BE154-7-SP-CO:
International Management Accounting
2024/25
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
20
20 June 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MSC N43112 International Accounting and Banking,
MACCN440 Accounting and Finance,
MACCN441 Accounting and Finance (Including Placement Year),
MACCN442 Accounting and Finance (Including Year Abroad)
The module critically examines traditional management control systems in the context of different cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts.
The module will also explore the current debate of privatisation and public sector reforms and their underlying assumptions implicating better accounting controls in privatised enterprises in less developed and emerging countries.
The aims of this module are:
- To review and analyze changing management accounting control practices within public and private sector organizations in emerging and less developed countries in the context of environmental change, institutional and socio-economic factors.
- To review and analyze various management accounting control theories and ground them in real life contexts.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Engage in critical debate in the examination of traditional management control theory in different cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts.
- Understand management control practices operating in enterprises located in emerging and less developed countries.
- Understand management controls in public sector and local governments.
- Understand the current debate of privatisation and public sector reforms and their underlying assumptions implicating better accounting controls in privatized enterprises in LDCs and emerging countries.
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
The module aims to develop a variety of personal transferable skills by encouraging students to:
- Identify and distill key features and arguments covered in (research) texts, and presentations.
- Communicate effectively orally and in writing, in presentations and essays.
- Discriminate between relevant and irrelevant information for the purposes of doing and evaluating research lead projects.
- Apply analytical skills and critical judgment as required to handle a wide range of management accounting control (research) problems.
- Develop coherent and well-structured lines of argument supported by relevant analysis and concepts.
- Participate in group discussions.
- Work under pressure and meet deadlines.
No additional information available.
This module will be delivered via:
Students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning and development. During the sessions, topics identified below will be discussed and often students will be encouraged to present material and/or lead a discussion. All students are expected to have prepared adequately for each session.
Lecture slides will be distributed to students via email in advance to give guidance for further reading. The main purpose of making lecture slides available for students in advance is to encourage students to be prepared for the discussions in the sessions. Lecture notes will primarily come in the form of bullet points – you are advised to read the articles listed in the booklet in order to have clarification of the bullet points
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Carr, C. and Tomkins, C. (1998) 'Context, culture and the role of the finance function in strategic decisions. A comparative analysis of Britain, Germany, the U.S.A. and Japan',
Management Accounting Research, 9(2), pp. 213–239. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1006/mare.1998.0075.
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Carr, C. and Tomkins, C. (1996) 'Strategic investment decisions: the importance of SCM. A comparative analysis of 51 case studies in U.K., U.S. and German companies',
Management Accounting Research, 7(2), pp. 199–217. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1006/mare.1996.0012.
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Hofstede, G.H. (2001)
Culture's consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/570457.
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McSweeney, B. (2002) 'Hofstede's Model of National Cultural Differences and their Consequences: A Triumph of Faith - a Failure of Analysis',
Human Relations, 55(1), pp. 89–118. Available at:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726702551004.
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Wickramasinghe, D. and Hopper, T. (2005) 'A cultural political economy of management accounting controls: a case study of a textile Mill in a traditional Sinhalese village',
Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 16(4), pp. 473–503. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2003.07.001.
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Chow, C.W., Shields, M.D. and Wu, A. (1999) 'The importance of national culture in the design of and preference for management controls for multi-national operations',
Accounting, Organizations and Society, 24(5-6), pp. 441–461. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(99)00047-1.
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Ashton, D., Hopper, T. and Scapens, R.W. (1995b) 'Management Control, Organisational Design and Accounting Information Systems', in Issues in management accounting. 2nd ed. London: Prentice Hall, pp. 45–63.
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Ashton, D., Hopper, T. and Scapens, R.W. (1995a) 'Accounting Measures, Motivation and Performance Appraisal', in Issues in management accounting. 2nd ed. London: Prentice Hall, pp. 237–257.
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Bimberg, J.G., Luft, J. and Shields, M.D. (2006) 'Psychology theory in management accounting research', in
Handbook of management accounting research. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 113–135. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751324306010042.
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Otley, D. (2016) 'The contingency theory of management accounting and control: 1980–2014',
Management Accounting Research, 31, pp. 45–62. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2016.02.001.
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Chenhall, R.H. (2006) 'Theorizing Contingencies in Management Control Systems Research', in
Handbooks of management accounting research. Elsevier, pp. 163–205. Available at:
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1751324306010066.
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Cooper, D.J. and Hopper, T. (2006) 'Critical Theorising in Management Accounting Research', in
Critical Theorising in Management Accounting Research. Elsevier, pp. 207–245. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1751-3243(06)01007-8.
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Jones, S. (ed.) (2015)
The Routledge companion to financial accounting theory. Abingdon: Routledge. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=999239.
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Hopper, T. and Uddin, S. (2012)
Handbook of accounting and development. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=981461.
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Tsamenyi, M., Hopper, T. and Uddin, S. (2017) 'Changing control and accounting in an African gold mine',
Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 13(2), pp. 282–308. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-03-2014-0017.
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Jayasinghe, K. and Uddin, S. (2019) 'Continuity and change in development discourses and the rhetoric role of accounting',
Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, 9(3), pp. 314–334. Available at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JAEE-01-2018-0011/full/pdf?title=continuity-and-change-in-development-discourses-and-the-rhetoric-role-of-accounting.
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Ashraf, J. and Uddin, S. (2016) 'New public management, cost savings and regressive effects: A case from a less developed country',
Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 41, pp. 18–33. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2015.07.002.
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Horton, S. (2003) 'Participation and Involvement – The democratisation of new public management?',
International Journal of Public Sector Management, 16(6), pp. 403–411. Available at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513550310492058/full/pdf?title=guest-editorial-participation-and-involvement-the-democratisation-of-new-public-management.
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Tambulasi, R.I.C. (2007) 'Who is fooling who?: New public management-oriented management accounting and political control in Malawi's local governance',
Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 3(3), pp. 302–328. Available at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/18325910710820319/full/pdf?title=who-is-fooling-who-new-public-managementoriented-management-accounting-and-political-control-in-the-malawis-local-governance.
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Uddin, S. and Hopper, T. (2001) 'A Bangladesh soap opera: privatisation, accounting, and regimes of control in a less developed country',
Accounting, Organizations and Society, 26(7-8), pp. 643–672. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(01)00019-8.
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Xu, W. and Uddin, S. (2008) 'Public sector reforms, privatisation and regimes of control in a Chinese enterprise',
Accounting Forum, 32(2), pp. 162–177. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2007.12.005.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Coursework |
2,000 word essay |
|
40% |
Coursework |
3,000 words essay |
|
60% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Shahzad Uddin, email: snuddin@essex.ac.uk.
Professor Shahzad Uddin & Dr Anne Steinhoff
ebspgtad@essex.ac.uk
Yes
No
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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