Business Commons^™

The Development Of British Railway Accounting: 1800-1911, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This paper concentrates on accounting aspects arising from the development of the railways. Railways in nineteenth century Britain had a major influence in reshaping some of the legislative procedures in parliament, the development of the capital market, and the economy at large. A background is provided to the first government regulations, introduced in 1840, and all subsequent major developments which led up to the Railway Companies (Accounts and Returns) Act, 1911. Why had it taken over eighty years (since the first commercial railway was established in 1830) to produce a standard presentation of accounts and financial reports?

Investing In Australia: A Cultural And Practical Guide, John Glynn, Martin O'Shannessy, Rob Goodfellow

John J Glynn

This practical guide for overseas investors and visitors to Australia who want to consider setting up a new business operation or investing in business there provides the background to the country's business culture. It also includes a directory listing agencies and selected resources.

Book Review: Financial Reporting By Local Authorities In Scotland: Icas And Cipfa - L. Kilgour And I. Lapsley, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This short book reports the results of the first of a two part research investigation - an evaluation of accounting practices by Scottish local authorities. Part II will, in due course, consider what information the users of local authority accounts actually want (as opposed to what they receive).

Business Planning, David Perkins, John Glynn

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

Taxation And The Australian Superannuation System: An International Comparison, Corinne Cortese, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This study demonstrates the taxation burden applied to Australian superannuation. The superannuation schemes and supporting taxation systems of five OECD countries are reviewed. A hypothetical scenario is applied to demonstrate the imbalance of the Australian system relative to comparable nations. Given concerns about the aging population, this research supports calls for further reforms to the taxation of superannuation in Australia, highlighting the need to make superannuation taxation policies more consistent with government efforts to encourage superannuation savings and self-funded retirement.

Financial And Treasury Management, Paul Collier, Terence Cooke, John Glynn

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

Vfm Audits For Private Sector?, John Glynn

John J Glynn

Legislation is long overdue: recent public sector developments could apply to a wide variety of profit and non-profit organisations in the private sector.

Gp Practice Budgets: An Evaluation Of The Financial Risks And Rewards, John Glynn, Michael Murphy, David Perkins

John J Glynn

The proposals for GP practice budgets introduced by the 1989 White Paper, Working for Patients (Cm.555), represents a major departure from the original philosophy of the NHS. The Government set out in a DOH 1990 paper, NHS Review Working Paper (3), their belief that: . . . practice budgets offer GPs an opportunity to improve the quality of services on offer to patients, to stimulate hospitals to be more responsive to the needs of GPs and their patients and to develop their own practices for the benefit of their patients. It will also enable the practices which take part to …

Performance Auditing: The Jurisdiction Of The Australian Auditor General - De Jure Or De Facto? A Comment, John Glynn

John J Glynn

As Parker and Guthrie (1991) state, the question of the Australian Auditor- General’s performance audit mandate has become an issue of much debate over the last two decades.

The initial development of performance auditing by the Australian Audit Office (AAO) can be traced back to the early 1970s. In part this was due to the application of existing powers provided by Section 54 of the Audit Act 1901. These investigations were termed by the AAO ‘project audits’. Amendments to the Act, in 1979, additionally permitted the AAO to undertake efficiency audits in addition to fiscal regularity audits. The problem, since …

Business Strategy, John Glynn, David Perkins

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

Control And Accountability In The Nhs Market: A Practical Proposition Or Logical Impossibility?, John Glynn, David Perkins

John J Glynn

Within the NHS new quasi-market arrangements have divided management functions into three: (1) a policy/strategy function (deciding overall policy and resource allocation); (2) a buyer/commissioning function (developing and managing contracts to purchase services to achieve this policy); and (3) a contractor function (providing services to clients). For background on the formation of the NHS quasi-market see Le Grand and Bartlett[1] and Tilley[2]. In this “managed” market the strategy process has been somewhat removed from operational management. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the medical profession continually acted to preserve their professionalism/monopoly with regard to choices over care and treatment, justified by …

Taxing Our Future: The Burden Of The Australian Superannuation Taxation System, Corinne Cortese, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This study provides an examination of the Australian superannuation system and demonstrates the onerous taxation burden applied to Australian superannuation contributions and earnings. Using Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA as a basis for comparison, the superannuation schemes and supporting taxation systems of each of the five countries of the study are reviewed. A scenario is developed and applied that demonstrates the inequity of the Australian system relative to comparable nations. Given concerns about the ageing population, this research supports calls for further reforms to the taxation of superannuation in Australia, which highlight the need to make superannuation …

Introduction: A Broad Overview Of 'Value For Money', John Glynn, David Perkins

John J Glynn

If there is a catchphrase which has entered the vocabulary of public sector provision it is 'Does this service provide value for money?' Most readers would say that they understand both the emphasis on 'value for money' and what this term means. The emphasis arises out of political and public concerns in the late 1970s and early 1980s that public expenditure was out of control and that there was little publicly available evidence to show if public services were operating effectively and efficiently. One of the key conclusions which led to the development of this volume was that often there …

Performance Auditing And Performance Improvement In Government: Public Sector Management Reform, Changing Accountabilities And The Role Of Performance Audit, John Glynn

John J Glynn

Public expenditure crises of the 1970s and 1980s led many governments to: - firstly, enforce stricter financial climates that included the use of cash limits and cash planning to motivate public servants towards greater economy and efficiency; and - secondly, to introduce a series of other reforms that gave pre-eminence to what has become colloquially termed the “new public management” (NPM). Key to many of these reforms was the belief that NPM would lead to more publicly accountable management and that limited resources would not only be used more efficiently but also more effectively in terms of intended policy objectives. …

Achieving Value For Money, J Glynn, David Perkins, S Stewart

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

Control And Accountability In The Nhs Market, John Glynn, David Perkins

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

Human Resource Management Audit In Government, John Glynn, Andrew Gray, Michael Murphy, Sarah Vickerstaff

John J Glynn

In the spring of 1988 the authors were engaged by the National Audit Office to act as external advisers to its newly established human resources unit. The functions of the advisers during a ninemonth period were threefold: • to advise on an audit methodology suitable for examining manpower planning processes within the Civil Service; • to consider the audit evidence collected by the National Audit Office team from the Treasury and four line departments; • to comment on the drafting of this, the first, National Audit Office human resource management audit report. Under the terms of this engagement we shall …

Cultural Values And Demographic Correlates Of Citizenship Performance, Anil Chandrakumara, John Glynn, H Gunathilake, S Senevirathne

John J Glynn

This study examines the impact of cultural values on citizenship performance (CP) in the context of a developing country. Although differences in CP across cultures have been examined, the situation in developing countries is often not clear. Using a sample of 362 Sri Lankan employees, it is found that gender and education have significant impact on CP. While collectivism, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance are found to be positively related to CP, power distance and masculinity values are negatively correlated with CP. It is also evident that the same cultural value orientation can have both positive and negative impacts on …

Australian Federal Financial Control And Accountability - A Review, J Glynn, M Mccrae

John J Glynn

Westminster systems of government are often typified by public sector organisations which act as agents of production and distribution. Their activities may be limited either to the provision of ‘public’ goods in situations of market failure or, as is more popularly the case under Westminster systems of government, they may be required to act as direct instruments for the implementation of the economic and welfare policies of the government of the day, as in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Recent years have seen severe criticism in all these countries of the effectiveness of the financial control and accountability processes …

The Value For Money Trend, John Glynn

John J Glynn

New thinking has expanded the traditional role of public sector auditing.

Control And Accountability In The Nhs Market: A Practical Proposition Or Logical Impossibility?, John Glynn, David Perkins

John J Glynn

Within the NHS new quasi-market arrangements have divided management functions into three: (1) a policy/strategy function (deciding overall policy and resource allocation); 2) a buyer/commissioning function (developing and managing contracts to purchase services to achieve this policy); and (3) a contractor function (providing services to clients). For background on the formation of the NHS quasi-market see Le Grand and Bartlett[1] and Tilley[2]. In this “managed” market the strategy process has been somewhat removed from operational management. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the medical profession continually acted to preserve their professionalism/monopoly with regard to choices over care and treatment, justified by …

Book Review: Performance Measurement In The Public Sector And Private Sectors: Icas And Cipfa, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This publication comprises the proceedings of the first joint research conference of the ICAS and CIPFA. The conference was convened with three principal objectives: -Understanding the objectives of performance measurement. -Examining the mechanisms of accountability, both financial and non-financial. -The study of specific cases to illustrate performance measurement in action. The style of this short book is to provide a summary of the nine papers together with a short note of discussion points raised. The contributions to the day’s proceedings were provided by three academics, three public sector representatives, two speakers from private industry, and one politician.

Taxation Implications Of Companies Purchasing Their Own Shares, T Cooke, J Glynn

John J Glynn

This note examines the effect of share repurchase, as a method of cash disbursement, on the value of the firm. With the growing interest in share repurchases we adapt earlier work, produced in the USA, to the context of the UK imputation system of corporation tax.

Accounting For Managers, John Glynn, Michael Murphy, Anne Abraham

John J Glynn

Accounting for Managers is an established introductory survey text that is written to give students on executive or general MBA courses an overview of the role of accounting and finance in business, and is also suitable for undergraduates of business and management studies. The approach taken emphasises the conceptual underpinnings of the subject, and views it from the point of view of managers' need for information. Not least the book emphasises the increasing importance of general managers understanding the role played by their accounting and financial management colleagues. The book gives an appreciation of the three traditional subject divisions of …

Assessing Sme Innovation Within Different Cluster Models: Lessons From The Australian Wine Industry, David Aylward, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This paper assesses core innovation activity among SMEs within different levels of cluster development. The aim of the paper, using empirical data from the Australian wine industry, is to demonstrate that innovation levels and activity intensify as an industry cluster develops. By dividing wine clusters into ‘innovative’ (highly developed) and ‘organised’ (less developed) models, the paper uses selected core indicators of innovation activity to explore levels of integration within each model. This integration is examined in the context of Porter’s theory of ‘competitive advantage’, with implications for SMEs in particular, and lessons for industry clusters in general.

Value For Money Auditing - An International Review And Comparison, J Glynn

John J Glynn

Value for money (VFM) auditing is not new, in many ways the United Kingdom is now only embarking explicitly upon a path that other countries have already followed. This paper reivews developments in six countries. The first country reviewed is the United Kingdom where two recent pieces of legislation have been introduced which have given statutory recognition to VFM auditing. In only a few years important moves have been made with respect to two important aspects of value for money: economy and efficiency. However, the third and most important element, that of effectiveness, appears so far to be only of …

The Corporate Social Responsibilities In Sri Lankan Universities, Kamal Tilakasiri, Grace Mccarthy, John Glynn

John J Glynn

Public sector universities have certain special characteristics compared to other organisations. As Neave and Pergamon (2000, p. xiv) suggest, such universities are generally known for their "knowledge production" and the fact that their acitivities are substatially funded by the government.

Our Retirement In Their Hands: A User Perspective, Cotinne Cortese, David Aylward, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This research reports on the results of a survey of Australian retirees which provide information on attitudes surrounding financial planning advice before, at or after retirement. These results demonstrate that, despite government initiatives aimed at enhancing consumer confidence in the financial services market, most retirees continue to feel dissatisfied with, and lack confidence in, the services provided by their financial advisors. This suggests an increased role for financial planners to provide not only the additional information required under government policy, but also to provide information that is understandable and useful to the retirees that rely on it.

Book Review: Public Sector Accounting And Financial Control: D. Henley, C. Holtman, A. Likierman And J. Perrin, John Glynn

John J Glynn

Since the second edition of this book was published in 1986 the rapid pace of development and change in public sector finance, fmancial control and accounting has continued apace. In the field of central government, the financial initiative has matured and there has been progress in developing improved performance indicators, reporting and individual accountability. The phased privatisation of nationalised industries and utilities continues. In local government the plans to replace domestic rates by the community charge, and new capital controls and possible changes in capital accounting pose new problems and challenges for financial managers. In the National Health Service attempts …

Public Sector Financial Control And Accounting, John Glynn

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.