Accounting Commons^™

Decision Support Systems For Strategic Dispute Resolution, Anurag Agarwal, Sridhar Ramamoorti, Vaidyanathan Jayaraman

Faculty and Research Publications

Disputes and lawsuits are quite common in business and are often a source of significant liabilities. We conjecture that measurement challenges and lack of adequate analysis tools have greatly inhibited the ability of the General Counsel's offices in selecting the best mode for the resolution (i.e. litigation vs. out-of-court settlement) of business conflicts and disputes. Easily quantified direct costs (e.g., out-of-pocket expenses related to pursuing and defending against litigation) tend to be considered, whereas the more difficult-to-quantify indirect risks and costs (e.g., damaged relationships with customers and potential alliance partners, including reputational harm) which may be quite significant, tend to …

Information Systems Project Abandonment: A Stakeholder Analysis, Gary Shan Chi Pan

Gary PAN

This case study reports on the experience of an organization in Singapore in implementing and eventually abandoning an electronic procurement project. By means of a stakeholder analysis, it examines stakeholders’ roles in the organization's decision to abandon the software project. This study uses Freeman's stakeholder analytical framework (Freeman, R. (1984). Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Massachusetts: Pitman) to interpret data and develop four major findings. By providing a better understanding of project stakeholders’ perceptions, expectations and interrelationships during project development, this study presents researchers with a project abandonment evaluation framework that is enhanced with a stakeholder perspective. The lessons learned …

Escalation And De-Escalation Of Commitment To Information Systems Projects: Insights From An Approach-Avoidance Process Model, Gary Pan, Shan Ling Pan

Gary PAN

We view escalation and de-escalation of commitment as processes involving recurring instances of approach-avoidance conflict. This paper outlines an approach-avoidance process model for describing and analyzing escalation and de-escalation of commitment in information systems projects. In the model, the sequential mapping of project events is integrated with a model of approach-avoidance conflict that identifies periods of gradual evolution at two separate levels of social analysis (project and work) that are punctuated by sudden, revolutionary periods of rapid change. By conceiving the processes of commitment escalation and de-escalation as sequences of events involving approach-avoidance conflicts, researchers may develop a deeper understanding …

Transition To Is Project De-Escalation: An Exploration Into Management Executive's Influence Tactics, Gary Shan Chi Pan, Shan Ling Pan

Gary PAN

This paper seeks to understand the factors that shape management executives' influence behaviors and the influence tactics that may be utilized during de-escalation of commitment to information systems (IS) projects. De-escalation is potentially a more important issue than escalation because de-escalation provides remedies for the ills of escalation. Therefore, it is important to understand how project stakeholders' commitment to troubled IS projects may be transformed under management executives' influence, hence allowing project teams to carry out their de-escalation activities. Here, we adopt theories of leadership, politics, and interpersonal influence, as our lenses to examine the management executive's influence behaviors during …

Escalation And De-Escalation Of Commitment To Information Systems Projects: Insights From A Project Evaluation Model, Shan Ling Pan, Gary S. C. Pan, Michael Newman, Donal Flynn

Gary PAN

This paper outlines a project evaluation model for examining escalation and de-escalation of commitment to information systems projects. We view escalation and de-escalation of commitment as processes involving recurring instances of approach-avoidance conflict. In the model, the sequential mapping of project events is integrated with a model of approach-avoidance conflict that identifies periods of gradual evolution at two separate levels of social analysis (project and work) that are punctuated by sudden, revolutionary periods of rapid change. By conceiving the processes of commitment escalation and de-escalation as sequences of events involving approach-avoidance conflicts, researchers may develop a deeper understanding of how …

End-User Computing Applications, Mary C. Hill, W. Alan Barnes

Faculty and Research Publications

Businesses today rely on the work being done by staff using personal computers. The proliferation of personal computers has led to widespread implementation of end-user computing applications. As their name implies, end-user applications are designed, implemented, and controlled by users rather than by IT professionals. End-user applications can be risky for organizations, both with respect to management decision making and to financial reporting. For public companies, the risk involved in these applications has been increased by the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which call for management to document end-to-end financial operations and internal control structures. This article review …

2011 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

The Effects Of Decision Aid Structural Restrictiveness On Decision-Making Outcomes, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Decision aids are often designed to direct decision-makers' attention to potential problems or solutions prompted by the decision aid; but in most instances, it is impossible to prompt all possible issues that should be considered in making a decision. Decision aids can induce decision-making biases whereby users focus only on the issues identified by the decision aid and fail to adequately consider other issues that are not identified by the decision aid. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether restricting how users interact with computerized decision aids affects their performance by limiting their ability to consider other possible …

Accounting Information Systems Research Over The Past Decade: Past And Future Trends, Colin Ferguson, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This article reviews the extant accounting information systems (AIS) literature by conducting an analysis of AIS articles published in 18 leading accounting, management information systems, and computer science journals from 1999 to 2009 with a view to identifying whether or not the focus of AIS research has changed, and if so how it has changed, since the Poston and Grabski’s (2000) review of AIS research from 1982 to 1998. We also report our insights into where AIS research is likely to be heading in the future. We analyse each of the 395 articles identified as reporting AIS research to identify …

The Influence Of Irrelevant Information On Is Auditor Key Risk Factor Predictions, Daniel D. Selby

Accounting Faculty Publications

Can information systems (IS) auditors ignore irrelevant information when they assess key risk factors (KRFs)? Irrelevant information is information that is of little or no value to a specific task or predicted future outcome. When assessing a KRF, IS auditors sift through numerous pieces of information to target items that are relevant to understanding the KRF. Some items encountered by IS auditors may be relevant to understanding the KRF, while other items encountered may be irrelevant. IS auditors should ignore irrelevant information when they assess KRFs.

An example of irrelevant information that an IS auditor may encounter during a financial …

Transition To Is Project De-Escalation: An Exploration Into Management Executive's Influence Tactics, Gary Pan, Shan Ling Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper seeks to understand the factors that shape management executives' influence behaviors and the influence tactics that may be utilized during de-escalation of commitment to information systems (IS) projects. De-escalation is potentially a more important issue than escalation because de-escalation provides remedies for the ills of escalation. Therefore, it is important to understand how project stakeholders' commitment to troubled IS projects may be transformed under management executives' influence, hence allowing project teams to carry out their de-escalation activities. Here, we adopt theories of leadership, politics, and interpersonal influence, as our lenses to examine the management executive's influence behaviors during …