This book discusses and summarizes the revived interest in reality issues (ontology) within accounting, economics, and the information sciences, with a view to informing scholars from these different disciplines about each other’s endeavours in ontological research. Even more importantly, the book aims at familiarizing scholars from various disciplines with an evolutionary approach for examining questions about reality in the social sciences. The book is based on a partly pluralistic approach that assures unity in diversity. Unity, because all existence arises from physical reality; diversity, because emergent properties create biological and social realities that cannot be reduced to physical phenomena. Hence, the book recognizes not only concrete but also abstract entities. It shows, however, that the actualization of these abstract entities requires objectification and concrete manifestation. This pluralistic approach is central to this book. It also is a challenge to those who reject abstract entities as socially real, as well as to those who defend a non-realist position. The major task of this book is to explore proposals towards a uniform ontological basis. This uniform and universal presentation extends beyond traditional ontology (asking ‘what is real?’) to such questions as ‘on which reality level is something real?’ and ‘in which (temporal and modal) way is it real?’. Such an extended analysis) is relevant to accountants, economists, information scientists, other social scientists as well as philosophers.

This book provides rare, insider accounts of the academic research process, revealing the human stories and lived experiences behind research projects; the joys and mistakes of a wide range of international researchers principally from the fields of accounting and finance, but also from related fields in management, economics and the social studies of science.

How management accounting evolved with Lean principles.

An innovative new valuation framework with truly useful economic indicators The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers shows how the ubiquitous financial reports have become useless in capital market decisions and lays out an actionable alternative. Based on a comprehensive, large-sample empirical analysis, this book reports financial documents' continuous deterioration in relevance to investors' decisions. An enlightening discussion details the reasons why accounting is losing relevance in today's market, backed by numerous examples with real-world impact. Beyond simply identifying the problem, this report offers a solution—the Value Creation Report—and demonstrates its utility in key industries. New indicators focus on strategy and execution to identify and evaluate a company's true value-creating resources for a more up-to-date approach to critical investment decision-making. While entire industries have come to rely on financial reports for vital information, these documents are flawed and insufficient when it comes to the way investors and lenders work in the current economic climate. This book demonstrates an alternative, giving you a new framework for more informed decision making. Discover a new, comprehensive system of economic indicators Focus on strategic, value-creating resources in company valuation Learn how traditional financial documents are quickly losing their utility Find a path forward with actionable, up-to-date information Major corporate decisions, such as restructuring and M&A, are predicated on financial indicators of profitability and asset/liabilities values. These documents move mountains, so what happens if they're based on faulty indicators that fail to show the true value of the company? The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers shows you the reality and offers a new blueprint for more accurate valuation.

The book introduces pragmatic constructivism as a paradigm for understanding actors’ construction of functioning practice and for developing methods and concepts for managing and observing that practice. The book explores, understands and theorises organisational practices as constructed through the activities of all organisational actors. Actors always act under presumptions of a specific actor-world-relation which they continuously construct, adjust and reconstruct in light of new experiences, contexts and communication. The outcome of the actor-world-relation is a reality construction. The reality construction may function successfully or it may be hampered by fictitious and illusionary elements, due to missing or faulty actor-world relations. The thesis is that four dimensions of reality – facts, possibilities, values and communication – must be integrated in the actor-world-relation if the construct is to form a successful basis for effective, functioning actions. Drawing on pragmatic constructivism, the book provides concepts and ideas for studies regarding actors and their use of management accounting models in their construction of organized reality. It concentrates on researching and conceptualizing what creates functioning reality construction. It develops concept and methods for understanding, analysing and managing the actors’ reality constructions. It is intended for people who do research on or work actively with developing management accounting.

Kanodia presents a new approach to the study of accounting measurement that argues that how firms' economic transactions, earnings, and capital flows are measured and reported to the capital markets has substantial effects on the firms' real decisions and on the allocation of resources.

‘Remaining Relevant’ is practical and practiced advice for accountants to remain relevant in a ‘disrupted’ industry and has been described as “the most important business book that you will read this year.” Anthony S Bongiorno, The Bongiorno Group. The explosion of cloud computing and its impact on the accounting industry is the impetus for ‘Remaining Relevant’, which is all about the future of the accounting profession - essential reading in this manual for an accountant’s success. “Technology is enabling and will demand the accounting profession to transform. From the changing the engagement and service mix within a firm, to fixed fee billing and off shoring ... everything is up for review. As long-term industry insider and visionary, Rob has the unique capability to help accountants focus on what is important through his direct, and at times confronting, analysis of the profession. A must read.” Tim Reed, MYOB CEO “Rob Nixon is to accounting what Peter Drucker was to strategy: He creates new paradigms and fresh approaches to a discipline that would be headed for the doldrums without him.” Alan Weiss, PhD, Author, Million Dollar Consulting Rhode Island, USA “The accounting game is changing forever. Any partner who doesn’t acknowledge this is kidding themselves. The age of the dinosaur firm is coming to an end, and this book is a must for any accountant who wants to remain relevant in the 21st Century.” Chris Hooper, CEO, Accodex Adelaide, Australia