| 1. |
- Collin, Sven-Olof, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Explaining the choice of accounting standards in municipal corporations
- 2004
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Positive accounting theory (PAT) tries to explain corporations’ choices of accounting standards. Empirical research in this field has been focused on the choices made by large, listed corporations. We challenge this grounding through extending the empirical domain by testing PAT on Swedish municipal corporations. In order to be able to explain the choice of accounting standards in municipal corporations, PAT has to be complemented by institutional factors that can consider the forces of coercive, mimetic and normative pressures presented by the environment. The sample of municipal corporations showed that the choice of standards was significantly explained by both PAT factors and institutional factors. The conclusion is that municipal corporations tend to be subject to institutional influence by accepting the practice of their auditing firm and by using specific standards order to legitimise themselves when they have reached a certain size. Additionally, they tend to act according to PAT predictions by using those standards that are able to reduce the profit to levels that society deems acceptable for municipal corporations. Accordingly, through extending the empirical domain to municipal corporations, this paper’s contribution is to show that PAT needs the complementary institutional factors in order to be capable of explaining choice of accounting standards in firms.
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| 2. |
- Tagesson, Torbjörn, 1969-
(författare)
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Do comparisons of performance measures give misleading information? : the case of the Swedish water and sewage sector
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years interest in benchmarking and comparisons of performance measures has increased mong Swedish municipalities. Comparisons of performance measures are used for different urposes. They are used in benchmarking processes, with the aim not only of improving perations but also of providing standards in the context of accountability. Regardless of the urpose of the comparisons of performance measures, it is important that the compared measures re defined and applied homogeneously and consistently, i.e. they must have information orrespondence in order to be comparable; otherwise, erroneous decisions can be made. owever, commensurability is not enough. If the compared measures are to have any information alue, the measures also need to be chosen carefully, so that, in a relevant and reliable way, they eflect the measured objects’ most important qualities. This paper analyses performance easures used in three benchmarking projects in the Swedish water and sewage sector. The easures are analysed in the light of how well they reflect the measured objects’ most important ualities, their relevance, commensurability, and reliability. The findings are distressing; the ppropriateness of the performance measures in these three projects must be strongly questioned. n particular, the measures were too aggregated as to capture, reproduce, and describe the most mportant qualities of the measured objects in a relevant way. As for commensurability, it was so oor that one is entitled to sk hether the comparisons are not doing more harm than good.
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| 3. |
- Tagesson, Torbjörn, 1969-
(författare)
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Does legislation or form of association influence the harmonization of accounting? : a study of accounting in the Swedish water and sewage sector
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Accounting information is widely used in benchmarking projects and for other comparative purposes. However, if comparability is low, the information from such comparisons can give incorrect information which in turn can lead to erroneous conclusions and decision making. In the past the level of harmonization of accounting practices as well as their comparability has been very low in the Swedish water and sewage sector. One explanation for this might be that most of the water and sewage operations were run by municipal administration and that until 1998 municipal accounting was only regulated on a voluntary basis. Through comparisons of survey data from the year before and five years after the 1997 legislation, this study analyzes whether the legislation has affected the level of harmonization. Even though municipal accounting now is regulated by law, the requirements for aspects such as auditing are still much lower for municipals than for companies; the requirements for accountability are much lower for municipal agents than for companies. The study also analyzes whether there is any relationship between form of association and level of harmonization. The results did not indicate any effect of legislation on harmonization. Surprisingly, the results did not show any significant relationship between form of association and level of harmonization.
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| 4. |
- Tagesson, Torbjörn, 1969-
(författare)
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Effective benchmarking calls for harmonization and use of accounting principles leading to a robust accounting model
- 2002
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Benchmarking and comparisons of costs and performance measures have become important tools to improve community services and to make sure that monopoly enterprises are efficiently run. If the comparisons are to be useful, it is important that cost data and measures are comparable and consistent. Accounting data are often used in this kind of comparison. A harmonized model of accounting applied across compared enterprises is therefore important. However, harmonization is not enough. This paper aims to show that any principles applied must also lead to robustness in the accounting model used, so that the resulting accounting data are reliable and comparable regardless of any differences in the conditions of the various organizations.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Tagesson, Torbjörn, 1969-
(författare)
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Kostnadsredovisning som underlag för benchmarking och prissättning : studier av kommunal va-verksamhet
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Den tekniska infrastrukturen i ett land rymmer en rad verksamheter vilka är att betrakta som naturliga monopol. För att hindra att monopolställningen missbrukas har verksamheterna ofta lagts under offentligt huvudmannaskap och regleringar har införts bland annat för att styra prissättningen. Priset regleras vanligtvis genom att avgiftsuttaget måste stå i någon form av relation till kostnaderna för produktionen av varan eller tjänsten. I normalfallet får avgiftsuttaget inte överstiga självkostnaden. I geografiskt avgränsade monopol kan man genom analys av olika mått skapa jämförande konkurrens i syfte att bevaka effektiviteten. Kostnadsdata är en viktig datadel som ofta används i jämförande mått. För att mått innehållande kostnadsdata skall vara jämförbara krävs det emellertid att redovisningen i de jämförda verksamheterna är likartad och harmoniserad. I avhandlingen redovisas tre studier som samtliga, om än med olika infallsvinklar, behandlar problem avseende kostnadsredovisning och kostnadsfördelning inom kommunal va-verksamhet. Studierna visar bland annat att de taxor som används inom va-branschen inte på ett relevant sätt speglar förorsakade kostnader på abonnentnivå. Vidare visas att flera av de mått som används i jämförande syfte inte är relevanta, tillförlitliga och jämförbara. Viktiga orsaker är låg grad av harmonisering och olika brister i redovisningen. Flera av de redovisningsprinciper som används leder inte till att redovisningsmodellen blir robust i så mån att jämförbara kostnadsdata redovisas. Dessutom är flera av de uppskattningar och bedömningar som görs tveksamma.
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| 7. |
- Tagesson, Torbjörn, 1969-
(författare)
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Redovisning och beräkning av kapitalkostnader i kommunala va-verksamheter
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cross-sectional comparisons of costs for municipal services have become more and more common. This article aims to show that these comparisons do not give a true and fair view due to lack of harmonisation in the accounting standards within the local government sector. The article is based on a survey of Swedish water and sewage enterprises. Emphasises has been put on transactions that affects the cost of depreciation and cost of capital tied up in assets.
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| 8. |
- Tagesson, Torbjörn, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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The relationship between attitude towards harmonization and the internationalization of the corporation : a study of the attitude towards the implementation of IASB standards among Swedish listed companies
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Harmonized accounting among European companies would contribute to creating better conditions for the free mobility of capital within the European Union. However, a harmonization of laws and standards does not necessarily lead to a de facto harmonization.The aim of this paper is to examine the attitude of financial managers in listed Swedish companies towards the implementation of IASB standards in Sweden from 2005. It analyzes whether there is a significant connection between attitude towards implementation of IASB standards and background variables such as share of foreign ownership, number of foreign subsidiary companies, number of stock exchanges on which the company is listed, and the proportion of sales exported. These are variables that we believe reflect a company’s extent of internationalization.The overall results show that financial managers of Swedish listed companies are cautiously positive towards the implementation of IASB standards. The study also shows that there is a significant connection between extent of internationalization and attitude towards the implementation of IASB standards. Financial managers of internationalized companies are generally more positive towards the implementation of IASB standards than their colleagues in less internationalized companies.
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