Several researches such as Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener (2014) has indicated that organizational culture has increased inferences on the accounting processes and techniques employed within the company. This is for the reason that accounting is deemed to a broader concept than just being methodologies, financial statements and numbers. It is relied on the basic standards and rules in order to preserve a company’s business purpose and is also shaped by a number of internal and external aspects. Research conducted by O’Neill, Sohal and Teng (2016) also added that the accounting practice generally signifies and indicates the organizational culture within which it is carried out.
There are two models that explain the impact of organizational culture on the techniques and processes of accounting used within the companies. Anglo-American model is a model that drastically impacts the professional standard setting bodies, focuses on the capital markets and is dependent on equity offered by public and debt financing. This model also highly regards the presentation of true and fair financial statements and is also deemed to be the foundation of accounting standards within Australia. Another theory is Hofstede’s cultural theory that includes certain manifestations regarding the organizational culture. Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener (2014) stated that in consideration to the accounting practices, two major aspects associated with impacting the organizational culture includes individualism verses collectivism along with “strong uncertainty avoidances verses weak uncertainty avoidances”. This theory considers that culture is not only found within an organization’s accounting practices but also within everyday operations of the company.
Theme 1: Organizational culture
Bortolotti, Boscari and Danese (2015) defined organizational culture as vital estimations and understandings shared by a group or reviews like in a nation or ethnic group. It can also be indicated as shared values, principles, traditions along with manner of conducting things that impacts the way in which organizational members takes decisions. Organizational culture is also deemed to have a positive impact on successful implementation of accounting standards and policies. Chen et al. (2015) elaborated that culture serves as a set of important understandings that are shared by the community members within an organization’s common culture in contrast to personality within an individual.
Theme 2: Accounting techniques and procedures
Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener (2014) indicated that the accounting techniques and procedures are included within the wide area of accounting management practices used within organizations. Accounting standards and methods are basically explained within the counting management process followed within the companies. This also includes the procedures, policies as well as internal control techniques that include two major methods such as cost and accruals. O’Neill, Sohal and Teng (2016) also elaborated that cash accounting processes and techniques are focused on reporting expenses and revenue as they are paid and received. Accrual accounting follows reporting techniques in companies as they are incurred and earned.
Theme 3: Organizational Culture in Cole’s supermarket
Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd trading as Coles is positioned as an Australian supermarket, consumer services and retail chain. The company is owned by its parent company West farmers and offers baby, bakery, dairy, deli, fresh fruit and vegetables, special diet foods; mobile phones and tablets; and gift cards (O’Neill, Sohal and Teng, 2016). The organization culture of Cole’s is ensuring that the employees operate ethically in an open and transparent manner. The company also has a culture of focusing on its investors and consumers and considers offering good returns to all its shareholders. The accounting procedures of Coles follow the structure of the necessary corporate governance arrangements.
Theme 4: Administrative innovation and continuous improvement program
Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener (2014) revealed that certain effective administrative innovation and continuous improvement is necessary to be followed within organizations in order to ensure suitable implementation of accounting techniques within the existing organizational culture setting. A diversity of perspectives along with strong cultural backgrounds strengthens innovation and certainty among employees. O’Neill, Sohal and Teng (2016) added that organizational culture also shapes continuous improvement of the accounting techniques used in the companies. These researchers also indicated that continuous improvement programs implemented within organizations is relied on the belief of certain incremental changes that contributes to major improvements in accounting practices over time.
Theme 1: Organizational culture and lean practices
The article “Successful lean implementation: Organizational culture and soft lean practices” is focused on elaborating organizational culture and its impact on accounting policy changes. This article explained that the cultural values have a considerable predictive power in determining the technique selection along with accountant’s behavior in accomplishment of their duties. Bortolotti, Boscari and Danese (2015) also revealed that the cultural values of any organization impact the implementation and enforcement of necessary accounting standards in an organizational setting. The article also explains distinct sub-groups within the process of accounting and such sub-cultures also indicate distinct account behaviors relied on certain cognitive functioning culture perspective.
Theme 2: Linking market orientation and environmental performance
The article “Linking market orientation and environmental performance: The influence of environmental strategy, employee’s environmental involvement, and environmental product quality” indicated that for ensuring smooth operations of the company, strong cultural values is necessary. The culture characteristics those are employed within the business surrounding are observed to have a direct impact on the financial reporting of the organization. Chen et al. (2015) elaborated that it is necessary that organizational values along with the factors those are acceptable within the workplace indicates the requirements of accounting standards as well as procedures. In addition, the article also revealed that existence in cultural harmony within the organization improved employee’s environmental involvement, and environmental product quality in the organization.
Theme 3: Lean management accounting practices
The article “Lean manufacturing and firm performance: The incremental contribution of lean management accounting practices” focused on elaborating the ways in which lean manufacturing culture in an organization supports effective implementation of management accounting practices. Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener (2014) explained in this article that lean accounting is designed in a manner that it reflects the financial performance of the organization that has successfully followed the process of lean manufacturing. In addition, it also indicates that the accounting practices focused on lean manufacturing culture considers organizing costs by value streams, altering inventory valuation processes and encompassing non-financial information.
Theme 4: Management control, results-oriented culture and public sector performance
The article “Management control, results-oriented culture and public sector performance: Empirical evidence on new public management” focused on explaining the ways in which organizational culture impacts the disclosure transparency in accounting. O’Neill, Sohal and Teng (2016) explained that culture serves as an important determinant of disclosure transparency in organizations of Australia. In addition, the organizational culture must be shaped in a way that can support the link among culture and disclosure transparency. This might also impact the companies in modifying its recent culture practices in favor of which transparency in accounting discourses can be supported. This can further benefit financial situation of the company in future.
The four articles selected for this paper provides some useful managerial implications that considers organizational culture influences every aspect of a company that is further important for its operations. It is deemed to impact the general behaviour of the companies’ staff like their performance and motivation along with influencing and forming company artefacts (Bortolotti, Boscari and Danese, 2015). Organizational artefacts serves as the structures and practices within a company like independence in accounting and auditors judgements.
The practices and techniques of accounting used within an organization are sanctioned by ethical culture followed within organizations. It also pervades all the aspects of accounting that includes the way it rules along with standards those are practiced to decisions conducted on everyday basis. This is the reason for which the professional accounting boards and the literature explained in the elected four articles have greatly focussed on suitable ethical behaviour from the accountancy viewpoint. This article also indicated that the organizational culture of maintaining ethics and religious inferences has an impact on the procedures and techniques of accounting (Chen et al., 2015). Considering the same the future accounting standard setters can take into account cultural influences for maintaining basics purpose of a profession along with attaining growth in future.
The four selected articles in this paper has provided certain useful managerial implications by elaborating the ways in which organizational culture has impact on the techniques and procedures of accounting used (Bortolotti, Boscari and Danese, 2015). However, these articles are also observed to have certain limitations in explaining certain aspects related to organizational culture based on which accounting techniques and procedures can be selected. It has been gathered that the articles had a limitation in developing a historical framework for studying the impacts of organizational culture on selection of the corporate reporting practices.
In addition, these articles also presented a gap in explaining that the companies might be conceptualised focussed on the extent to which they have a “professional accounting sub-culture (PASC)”. The limitation exists in reflecting the implementation of accounting as a language, symbol, myth, ideology and ritual. Considering such limitations identified from these four articles, the future research is proposed to include suggesting a concept of PASC that might be helpful in developing a theoretical construct. The future research must also consider the ways in which organizational culture can impact the selection of the disclosure and measurement practices.
References
Bortolotti, T., Boscari, S. and Danese, P., 2015. Successful lean implementation: Organizational culture and soft lean practices. International Journal of Production Economics, 160, pp.182-201.
Chen, Y., Tang, G., Jin, J., Li, J., and Paillé, P., 2015. Linking market orientation and environmental performance: The influence of environmental strategy, employee’s environmental involvement, and environmental product quality. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(2), pp.479-500.
Fullerton, R. R., Kennedy, F. A., and Widener, S. K. 2014. Lean manufacturing and firm performance: The incremental contribution of lean management accounting practices. Journal of Operations Management, 32(7-8), pp. 414-428.
O’Neill, P., Sohal, A. and Teng, C.W., 2016. Quality management approaches and their impact on firms? financial performance–An Australian study. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, pp.381-393.
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