On September 26, 1924, the ground collapsed beneath a truck in a back alley in Washington, D.C., revealing a mysterious underground labyrinth. In spite of wild speculations, the tunnel was not the work of German spies, but rather an aging, eccentric Smithsonian scientist named Harrison Gray Dyar, Jr. While Dyar's covert tunneling habits may seem far-fetched, they were merely one of many oddities in Dyar's unbelievable life. For the first time, insect biosystematist Marc E. Epstein presents...

An insiders' account of failed efforts to control corporate misconduct—and a forceful plan to do so.Nothing anyone has done in the past 50 years has stopped, or even slowed, corporate misconduct. Business schools have required courses on ethics, regulators have implemented laws and levied fines, and journalists have exposed the scandals named names, yet misconduct continues. Why? Is it simply the case of a few bad apples? Or maybe it's a bad orchard? Two pioneers in the field of bu...

This research monograph critically examines convergence of financial reporting in Germany by taking into account the influence of political, social and economic factors on accounting. This study makes an original and significant contribution by examining issues and biases in the convergence process that may challenge the assumption of superiority, global comparability and universal applicability of International Financial Reporting Standards. Specifically, this monograph critically evaluat...

Over the years, the performance measurement and management control conference has grown in number of participants, quality of presentations and reputation, and has attracted leading researchers in the field from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The 2011 theme was directed at global issues, and included the significant challenges of managing and measuring performance within and across different organizational and geographical boundaries, using theoretical, empir...

The Middle Ages provide us with one of the richest repositories of art in the West. Yet the rise in the production of art made for and by Jews—especially in the form of illuminated manuscripts—is often neglected in general surveys or viewed as a mere emulation of Christian art during this period.In People of the Image, Marc Michael Epstein demonstrates how medieval Jews transformed their visual art into a vital site of critical commentary. Through bold speculation and radi...

In times of economic turbulence, an organization's ability to learn from its environment and adopt innovations enhances its competitive advantage as well its ability to improve its performance. This book focuses specifically on the contribution learning and innovation in management accounting can contribute to the success of the organization. However, all management accounting innovations may not be successful. The success of an innovation is contingent upon whether the learning and implem...

Volume 21 features articles on: the impact of framed information and project importance on capital budgeting decisions; the measurement of participation in budgeting practice and research; the impact of adverse selection and risk propensity on managers' project evaluation decisions; relative hedonic utility and budgetary conflict resolution; management control systems, environmental uncertainty, and organizational slack; industrial relations, budgetary participation and budget use; corpora...

Featured in Volume 20 are articles on: information overload and multiple constituency values related to environmental and social disclosures; the extent to which product life cycle cost analysis, customer involvement and cost management contribute to the competitive advantage of firms; the development of sustainable practices in complex organizations; how the cost performance of defense contracts varies among the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Department of Defense (DoD) and among fiv...

Featured in Volume 22 of Advances in Management Accounting are articles on: The Effect of Personality Traits and Fairness on Honesty in Managerial Reporting; The Impact of Firm Size on the Productivity of Resources; Transfer of Performance Measurement System Innovations Across Economic Sectors; Target Costing and Product and Production Interdependencies; Cost Accounting, Simulation, and Post-Structuralist Understanding; Input-Based Performance Evaluation, Incentive Intensity, and Proactive...

For more than twenty years, major innovations—the kind that transform industries and even societies—seem to have come almost exclusively from startups. Established companies still dominate most markets, but despite massive efforts and millions of dollars, they can't seem to achieve the same kinds of foundational breakthroughs. The problem, say Tony Davila and Marc Epstein, is that the very processes and structures responsible for established companies' enduring success prevent them from de...

Advances in Management Accounting publishes thoughtful, well-developed articles across a broad spectrum of current topics in the field of management accounting, using a variety of research methods including survey research, field tests, corporate case studies and modeling. Volume 26 exemplifies the broad scope of Advances in Management Accounting, examining a number of areas within management accounting.

Advances in Management Accounting publishes thoughtful, well-developed articles across a broad spectrum of current topics in the field of management accounting, using a variety of research methods including survey research, field tests, corporate case studies and modeling. Volume 25 exemplifies the broad scope of Advances in Management Accounting, examining a number of key areas in management accounting.