INTERPRETIVE DISTANCE BETWEEN ACCOUNTING INFORMATION AND INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY: A HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY ON PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCY UNIVERSITIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24252/isafir.v6i1.58933Keywords:
Accounting Information, Strategic Decision Making, Public Service Agency Universities, Financial Statement InterpretationAbstract
This study aims to explore the meaning and practice of using accounting information in strategic decision making at Public Service Agency State Universities (PTN-BLU). This study arises from the phenomenon of low utilization of accounting information in public sector managerial practices and the limitations of the positivistic approach in understanding this context. Using an interpretive approach and hermeneutic phenomenological method, data were collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis, involving two key informants from internal control and strategic planning units. The results showed four main findings: accounting information is understood administratively and not strategically; there is a distance between accounting systems and policy logic; strategic decisions are dominated by bureaucratic and political narratives; and there is a weak interpretive culture of financial statements. The study asserts that accounting reform should go beyond technical aspects and emphasize the importance of interpretation of financial statements.
References
Adhariani, D., & de Villiers, C. (2019). Integrated reporting: perspectives of corporate report preparers and other stakeholders. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 10(1), 126–156. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-02-2018-0043
Ahrens, T., & Chapman, C. S. (2006). Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 31(8), 819–841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2006.03.007
Ball, R., & Brown, P. (n.d.). An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers.
Baxter, J., & Chua, W. F. (2003). Alternative management accounting research—whence and whither. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28(2–3), 97–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(02)00022-3
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice. Polity.
Broadbent, J., & Guthrie, J. (2008). Public Sector to Public Services: 20 Years of “Contextual” Accounting Research. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 21(2), 129–169. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513570810854383
Carnegie, G. D., & Napier, C. J. (2010). Traditional accountants and business professionals: Portraying the accounting profession after Enron. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35(3), 360–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2009.09.002
Christiaens, J., Vanhee, C., Manes-Rossi, F., Aversano, N., & van Cauwenberge, P. (2015). The effect of IPSAS on reforming governmental financial reporting: an international comparison. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 81(1), 158–177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852314546580
Covaleski, M. A., Dirsmith, M. W., & Samuel, S. (2003). Changes in the institutional environment and the institutions of governance: extending the contributions of transaction cost economics within the management control literature. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28(5), 417–441. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(02)00061-2
Creswell, J. W., & Cheryl N. Poth. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage Publications.
Djamhuri, A., & Mahmudi. (2006). New Public Management, Accounting reform, and Institutional perspective of public sector Accounting in Indonesia. 8(3), 301–321.
Ezzamel, M., Robson, K., Stapleton, P., & McLean, C. (2007). Discourse and institutional change: ‘Giving accounts’ and accountability. Management Accounting Research, 18(2), 150–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2007.03.001
Goddard, A. (2010). Contemporary public sector accounting research – An international comparison of journal papers. The British Accounting Review, 42(2), 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2010.02.006
Guthrie, J., Olson, O., & Humphrey, C. (1999). Debating Developments in New Public Financial Management: The Limits of Global Theorising and Some New Ways Forward. Financial Accountability & Management, 15(3–4), 209–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0408.00082
Hood, C. (1995). The “New Public Management” in the 1980s: Variations on a Theme. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 20(2–3), 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/0361-3682(93)E0001-W
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
