Institutional Theory of Accounting


Course Outline and Reading List

Financial Accounting 
Academic Year 2003/2004
Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University 

Hideki Fujii



Course Objective


The objective of this course is to review current development and perspective of institutional theories of accounting as a theoretical tool to explain evolutionary changes in accounting. By the end of the course you should have an overview of the theoretical basis in accounting research and ideas for your own dissertation or paper. Students in master course will be required to submit a short paper to summarize their understanding the theories by 13 January 2004 and this will be assessed for assessment purpose. If you are second-year student in M.C., a dissertation proposal can substitute for this as far as it will contain any of the theories reviewed in this course.


Format of Course

This course consists of thee different programs as follows. The first one is a seminar, where you are divided into three groups and each group is required to translate the assigned material into Japanese and to discuss the topic with your own comments. The second is student teaching, where every Ph.D. student will be giving lecture related to his/her own research topic in English or Japanese. This will be a good opportunity for Ph.D. students to teach as well as for M.C. students to learn hot topics in accounting research. The third is discussion on dissertation proposals presented by M.C. students. Make sure that we will always begin with a small talk you make in English by turns. The sessions will be on Tuesday in every other week from 2.45 to normally 6.00.


Assessment

You will be required to submit a short paper to summarize your understanding the theories reviewed in this seminar by 13 January 2004. The paper should be about 1,000 words in English or more than 5 pages in Japanese in length and should include your own comments on the theories you want to summarize or you intent to use in your dissertation.


Reading List

Norio Sawabe and Hidetoshi Yamaji [1999], “Institutional Accounting Research: An Introduction,” in Shyam Sunder and Hidetoshi Yamaji (eds.), The Japanese Style of Business Accounting, Quorum Books, pp.3-15.

Robert W. Scapens [1999], Broadening the Scope of Management Accounting: From a Micro-Economic to a Broader Business Perspective, MSA Dis.P.

J.Burnes [2001], Institutional Theory in Management Accounting Research: Towards More Pluralistic Dialogue in Conceptualising Management Accounting Change, MSA Dis.P.

Timothy J. Fogarty [1996], “The Imagery and Reality of Peer Review in the U.S.: Insight from Institutional Theory,” AOS, Vol.21, No.2/3, pp.243-267.

Mark W. Dirsmith et al. [1997], “Structure and Agency in an Institutionalized Setting: The Application and Social Transformation of Control in the Big Six,” AOS, Vol.22, No.1, pp.1-27.


Further Reading

The following is reading for further understanding of the theories, which may be helpful when you are preparing your presentation. It covers a board range of material and you are not expected to read it all. But it gives you some source material which you may want to refer to later.

Bealing, W.E.Jr., M.W. Dirsmith and T. Fogarty [1996], “Early Regulatory Actions by the SEC: An Institutional Theory Perspective on the Dramaturgy of Political Exchanges,” Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 21, No.4, pp.317-338.

Burns, J. and R.W.Scapens [1998], Conceptualising Management Accounting Change: An Institutional Framework, November 1998

Covaleski, M.A., M.W.Dirsmith and J.E.Michelman [1993],“An Institutional Theory Perspective on the DRG Framework, Case-Mix Accounting Systems and Health-Care Organizations,”Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.18, No.1, pp.65-80.

DiMaggio, P.J. and W.W. Powell [1983],“The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields,”American Sociological Review, No.448, pp.147-160.

Hopper, T. and A. Powell [1985],“Making Sense of Research into the Organizational and Social Aspects of Management Accounting: A Review of Its Underlying Assumptions,”Journal of Management Studies, Vol.22, No.5, pp.429-465

Hunt, H.G. and Raymond L. Hogler [1993], “An Institutional Analysis of Accounting Growth and Regulation in the United States,” Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.18, No.4, pp.341-360.

青木昌彦,奥野正寛編著[1996]『経済システムの比較制度分析』東京大学出版会。

篠田朝也[2003]「会計制度の安定性と変化に関するモデル分析―カタストロフ的変化のケースを素材として―」『経済論叢』(掲載予定)。

――――[2003]「会計基準の統一化のプロセスに関する理論的検討―進化ゲーム理論を分析用具として―」『会計プログレス』第5号(掲載予定)。

藤井秀樹[2002]「英米型会計規制の信念としての意思決定有用性アプローチ―我が国はそれとどう付き合うべきか―」『JICAPジャーナル』第14巻第8号,21-27頁。


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