Strategy, control, performance : an empirical analysis in large, independent, Belgian firms

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Hollywood studios appear to plan sequels before they produce the original movie

“Growth options” to produce a sequel enable studios to dedicate a larger budget to the original film, writes Wim Van der Stede

Managers with a history of good results get more flexible performance targets

Wim A. Van der Stede finds evidence that, contrary to common belief, firms don't always ratchet up target

Target ratcheting

Here is one diehard maxim of business: don't overshoot your budget target because next thing you know your target for next year will be tougher yet. Target ratcheting at work; that is, when you do better than target, your next target is even higher, but when you do worse, your target won’t be reduced. So why shoot yourself in the foot? Add to this the common belief in budgeting settings that either you spend it or lose it, and thus arises the motivation to not only "not overshoot" but "spend more" to boot. A double whammy: leave money unearned and spend more than is necessary

Academic research for impact

Relevant research is of great interest. I have commented on this topic over the years. For example, I spoke recently on the importance of research relevance in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants/Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (AICPA/CIMA) Academic Research for Impact Webinar Series (To view the recorded webinar, please see AICPA/CIMA Academic Research for Impact Webinar Series, Part 1 - https://sway.office.com/kbtAGFpCsoDn9bRT?ref=Link). I have also spoken about it at several doctoral seminars around the world; written about in the European Accounting Association (EAA) Newsletter (Van der Stede, 2012); and debated related challenges on an AICPA panel of the American Accounting Association (AAA)’s 2019 Management Accounting Section meeting (Make Management Accounting Research Happen: Opportunities, Challenges and Evidence from Attempts to Achieve Research Impact, Fort Lauderdale, 4 January 2019). The issue of research relevance is multifaceted and can be debated from numerous angles. In this editorial, I will take one particular angle - that is, by thinking about impact more explicitly in terms of how our research can seek to better connect with practice and the practitioner. Thus, I will not reflect on what research impact or relevance means or implies for a researcher’s career or how it is rated, “measured”, or debated in the academic community, including in universities and by the scholarly journals. Instead, I am taking a “practice view” on impact rather than an institutional view (e.g., what it means in terms of academic careers, university funding, etc.) or an epistemological view (e.g., what it means in terms of the nature of knowledge, publishing etc.). As a further general disclaimer, this piece should be read in the context of the “administrative sciences” (or management) as an applied science to the social sciences. That is broad enough, but obviously not all encompassing, and thus, readers should be cautioned about potentially misguided generalizations to other sciences

“Global” management accounting research: some reflections

I start with some examples of global studies that compare and contrast "remedies" to management control and corporate governance issues across borders to expose the common tenet of such studies that "uniformity" of practices or regulations is "counter-productive" given national/cultural variations across countries. However, I critically evaluate this so-called "non-uniformity" prescription by considering the costs of local or situational adaptions. This naturally links with the "homogenizing" effects of globalization, where I ponder whether globalization might actually reduce the power of comparative studies across countries or regions, or whether, regardless, there remains great benefit to be had from studying "local" practices that can be theoretically generalized. I also offer some suggestions to help strengthen the design of comparative studies to try and maximize their (conceptual, if not econometric) power

Introduction: accounting matters

In the Department of Accounting, we had another year where accounting mattered a great deal, and not just to us. As you will read inside these pages, we have kept busy researching, teaching, presenting, debating and engaging with all manner of accounting