Firm Office Research Articles

Nexus among cloud-based accounting, employee job performance, employee digital skills and operational performance: a mediating–moderating model

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the nexus among cloud-based accounting (CBA), employee job performance (EJP) and operational performance (OPP) in the circumstances of Vietnam, an emerging nation. In which the authors examine EJP as a mediator variable inside the research model. Furthermore, the employee digital skills (EDS) factor is examined as a moderating variable for the CBA-EJP nexus and the CBA-OPP nexus, respectively.Design/methodology/approachThe study’s sample was acquired through extensive screening methods. This study used email surveys to acquire data. The survey was sent to 1,200 chief financial officers of Vietnamese firms. For analysis, the ending pattern of 401 e-surveys was used.FindingsBy using partial least squares structural equation modeling, the results imply that the CBA has a favorable effect on EJP and OPP. Furthermore, EJP favorably mediates the linkage between CBA and OPP, whereas EDS play a significant moderator role in the CBA-EJP nexus and CBA-OPP nexus, respectively.Practical implicationsThis study highlights the crucial role of human factors (i.e. EDS and EJP) for the internal modern applying behaviors (i.e. CBA) and firm value (i.e. OPP) of firms in emerging markets. Therefore, managers should scrutinize the performance of human factors in an essential interval to improve modern applied behaviors and make them more powerful, thus improving the OPP of their firms. Substantially, firm managers should focus on employing the EDS, which enhances the CBA-EJP nexus and the CBA-OPP nexus, respectively.Originality/valueThis study enlarges the OPP documentation by detailing the beneficial effects of human factors as well as the CBA. Furthermore, the study recognizes the effectiveness of EDS as a moderator variable in the context of developing economies. Finally, this work has been regarded as earlier empirical research that integrates all of the aforementioned components into a single model in emerging economies, particularly Vietnam.

Agency motives and the corporate diversification decision: perspectives of corporate executives in Nigeria

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the motives (especially the agency motives) for corporate diversification from the perspective of corporate executives who make such strategic decisions and manage the diversified firms daily.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach was adopted, and 12 chief executive officers (CEOs) of diversified firms in Nigeria were interviewed for their perspectives on the motives for corporate diversification.FindingsStewardship motives – diversification to use excess capacities in assets and resources to exploit opportunities in the market and defend against adverse environmental developments – were the most cited reasons for diversification. The relevant agency problem related to corporate diversification motive in Nigeria is the principal–principal (majority shareholder-minority shareholder) one. CEOs with substantial holdings in their firms indicated that they use diversification to reduce their investment risk and retain control of their portfolio.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that in corporate environments such as Nigeria that feature blockholding prominently, the corporate strategy-related agency problem that policymakers should pay greater attention to is the principal–principal conflict rather than the traditional agent–principal problem that has influenced corporate governance over the years. There is also a need to revise the dominant view that diversification is a value-destroying strategy motivated by the self-seeking behavior of managers who have little or no shares in the companies they manage.Originality/valueThe few studies on motives for corporate diversification that incorporated the perspectives of corporate executives did not address the agency motives of diversification. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has done so.

Green intellectual capital and competitive advantage: the moderating role of corporate philanthropy during COVID-19

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between green intellectual capital (GIC) and competitive advantage (CA) and proposes the moderating role of corporate philanthropy types (cash, in-kind and both) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study investigates the types of corporate philanthropy, strengthening the link between GIC and CA for Chinese listed firms during a pandemic.Design/methodology/approachCross-sectional data were collected from 248 chief executive officers (CEOs) of Chinese firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange through a structured questionnaire. Regression analysis was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe findings reveal that all types of GIC positively influence a firm's CA. Furthermore, all three types of philanthropy – cash, in-kind and both – moderate the relationship between GIC and CA. However, the intensity of moderation was higher in the case of in-kind philanthropy than in the other two types.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study to examine the relationship between GIC (considering its three components: human, structural and relational capital) and CA in China. The study finds different types of philanthropy as moderating variables to better explain the relationship between GIC and CA. Further, it contributes to a new line of research that aims to study philanthropic aspects connected to the GIC debate.

Strategic Procurement Practices and Performance of Investment Firms Listed in Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya

The overall goal of the proposed study was to lay out the impact of key obtainment rehearses on acquisition execution of venture companies recorded in the NSE, Kenya. The specific objectives were to investigate how investment firms listed on the NSE’s procurement performance is affected by strategic supplier relationship practice; to determine how strategic contract management practices affect investment firms listed on the NSE procurement performance; To determine the impact of strategic sourcing on the procurement performance of NSE-listed investment firms in Kenya and; to ascertain how the practice of strategic negotiation affects investment procurement performance firms listed in the NSE, Kenya. This research problem was studied through the use of a cross-sectional research design. The units of observation constituted the 104 top and middle management staff working in the offices of investment firms listed in the NSE. This study used Yamane’s method to understand the sample size. Following this sample determination formula, the calculation generated a sample of 83 respondents from which the study sought information from. This study utilized both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was gathered using research questionnaire as the research instrument. To complement the primary data, secondary data collection sheet was employed in collecting the secondary data from audited reports of the Company, NSE and other reliable sources. The researcher dropped the questionnaires physically through face-to-face method requesting them to fill them promptly and pick them up once filled up. The structured questions were used in an effort to conserve time and money as well as to facilitate in easier analysis as they are in immediate usable form; while the unstructured questions were used so as to encourage the respondent to give an in-depth and felt response without feeling held back in revealing of any information. Before processing the responses, the completed questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency. The raw primary data collected was coded prior to being input into SPSS statistical analysis software. Once coded, the data was then cleaned to ensure accuracy and completeness of the information obtained. The data collected was both quantitative and qualitative and it was analyzed descriptively and inferentially. In addition, correlation analysis was conducted to the indicated the nature (positive or negative) and significance of the relationships between the variables in the study. Regression analysis was used to test the direction and magnitude of the relationship between the study variables. The study found that strategic supplier relationship affects procurement performance of investment firms listed in the NSE to a great extent. Utilization of strategic contract management practice was found to affect the procurement performance of the investment firms to a great extent. The study found that strategic sourcing practice affects the procurement performance of investment firms to a great extent. Strategic negotiation practice affects procurement performance to a moderate extent.It is imperative that Investment firms listed in the NSE reviews their existing procurement systems in order to identify the weak points and fasten them. Investment firms listed in the NSE should adopt customer orientation and then implement customer integration in order to receive a high level of procurement performance. Investment firms listed in the NSE should try as much as possible to tailor make their processes to best suit their unique needs.

‘A building of shame and disgrace’ or ‘trial by media’? Media framing of KPMG Netherlands’ head office

This paper centers on the role that a material artefact—KPMG Netherlands’ head office—has played in the Dutch media’s attempt to hold the audit profession to account. It employs the literatures on news framing and the media’s social control function, to analyze how the press mobilized the building as a perceived space that epitomized extant professional conduct. Using a strategy of temporal bracketing, the paper traces how an initially weak claim against KPMG amplified and expanded after successive revelations, which ultimately triggered a criminal investigation into charges of fraud, tax evasion, and forgery. The paper shows the media’s ability to construct and enact reporting frames that suppress voices from the audit field and that set a reform agenda for both firm and profession. It also reveals the contrast between the values that audit firm offices seek to convey and those they come to embody in the eyes of the public.

Does regional audit market competition influence audit pricing? Evidence based on the spatial distribution of the audit market

This study examines the impacts of audit market competition on audit fees. We show that more audit firms and offices located near listed companies lead to lower audit fees. The negative relationship is 1) stronger when companies and auditors are located in the same city and there are few other auditors accessible and 2) weaker when the incumbent auditor is surveyed by the CICPA for low-price competition. The negative effect of the number of audit firms and offices in a company's vicinity on audit fees is mainly due to the increase in the number of local audit firm offices.

Accounting firm office size and tax aggressiveness

AbstractThis paper empirically investigates the association between the size of accounting firm offices and corporate tax aggressiveness. We find that clients audited by large offices have lower levels of corporate tax aggressiveness. We also find that such a negative relation is less pronounced when an accounting firm office provides tax services or when the office possesses tax‐specific industry expertise, and it is more pronounced when a client is financially important. The study contributes to the literature by documenting the role of accounting firm offices in influencing tax aggressiveness.

Perancangan Aplikasi Pelayanan dan Konsultasi Hukum Berbasis Web pada Kantor Law Firm Duma & Co

Law Firm Duma & Co is a professional legal consultant with high competence and integrity. The work unit for services and legal consultations is obliged to prepare a strategic plan that contains vision, mission, goals, strategies, policies, services, and is indicative in nature. The problem that occurs in the Duma Law Firm Office is that there is no information service regarding legal services that can be accessed by customers online and the customer must come to the Duma Law Firm Office to conduct a consultation. This process is very time consuming and consulting activities are not well documented due to the absence of complete reports during monitoring or evaluation. With these problems, there is an alternative that can help solve these problems by implementing a reliable computerized system. It is hoped that information can be obtained quickly, precisely and more efficiently and effectively. The design method used in this research is the Unifield Modeling Language (UML) method. While making applications in this study using the PHP programming language while the database uses MySQL.

Does Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Regulatory Enforcement Deter Low-Quality Audits?

ABSTRACT Regulatory economics suggests that one benefit of public enforcement is the deterrence of improper conduct. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design, we investigate whether a deterrence effect follows the revelation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) enforcement. We find that large audit firm offices improve audit quality following enforcement naming another office within their firm while small firm offices improve following enforcement of local small firm competitors, with these responses varying by enforcement type. To understand potential mechanisms for the geographic deterrence effect, we examine the first occurrence of a revoked PCAOB registration within a market and find that results are stronger if there is greater news coverage or if nonsanctioned firms are in closer proximity to the sanctioned auditor. Supplemental tests reveal that results are stronger when nonsanctioned auditor clients are similar to the sanctioned firm’s clientele. Our findings suggest a positive but varied deterrence effect following PCAOB enforcement. JEL Classifications: G38; M42; M48.

Application of Measuring Instruments with Elements of Artificial Intelligence to Optimize Cross-Cultural Communications of Personnel of Outsourcing Sewing Enterprises

Continuous changes in the global world affect the interaction of Russian and foreign enterprises. The long-term experience of cooperation between the sewing enterprises of Russia and China has shown that for the fruitful development of relations in a period of unstable international situation, it is necessary to introduce a new communication format into the production cycle digital quality control of semi-finished and finished clothing products. Since the middle of the last century, outsourcing has become an actual form of development of the global clothing industry, involving remote interaction between the head offices of design firms and contractor factories. A feature of labor relations at outsourcing enterprises is the maintenance of norms and values of business cultures of cooperating countries. Due to interethnic differences in the interpretation of such a basic concept in the industry as “the quality of sewing”, controversial situations often arise that reduce the positive image and reputation of representatives of conflicting parties. The introduction of a contactless form of acceptance of finished products using the computer vision tool will not only optimize the final inspection stage, but also improve the psychological climate when interacting with the controller-inspector and employees of the outsourcing factory. Computer vision effectively detects the emerging defect among semi-finished garments.

CPAs and Big 4 office audit quality

Both accounting firms and regulators recognize the importance of human capital in the audit function, yet we know little about whether and how the level of professionally qualified human capital varies across offices of an audit firm and whether it is associated with audit quality. In this paper, we examine the association between office professionally qualified human capital and audit quality. Using hand-collected data on Big 4 audit firm office CPA levels from 30 U.S. cities, we find that offices with relatively more professionally qualified human capital deliver higher quality audits, with this benefit being more pronounced for audits performed during busy season than for non-busy season audits. The results underscore the importance of the availability of professionally qualified human capital in an audit office to the office’s audit quality. Our finding of CPA levels being an office-level audit quality indicator will potentially help the PCAOB in their ongoing Audit Quality Indicator (AQI) project, whose goal is to assist audit firms, clients, and investors in measuring audit quality. Furthermore, the results lend credibility toward the CPA designation, which helps justify the AICPA’s, NASBA’s, and state Accountancy Boards’ regulatory roles of admitting and licensing qualified candidates.

Strategizing Femininity between the Global and the Taiwanese Local: Implications for International Relations

Abstract The article tackles a conceptual topic of postcolonial feminism—self-feminization. Specifically, the article explores the femininity of Taiwanese professionals’ bridging role between the head and branch offices of multinational firms in Taiwan, as well as between an allegedly universal ethos in science, market, and the globalization on the one hand and the humanist concerns for emotion, relation, and nuance on the other. The femininity of financial office as well as other local capacities demonstrates how they can improvise relationships for mutually estranging actors. Then, the article extends the discussion to allude to international relations, divided by an allegedly universal (usually conversional) and indigenous (usually resistant) force in terms of value, institution, relation, or identity. I use the local branch office qua the indigenous, the head office qua the universal, and the professionals who bridge between them as metaphors for China, the West or the global forces, and Taiwan, respectively.

Do energy and firm characteristics matter for sustainable development practices? An empirical evidence

PurposeThis study aims to examine whether energy governance mechanisms, energy consumption, energy poverty and firm characteristics do matter for sustainable development practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a cross-sectional survey of production managers, engineers and chief finance officers of firms under the Uganda Manufacturers Association. The data analysis was mainly done using the partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsThe regression analysis results indicate that ownership structure, capital structure, energy governance mechanisms, energy poverty and energy consumption do matter for improved sustainable development practices. Firm age does not significantly matter for sustainable development practices.Originality/valueThis study provides initial evidence on what matters for improvement in sustainable development practices using evidence from developing African countries such as Uganda whose major focus is the attraction of foreign investors. Such countries focus on improvement in economic growth at the expense of social and environmental concerns.

Chief Executive Officers Entrepreneurial Orientation, Dynamic Capabilities, and Firm Performance: The Moderating Effect of the Manufacturing Industry.

This study explores the implications of CEO entrepreneurial orientation for firm performance through corporate dynamic capabilities. It explores the moderating effects of firm industry type on the above indirect effect. Based on 188 matched sample data collected from vice chief executive officers (CEOs) of Chinese firms, this study found that CEO entrepreneurial orientation was positively related to corporate dynamic capabilities and firm performance and that corporate dynamic capabilities mediated the positive relationship between CEO entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Firm industry type moderated the direct effect of CEO entrepreneurial orientation on corporate dynamic capability, and the indirect effect of CEO entrepreneurial orientation on firm performance through corporate dynamic capability. Both direct and indirect effects were stronger in manufacturing enterprises. The findings enrich the CEO entrepreneurial orientation literature by extending the existing knowledge on its underlying mechanism and its impact on firm performance, as well as its boundary conditions.

The Reinvented accounting firm office: Impression management for efficiency, client relations and cost control

The office has become a large scale organisational phenomenon accommodating large numbers of organisational employees most often housed in open plan and Activity Based Working settings that arguably resemble the new factory. This study examines contemporary Big 4 accounting firm office design innovations and their representation with a view to eliciting their claimed rationales, reflections of historical office design and management thinking, and apparent strategic agendas with respect to office efficiency, client relations and cost control involved in their offering of professional services. In doing so, it also explores the implications that public practice firms' office design may have for auditor independence and audit quality. Informed by Goffman's theories of impression management, the study employs historical and website analysis, finding a predominant firm focus on office efficiency and client relations with an undercurrent of cost reduction and revenue enhancement aspirations. While represented as innovative current office design and work pattern developments, public practice accounting firm office innovations and intentions are found to significantly reflect historical office design and management thinking, with dramaturgical circumspection of floor designs and props oriented towards creating front stage performances predesigned for clients' impression management. Where backstage redesign and frame breaking does not produce desired employee performance changes, some signs of retreating to more traditional floor redesign and territorial marker usage are evident. The study also signals the potential for innovative accounting firm office designs to carry some significant impacts upon audit independence and audit quality.

The Spillover Effect of Audit Firm Office Acquisition on the Audit Quality of the Existing Client Base

SYNOPSIS This study investigates accounting firm office acquisitions. It explores whether office acquisitions affect post-acquisition office audit quality, particularly whether there is a spillover effect on the existing client base of the acquiring office. We capitalize on a unique circumstance: the 2002 acquisition of Arthur Andersen (Andersen) offices by other audit firms. This setting involves a set of offices in each of the remaining large international audit firms that acquired entire Andersen local practices and a set of offices that did not acquire Andersen practices. Using a within-audit firm matched sample and a difference-in-differences research design, we find robust evidence of higher audit quality post-acquisition among the audits of existing clients of the acquiring offices. These findings extend the literature on office audit quality and provide initial evidence of the impact of audit firm office acquisitions on the existing client base. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources noted in the text. JEL Classifications: M42.

CEOs’ understanding of blockchain technology and its adoption in export-oriented companies in West Sweden: a survey

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study current practices in adopting blockchain technology amongst export companies in West Sweden and to capture their CEOs’ knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchains.Design/methodology/approachFactors enabling or hindering the adoption of blockchains were identified from a comprehensive literature review and a survey of 72 chief executive officers (CEOs) of export-oriented firms in West Sweden, all with turnovers exceeding €2m, regarding their knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchains.FindingsBlockchain technology is not currently perceived to provide benefits that would outweigh the costs of introducing it into West Sweden’s export firms. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that such technology, though currently too immature to meet today’s industrial requirements, could experience more widespread use if certain key factors (i.e. lower cost, traceability, improved security or trustworthiness and new blockchain-enabled business models) are prioritised.Research limitations/implicationsAnswered by 72 CEOs, the survey achieved a response rate of 6%, meaning that the findings are only exploratory. Even so, they offer new insights into CEOs’ attitudes towards blockchain technology.Practical implicationsThe CEOs reported comparatively limited knowledge of and experience with implementing blockchains, the lack of which has hampered their large-scale implementation in multi-actor supply chains.Social implicationsNegative sentiment amongst CEOs towards blockchain technology may lower on-the-job satisfaction amongst tech personnel aspiring to develop and implement blockchain applications in their firms.Originality/valueKnowledge of and attitudes towards blockchain technology amongst top-level managers, as well as about factors enabling or hindering its adoption, guide managers in crafting strategies for implementing blockchains in their organisations and maximising the benefits therein. Unlike past studies focussing on technological aspects or views of experts and middle-management, the study was designed to capture the views of CEOs.

Kecerdasan Emosional Memoderasi Pengaruh Tekanan Peran terhadap Kejenuhan Kerja Auditor Pada KAP Provinsi Bali

The purpose of this study is to analyze emotional intelligence moderating the influence of role pressure on the saturation of auditor performance in Bali Provincial Public Accountant Firm. This research was conducted in all Public Accountant Firm offices in Bali Province as many as nine offices in the Bali Region in 2019 by making 48 auditors as samples with the saturated sample method. Data collection is done by distributing questionnaires, tested through regression analysis moderation techniques. Based on the results of the analysis, the role pressure variable has a significant positive effect on the saturation of the auditor's performance at Public Accountant Firm in Bali Province. Emotional intelligence moderates the influence of role pressure significantly positive effect on the saturation of the auditor's performance on Public Accountant Firm in the province of Bali.
 Keywords: Role Pressure; Emotional Intelligence; Work Saturation.

Commuting and innovation: Are closer inventors more productive?

We estimate the causal effect of workplace–home commuting distance on inventor productivity. We construct a novel panel of U.S. inventors with precisely measured workplace–home distances and inventor-level productivity. Our identification strategy exploits firm office relocations as exogenous variation in the commuting distance of inventors at the firms. We find a significant negative effect from commuting distance on inventor productivity: every 10 km increase in distance is associated with a 5% decrease in patents per inventor–firm pair per year and an even greater 7% decrease in patent quality. The highest-performing inventors suffer more from increased commuting distance. We discuss the implications of our findings in the light of recent trends around telecommuting and remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Office design processes, strategizing and time intermingling: an agenda to shape spaces and minds in public accounting firms

PurposeThis paper investigates the strategic processes surrounding the development, in accounting firms, of office (re)design projects and their overarching objectives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ investigation relies on a series of interviews with individuals from different accounting firms involved in the decision process related to office (re)design projects. A triangular template made up of strategy, space and time informs the analysis, which the authors complement by relying on a strategy-as-practice integrated framework.FindingsThe authors found that accounting firm office (re)design projects are characterized by a strategic spatial agenda that aims to define and create present organizational time, in ways that embed a particular vision of the future. The analysis brings to light the interrelationships between strategy practitioners, strategy practices and strategic work through which the future is actualized. Office design processes involve not only the physical transformation of office space; they also promote a prominent agenda to modify, in the long run, office members' minds. Hence, office (re)design processes may be conceived of as a significant device in the socialization of accounting practitioners.Research limitations/implicationsThis study underscores that spatial strategizing constitutes a major device through which the future is brought into the present. As such, the analysis provides insights not only into the processes through which space transformations take place, but also into their underlying agenda. The latter promotes the advent, in present time, of the organic office of the future.Practical implicationsThis analysis brings to the fore a concrete illustration of how the strategy-space-time triangle operates in organizational life. The authors underline the key role played by strategists in charge of designing the office of the future.Originality/valueThis study extends the burgeoning literature whose analytical gaze is informed by the strategy, space, and time triangle.