Publications

Sivabalan, P, Wakefield, J, Sawyers, RB, Jackson, S & Jenkins, G 2018, ACCT3 Management, Cengage AU.
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cost centre An A cost centre manager has control over organisational segment, or costs but not over revenue or capital should be held responsible for only those costs under their control. Consequently, other measures of profit centre ...

Bedford, DS & Speklé, RF 2018, 'Constructs in Survey-Based Management Accounting and Control Research: An Inventory from 1996 to 2015', Journal of Management Accounting Research, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 269-322.
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ABSTRACTThis article presents an inventory of constructs measured in survey-based management accounting and control (MAC) research from 1996 to 2015. The inventory is intended to serve as a reference source for researchers to identify prior operationalizations of constructs of interest.

Christodoulou, D, Lev, B & Ma, L 2018, 'The productivity of Chinese patents: The role of business area and ownership type', International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 199, pp. 107-124.
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China's unrivalled growth in patent filings and grants, enhanced by government policy, reflects a strategic shift in transforming a labour-intensive economy to an innovation-driven incentives system. This study employs a patent dataset from SIPO to examine the productivity of Chinese patents in improving public firm financial performance. Evidence suggest an overall positive performance elasticity to patent production particularly among firms with efficiency-driven and customer-focused operating activities. Patents are found to have no impact or even negative impact on financial performance in other business areas. Patents generally exhibit a constant return to scale and appear as a complementary input to physical assets but a substitute to labour. Non-state owned public firms have performed consistently well throughout, regardless the policy changes. The productivity of granted patents of state owned firms has improved following the introduction of government reforms specifically aimed at promoting innovation.

Christodoulou, D, Ma, L & Vasnev, A 2018, 'Inference‐in‐residuals as an Estimation Method for Earnings Management', Abacus, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 154-180.
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The paper tests the assumptions underlying the inference‐in‐residuals method as an estimation framework for detecting and classifying suspects of earnings management. We derive several systematic biases that are shown to confound inference‐in‐residuals and, depending on the data, could render the method a futile exercise. This is not a matter of model specification, but a limitation of the statistical method. Also, it is shown that the method of using estimated residuals in a second stage regression on economic determinants of earnings management suffers considerably, especially when residuals are estimated by industry classification in the first stage.

Coulton, J, Saune, N & Taylor, SL 2018, 'Are Analysts’ Cash Flow Forecasts Associated with Improved Earnings Quality? Australian Evidence'.

Ferguson, A, Lam, P & Ma, N 2018, 'Market reactions to auditor switches under regulatory consent and market driven regimes', Journal of Contemporary Accounting & Economics, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 197-215.
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© 2018 Elsevier Ltd We examine market reactions to announcements of auditor switches by Australian-listed companies during the ‘regulatory consent’ period (2000–2011) under which auditor resignations require consent by the corporate regulator before taking effect at annual general meetings. Overall, we find no clear evidence of significant market responses to firms announcing auditor switches, consistent with a lack of information content or potential information leakage argument. However, examination of a more recent sample in the ‘partial deregulation’ period (2015–2017), whereby timing and consent provisions have been relaxed under a more market-driven regime, uncovers univariate evidence of market reactions directionally consistent with the audit quality interpretation. Overall, these results provide support for the regulator's recent initiative to deregulate the auditor resignation process in Australia to become more disclosure driven as in other jurisdictions.

Grosse, M, Ma, N & Scott, T 2018, 'Interim reviews and the association between partner rotations and audit fees', International Journal of Auditing, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 214-229.
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This paper considers whether the association between partner rotation and audit fees varies based on whether the partner is rotated before the interim review or annual report audit. Consistent with prior literature, there is some evidence of higher fees in the year of rotation, but we find this effect is driven by partner rotations that occur before the interim review, which are 7.14% higher on average. We argue that rotations before the annual report audit are less likely to be planned, and thus audit firms cannot pass on increased costs due to a weaker bargaining position. Supporting evidence is provided, as results only persist when client bargaining power is low, and in contrast there are lower fees for rotations that occur before the annual report audit when client bargaining power is high.

Lanis, R & Richardson, G 2018, 'Outside Directors, Corporate Social Responsibility Performance, and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness: An Empirical Analysis', Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 228-251.
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This study examines the impact of outside directors on the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and tax aggressiveness. Based on a sample of 5,007 firm-year observations over the 2003-2009 period, we find that there is a negative association between the interaction effect of the proportion of outside directors on the board and CSR performance, and tax aggressiveness. Our additional tests confirm the reliability of our main regression results. Overall, our results indicate that the presence of outside directors on the board magnifies the negative association between CSR performance and tax aggressiveness.

McClure, R, Lanis, R, Wells, P & Govendir, B 2018, 'The impact of dividend imputation on corporate tax avoidance: The case of shareholder value', Journal of Corporate Finance, vol. 48, no. C, pp. 492-514.
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The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether dividend imputation, whereby tax credits may be passed on to shareholders for corporate tax paid, impacts corporate tax avoidance. This is undertaken with a pooled cross-sectional research design evaluating differences in tax avoidance across firms where there are significant differences in corporate tax avoidance incentives. Specifically, potential differences arise between firms paying dividends with tax credits, paying dividends without tax credits, and not paying dividends. Results suggest that firms paying dividends with tax credits attached are less likely to engage in tax avoidance with an average cash effective tax rate up to 16.9 percentage points higher than firms that pay dividends without tax credits, and up to 14.7 percentage points higher than firms that do not pay dividends at all. Accordingly, this provides insights into the effectiveness of dividend imputation in mitigating corporate tax avoidance, as well as providing support for the continuance of dividend imputation in Australia. Additionally, a positive association is found to exist between outside directors and corporate tax avoidance, extending to firms paying dividends with tax credits where dividend imputation is expected to mitigate such a relation. In combination, these results suggest heterogeneity of costs and benefits of tax avoidance and this is a challenge in evaluating corporate tax aggressiveness generally, and the impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance in particular.

Peters, M, Wieder, B & Sutton, SG 2018, 'Organizational Improvisation and the Reduced Usefulness of Performance Measurement Bi Functionalities', International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, vol. 29, pp. 1-15.
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© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Firms are increasingly turning to business intelligence (BI) systems to support their management control activities, while management accounting researchers are increasingly focused on studying beneficial roles of such systems. The extant research focusses on how performance-enhancing effects of BI systems occur via enhanced managerial learning and knowledge creation. The research has however failed to consider how managerial learning and knowledge creation processes can be shaped by fundamental organizational contingencies. This paper ventures into this unexplored space to consider how organizational improvisation may moderate beneficial roles played by BI. We derive the concept of “semi-structuring heuristics” and apply it to theorize that the impact of BI functionalities on performance measurement capabilities is negatively moderated by organizational improvisation. Our hypotheses include two BI constructs (BI-planning functionality and BI-reporting functionality) and two organizational improvisation competences (strategic momentum and organizational flexibility). We test our hypotheses with partial least squares procedures using survey data from 324 top-level managers. We find that BI-planning functionality has a positive effect on performance measurement capabilities that is negatively moderated by both organizational improvisation competences. The only significant effect of BI-reporting functionality is as a positive moderator of the effect of BI-planning functionality. Organizational improvisation competences are quite common and entail managers using only “minimal forms” of performance measurement information. By implication, if the term BI “functionality” connotes usefulness and fitness-for-purpose, then this term appears a misnomer in contexts reliant on organizational improvisation.

Thirathon, U, Wieder, B & Ossimitz, M-L 2018, 'Determinants of analytics-based managerial decisionmaking', International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 27-40.
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This study investigates how managerial decision-making is influenced by Big Data analytics, analysts’ interaction skills and quantitative skills of senior and middle managers. The results of a cross-sectional survey of senior IT managers reveal that Big Data analytics (BDA) creates an incentive for managers to base more of their decisions on analytic insights. However, we also find that interaction skills of analysts and – even more so – managers’ quantitative skills are stronger drivers of analytics-based decision-making. Finally, our analysis reveals that, contrary to mainstream perceptions, managers in smaller organizations are more capable in terms of quantitative skills, and they are significantly more likely to base their decisions on analytics than managers in large organizations. Considering the important role of managers’ quantitative skills in leveraging analytic decision support, our findings suggest that smaller firms may owe some of their analytic advantages to the fact that they have managers who are closer to their analysts – and analytics more generally.

Wakefield, J, Frawley, JK, Tyler, J & Dyson, LE 2018, 'The impact of an iPad-supported annotation and sharing technology on university students' learning', Computers & Education, vol. 122, pp. 243-259.
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Bachmann, RL, Spiropoulos, H, Bedford, A & Matolcsy, Z 1970, 'Powerful CEOs, Cash Bonuses and Firm Performance', British Accounting and Finance Association, London.

Bedford, D, Bisbe, J & Sweeney, B 1970, 'The paradoxical implications of comprehensive performance measurement systems for the generation and management of TMT conflict', Manufacturing & Service Accounting Research Conference, Manufacturing & Service Accounting Research Conference, Oslo, Norway.

Bedford, D, Sweeney, B & Bisbe, J 1970, 'The implications of comprehensive performance measurement system design for managing the effects of TMT conflict', New Directions in Management Accounting, New Directions in Management Accounting, Brussels, Belgium.

Brown, P, Ly, T, Pham, H & Sivabalan, P 1970, 'Exploring the role of automation and its relation to management controls in dynamic environments: energy efficiency management in service sectors', Journal of International Accounting Research Conference, Venice, Italy.

Bugeja, M, Govendir, B, Matolcsy, Z & Pazmandy, G 1970, 'Is there an association between Vice Chancellors' compensation and University performance', European Accounting Associatoion (EAA) 41st Annual Congress, Milan, Italy.

Chen, X & Ma, L 1970, 'Herding behavior in equity crowdfunding', The 30th Annual Conference of Chinese Economics Society Australia Conference, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Chen, X & Ma, L 1970, 'Herding behavior in equity crowdfunding', The 16th International Open and User Innovation Conference, New York University, US.

Chia, Q, Brown, P, Labeeuw, L, Bajada, C, Ghannam, S, Pham, H, Wright, A & Ralph, P 1970, 'Comparing alternative algal cultivation systems for biodiesel production by utilizing an integrated model of sustainability', 17th Australasian - Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Conference, Melbourne.

Christodoulou, D, Ma, L, Matsypura, D & Zhang, Y 1970, 'Measuring the depth and breadth of technological impact with patent citations', The 30th Annual Conference of Chinese Economics Society Australia Conference, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Ghannam, S, Bugeja, M & Jeganathan, D 1970, 'Does Co-option Affect Merger and Acquisition Outcomes for Bidding Firms', 2018 Paris Financial Management Conference, Paris.

Ghannam, S, Bugeja, M & Jeganathan, D 1970, 'Does Co-option Affect Merger and Acquisition Outcomes for Bidding Firms', 2018 Vietnam Symposium in Banking and Finance, Vietnam.

Ghannam, S, Bugeja, M & Jeganathan, D 1970, 'Does Co-option Affect Merger and Acquisition Outcomes for Bidding Firms', 15th Workshop on Corporate Governance, Brussels.

Ghannam, S, Bugeja, M & Jeganathan, D 1970, 'Does Co-option Affect Merger and Acquisition Outcomes for Bidding Firms?', European Accounting Association Annual Congress.

Ghannam, S, Grosse, M, Loyeung, A & Ma, N 1970, 'The Role of Powerful CEOs in the Appointment of Accounting Financial Experts to the Audit Committee', European Accounting Association Annual Congress., Milan.

Ghannam, S, Matolcsy, Z, Spiropoulos, H & Thai, N 1970, 'The Role of Powerful Chairman in Mergers and Acquisitions', Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics Conference.

Govendir, B, Lanis, R, McClure, R & Wells, PA 1970, 'Dividend Imputation and Optimal Tax Rates', Forthcoming: American Accounting Association, 2018 Annual Meeting, National Harbor, MD (Washington, DC).

Grosse, M, Ma, N & Scott, T 1970, 'Interim Reviews and the Association between Partner Rotations and Audit Fees', International Journal of Auditing, Auckland Region Accounting Conference, Wiley, Auckland University of Technology, pp. 214-229.
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Khrenova, E, Ma, L, Matolcsy, Z & Spiropoulos, H 1970, 'Market implied earnings: a new approach to examine the information content of GAAP and non-GAAP earnings', The 41th European Accounting Association Conference, Bocconi University, Italy.

Lam, P, Li, L, Law, J & Tong, W 1970, 'Performance Informativeness and CEO Turnover upon Differing Industry Conditions', Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference, Auckland.

Lee, R, Ma, L & Miihkinen, A 1970, 'Measuring customer awareness from rm disclosures: what determines customer orientation and what are the impacts on investments, innovation and performance?', The 14th Interdisciplinary Conference on Intangibles and Intellectual Capital, University of Munich, Germany.

Lewis, R, Brown, D & Sutton, N 1970, 'The role of meetings in the control of managerial attention', Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, Auckland.

Malmi, T, Bedford, D, Bruhl, R, Dergard, J, Hoozee, S, Janschek, O & Willert, J 1970, 'The use of management controls in different cultural regions: An empirical study of Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Nordic practices', Accounting, Organizations and Society Conference on Management Control as System or Package, Accounting, Organizations and Society Conference on Management Control as System or Package, Maastricht, Netherlands.

Ossimitz, Wieder, B, Chapman, P & Thirathon, U 1970, 'Management Accounting in the Big Data Era – Opportunities or Threats?', http://icesal.org/proceedings.html (nya), International Conference on Enterprise Systems, Accounting and Logistics, Thessaloniki, Greece.
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Over the past two decades, the digital revolution has brought along (a) ‘Big Data’, i.e. data which have rapidly become too big in volume, too diverse in nature and too rapidly changing to be handled in conventional databases and analysed using conventional tools, and (b) ‘data science’, “the study of the generalizable extraction of knowledge from data” (Dhar 2013), which develops and applies tools to manage and analyse (Big) Data. Data scientists are seen as new breed of managerial decision supporters, and insofar cross traditional management accounting territory.The aim of this study is to investigate the current and predict the future relationships between management accounting and the emerging data science discipline, based on a systematic analysis of the academic and practitioner literatures. While there is very little empirical evidence of an actual impact of data science on the management accounting profession, such impacts are predicted for the near future.Management accountants are expected to break with their traditions and collaborate with data scientists for mutual benefits. On the one hand, management accountants can be ‘data businesspeople’ or ‘horizontal data scientists’, who contribute essential business knowledge and data understanding to data science/Big Data projects. To succeed in such efforts, established and graduating management accountants face a need for up-skilling in technology, statistics, data mining, etc. and move into deeper analysis. Data scientists, on the other hand, can use their technical expertise to enrich established management accounting techniques and practices (e.g. the Balanced Scorecard, forecasting, etc.) with more advanced statistical or machine learning techniques.

Pazmandy, G, Bugeja, M & Matolcsy, Z 1970, 'Is there a governance failure in corporatised Australian Government Business Enterprises? Evidence from their Chief Executive Officers’ compensation.', Australia.
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Over the last three decades, governments have commercialised and corporatised many of their government business enterprises (GBEs) without privatising them under New Public Management (NPM) policy, which requires them to act as a corporate sector entity. These GBEs have independent boards that are responsible for the corporate governance of these entities, including the hiring of chief executive officers (CEOs) and determining their compensation. We examine the association between pay and performance for CEOs of GBEs and find that the levels and changes in CEO compensation are not associated with GBE performance despite being the explicit intent of NPM and regulatory policy. We suggest that this corporate governance failure could be due to the composition of the GBE boards. Our evidence shows that only 11.29% of directors appointed have public listed company experience with the balance of director appointments, being either senior public servants or political appointments who may lack the motivation or have any incentive to closely monitor CEO compensation. Accordingly, we suggest some possible policy changes to both the determination of CEO compensation and the composition of GBE boards.

Pazmandy, GP, Bugeja, M & Matolcsy, Z 1970, 'Is there a governance failure in Australian government business enterprises? Evidence from their CEO compensation', European Accounting Association EAA 2018, Milan, Italy.

Soco, S, Brown, P & Pham, H 1970, 'The Role of Environmental Management Accounting for the Control of Energy in an Agricultural Setting', 17th Australasian - Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Conference, 17th Australasian - Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Conference, Melbourne.

Wakefield, J & Frawley, J 1970, 'What impact does social media disruption have on introductory accounting student performance?', European Accounting Association Annual Congress, Milan, Italy.

Wakefield, J & Tyler, J 1970, 'Large lectures in the technological interactivity era: Value added or time waster', AFAANZ Annual Conference, Auckland.

Wakefield, J & Tyler, J 1970, 'Technologically interactive lectures in Accounting 101: Gain or gimmick', RMIT Accounting Educators Conference, Melbourne.

Wang, K, Chang, L & Cheng, M 1970, 'Facilitating innovation: The role of enabling strategic performance measurement systems', Monforma, Monash University.

Wang, K, Chang, L & Cheng, M 1970, 'Reducing strategy surrogation: The effects of flexibility of strategic performance measurement systems, environmental dynamism and strategy engagement', European Accounting Association 41st Annual Congress, Bocconi University.

Wang, K, Chang, L & Cheng, M 1970, 'Reducing strategy surrogation: The effects of flexible strategic performance measurement systems', 2018 Accounting Behavior and Organizations Sectopm Research Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S..

White, A & Ma, N 1970, 'Exploring the use of video interviews to prepare students for the transition to employment', Students Transition Achievement Retention and Success, Auckland, NZ.

White, A & Ma, N 1970, 'Work integrated learning: preparing students for graduate recruitment using a video interview assessment task', CPA Australia – 2018 Emerging Academics Forum, Melbourne.

Chen, X & Ma, L 2018, 'To Herd the Expert or the Crowd? An Investigation of Herding Behavior in Chinese Equity Crowdfunding Market'.

Ribeiro, A, Shan, Y & Taylor, SL 2018, 'Non-GAAP Earnings and the Earnings Quality Trade-off'.