording for directors’ duties introduced by CA 2006. This wording requires directors to ‘promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members’ while having regard to the interests of others. This form of wording is regarded by some as giving more acknowledgment to the interests of stakeholders (other than shareholders) than the wording it replaced. However there is also a view that it does the opposite. Since the old wording referred to ‘the company’ rather than members, the new wording is seen by some as making shareholder primacy more explicit. The wording was summed up as ‘a fudge’ by one of our interviewees. What was made very clear to us was that shareholder primacy was the intended outcome – and this was the unequivocal understanding of all the interviewees. Interviewees were asked whether directors’ duties amounted to a duty to maximise shareholder value and broadly speaking this was agreed. While there were differing views over whether this meant maximising share price in the short term, interviewees from the corporate sector thought that this was exactly what it meant. Some interviewees questioned the importance of the legal wording on directors’ duties and noted that shareholder value rhetoric in the US and UK was a result of pressure from the financial markets rather than legal requirements. But it was also thought that a ‘shareholder primacy legal framework’ readily lent itself to a shareholder value rhetoric whose emphasis on a single financial metric was implicated in the phenomenon of ‘financialisation’, and specifically in high levels of executive remuneration and the financial crisis. In relation to differing forms of capitalism, interviewees did recognise MSV and shareholder primacy as identifying characteristics of Anglo-American capitalism though some interviewees were also quick to point out some differences between the US and UK. Evidence that poorer societal well-being is associated with the Anglo-American model of capitalism was presented to interviewees for their reaction. Such evidence is extensive and shows that a range of health and other “quality of life” indicators are highly correlated with income inequality. Amongst the developed OECD countries higher inequality is associated with countries which have traditionally followed a “shareholder value” rather than a “pluralist” approach to business objectives. In particular, interviewees were asked whether such evidence could be considered relevant to any review of the laws governing corporate conduct. Views varied a great deal; some were skeptical about the evidence and some were not, but most interviewees thought that the evidence merited serious consideration in any future review of the legal framework governing companies

    More than walking and cycling: What is ‘active travel’?

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    Where has the concept of ‘active travel’ come from and where is it taking us? In this paper, we explore these questions, firstly, through a systematic review that summarises the growth of active travel research over the last 15 years. This suggests a tendency to equate or reduce active travel to simply walking and cycling. We then move on to explore what expanding this definition to include all “travel in which the sustained physical exertion of the traveller directly contributes to their motion” would mean for active travel research and the modes it studies. To do this, we provide a thematic review of the limited transport literature into wider active travel modes (such as running, kick scooting, skateboarding and wheelchair use). The thematic review discusses six threads (emergence, fun, inclusivity, safety, regulation, and design) that explore what is known about these wider active modes and how transport research characterises them. We conclude with a discussion of the likely implications of expanding the definition of active travel more widely for policy, practice and transport-related research. While not risk-free, we argue that embracing an expanded notion of active travel has much to offer and it should be approached more broadly within transport studies than it is

    EMAGE: a spatial database of gene expression patterns during mouse embryo development

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    EMAGE () is a freely available, curated database of gene expression patterns generated by in situ techniques in the developing mouse embryo. It is unique in that it contains standardized spatial representations of the sites of gene expression for each gene, denoted against a set of virtual reference embryo models. As such, the data can be interrogated in a novel and abstract manner by using space to define a query. Accompanying the spatial representations of gene expression patterns are text descriptions of the sites of expression, which also allows searching of the data by more conventional text-based methods
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