Annelies' academic journey at Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) in Stockholm, Sweden
Annelies Fievez will be spending the fall semester at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) in Stockholm, Sweden! The accounting department at SSE is renowned for its qualitative research in accounting and includes several scholars focusing on not-for-profits. This presents a fantastic opportunity for her to further her research on sustainability reporting and management accounting systems in not-for-profit hybrids/social enterprises. Even though the days may be shorter and less sunny in this northern part of Europe, the stimulating research environment and Swedish Fika will certainly brighten up the days and make her time there very enjoyable and insightful.
She extends a special thanks to Lukas Goretzki for hosting her and including her in a range of PhD activities.
Furthermore, she would like to express her gratitude to her supervisors for their support towards and throughout this journey.
New publication in Waste Management
Nicola Van Camp and Sophie Hoozée are happy to announce their publication in Waste Management. This paper is part of Nicola's interdisciplinary Ph.D. project on cost calculation of circular plastics.
The paper discusses different pitfalls both in the initial sorting (in a Material Recovery Facility) and the actual recycling of the plastics we use every day. Some of these pitfalls are: mass retention, capacity and throughput of the facility and how they influence the cost per tonne of recycled product. Furthermore, scaling and integrating scenarios were investigated. Regarding this pitfall, an interesting insight is the fact that for scaling linear extrapolation is not possible. Last but not least, we made the first step towards fair pricing of these plastic products.
The paper builds on generally accepted management accounting methodologies and takes a business economic point-of-view in the plastics recycling sector.
This paper was co-authored by Kim Ragaert (Maastricht University), Irdanto Saputra Lase, and Steven De Meester. It was a truly interdisciplinary team, creating synergies and fostering valuable academic insights.
Full reference: Van Camp, N., Lase, I.S., De Meester, S., Hoozée, S. & Ragaert, K. 2024. Exposing the pitfalls of plastics mechanical recycling through cost calculation. Waste Management.
Dwight's academic journey at Gies College of Busines - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dwight Waeye is excited to share that he will be spending the upcoming semester at Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he will be advancing his PhD research on employee whistleblowing. Dwight looks forward to this opportunity to deepen his research and interact with the academic community at Gies College. He wants to thank Michael Williamson in particular for hosting him.
The 14th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference and Emerging Scholars Colloquium
From 3 till 5 July, Annelies Fievez had the wonderful opportunity to attend the 14th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference and present her research on social and environmental reporting at the Emerging Scholars Colloquium. The conference was held at the beautiful Royal Holloway, University of London. It was a lovely week, reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new colleagues, and receiving valuable feedback on our ongoing work.
Project funding from the Institute of Management Accountants' Research Foundation
The goal of this program is to award grants for innovative research proposals relating to primary management accounting activities such as decision support, planning, and control.
They are looking forward on collaborating with them on this project!
FEB Research Day 2024 and EIASM MSAR 2024
Nicola Van Camp participated in the FEB Research Day 2024 at Ghent University and the EIASM MSAR 2024 - Manufacturing & Service Accounting Research conference at Aarhus University (Denmark). During these conferences, he presented his working paper titled "Uncertainty in Reported Cost (Prediction): The Case of Plastics Recycling." The conferences provided an excellent platform to engage with fellow researchers and receive valuable feedback. He also wants to thank the organizers, especially prof. Morten Jakobsen, for creating a forum for early-stage research(ers).
European Network on Experimental Accounting Research Doctoral Colloquium and Conference
Fien Rubben, Melissa Verniest and Dwight Waeye participated in the 2024 ENEAR Conference. It was a very pleasant experience where they got to meet many international scholars with shared research interests. They can't wait for the next ENEAR conference in the summer of 2026.
Melissa Verniest participated in the doctoral colloquium and presented her working paper titled "How performance-based prosocial incentives affect employees' creative performance", co-authored with Sophie Maussen, on the conference. The discussion by Ajanee Ranasinghe sparked new insights which will certainly enhance the quality of the paper.
Dwight Waeye participated in the doctoral colloquium as well and presented his working paper titled "Aligning Whistleblowers’ Mixed Motives Through Social Norm Perceptions: The Role of Financial Incentives and Systematic Audits", co-authored with Sophie Maussen, on the conference. The discussion by Jeremiah Bentley will certainly improve the quality of the paper.
Furthermore, Sophie Maussen, Melissa Verniest and Dwight Waeye's research proposal on collusive behavior among managers was presented on the conference and resulted in a lively discussion with the audience. The authors are very grateful for the opportunity they received to present this research proposal as well the helpful feedback.
External Seminar by Christoph Feichter
Christoph Feichteris Associate Professor in Managerial Accounting at the Department for Strategy and Innovation. He holds a PhD from Maastricht University (The Netherlands), where he also worked as Assistant Professor before. Christoph conducts behavioral management control research. He examines how organizations design their performance management systems, how supervisors use these systems and how they affect the employee behavior.
Christoph has multiple publications in The Accounting Review (TAR) and Journal of Accounting Research (JAR).
40th Doctoral Colloquium in Accounting and 46th EAA Annual Congress
Dwight Waeye had the opportunity to participate in the 40th Doctoral Colloquium in Accounting organized by the European Accounting Association. Dwight was assigned to the Management Accounting track and had the opportunity, along with 7 other PhD students, to present the third proposal of his doctoral dissertation. Next to presenting his own work, the 3 day colloquium was filled with interesting presentations by experienced professors in the accounting field.
After the colloquium, Dwight also presented the second paper of his dissertation at the main conference. He received many interesting questions which will enhance the quality of the paper. Dwight has enjoyed both the colloquium and conference and is thankful to the organizing committee.
New publication in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Sophie Hoozée is happy to announce that she and Lies Bouten published their sustainability assurance (SA) study in AAAJ! They unravel the SA work concealed behind SA statements by gaining access to three SA engagements, in which they interviewed the main actors involved, both at the client firms and at their Big Four assurance providers. They express their gratitude to all interviewees for sharing their valuable insights! Assurors may articulate three types of roles as part of their sensemaking of SA work, shaping their actual SA work: the priest role, the added-value business advisor role or the protest role. Their findings also illustrate how SA work on the ground is shaped by (the lack of) professional socialization, organizational socialization and socialization of frequent interaction partners at the client. They conclude that to help SA statement users gauge the relevance of SA work, two options are available for regulators: either displaying the SA work performed or making it more uniform.
Full reference: Bouten, L., & Hoozée, S. 2024. How sustainability assurance work gets done: assurors’ sensemaking, socialization and interactions with clients. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.
Sophie Maussen presented an extended proposal “It takes two to tango: Do funding rules and rankings influence the collusive dance?” co-authored with Melissa Verniest and Dwight Waeye.
Annelies Fievez presented a working paper “a proper imposition? Social organizations and sustainability reporting as a channel of accountability” co-authored with Sophie Hoozée and Lies Bouten.
Fien Rubben presented an extended proposal "Unlocking the limitless possibilities of team creativity: Reward system design and informational faultlines" co-authored with Sophie Maussen and Evelien Opdecam.
Dwight Waeye presented a working paper "Aligning whistleblowers’ mixed motives through social norm perceptions: The role of financial incentives and systematic audits" co-authored with Sophie Maussen.
Annual Conference on Management Accounting Research
At the end of February, the annual ACMAR doctoral colloquium and conference took place at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany. This year, Melissa had to pleasure to present ongoing work at the ACMAR doctoral colloquium. She is very grateful for the supportive feedback, and it was a pleasure to meet up with fellow management accounting PhD students and the colloquium’s faculty. She also attended the ACMAR conference, where she learned more about the research of other PhD students and professors.
New publication in Accounting, Organizations and Society
Sophie Maussen and Sophie Hoozée are very excited to share their newest publication in Accounting, Organizations and Society! Together with their coauthor Eddy Cardinaels, they experimentally study how costing system design choices impact managerial misreporting in a multi-agent budgeting setting.
In particular, when superiors receive an aggregate signal of unused capacity and subordinates have no discretion over cost allocation input parameters, misreporting of cost budgets decreases compared to when capacity reporting is absent. However, the benefits of capacity reporting on misreporting largely vanish when subordinates have discretion over the inputs allowing them to hide their unused capacity. Results are driven by the anticipation of both peer reporting behavior and superior rejection behavior. Our results have important implications for practice and imply that costing system designers should be aware that giving employees discretion over time inputs can offset the decision-making benefits of TDABC.
This publication is based on the third chapter of Sophie Maussen’s doctoral dissertation.
Full reference: Maussen, S., Cardinaels, E., & Hoozée, S. 2024. Costing system design and honesty in managerial reporting: An experimental examination of multi-agent budget and capacity reporting. Accounting, Organizations and Society 112: 101541.
IMA Doctoral Colloquium & MAS Midyear Meeting at University of Central Florida
Melissa and Dwight had the opportunity to participate in the IMA Doctoral Colloquium. This one day colloquium was filled with interesting discussions by experienced professors in management accounting research.
Melissa had the great opportunity to moderate a session on prosocial effort, which closely aligns with her PhD topic.
Dwight had the opportunity to present his first working paper on frivolous whistleblowing at the main conference. This paper received a very interesting discussion by Leslie Berger (Wilfrid Laurier University). Furthermore, he also had the opportunity to discuss his second working paper at the PhD Mentorship Program. The constructive feedback by Xinyu Zhang (Cornell University), his mentor at this program, will certainly increase the quality of the paper. As a cherry on top, Dwight was recognized as an outstanding reviewer by the program organizers.
Both Melissa and Dwight are very grateful for the opportunity they received to participate in this Doctoral Colloquium and conference. The University of Central Florida was a great venue! With Universal Studio's around the corner, they both extended their stay at Orlando with a small holiday.
19th International Symposium On Waste Management, Resource Recovery And Sustainable Landfilling
From the 9th until the 11th of October 2023 the 19th International Symposium On Waste Management, Resource Recovery And Sustainable Landfilling took place in Cagliari, Sardinia. This was the perfect opportunity for Nicola to present his research in the Critical Issues And Risks In Circular Economy session, as well as to discuss research, exchange ideas and network with very interesting people from the academic, industrial and governmental sectors. The conference had a broad selection of topics, combining presentations, posters, and workshops with panel discussions.
PhD fellowship fundamental research
Melissa Verniest and her supervisor Sophie Maussen are happy to announce that, on November 1st 2023, Melissa started her first day as an FWO fellow. The PhD fellowship fundamental research allows young researchers to write a PhD and conduct challenging, innovative research. They obtained this fellowship for the research proposal ‘Getting the most out of charitable giving: The benefits and risks of using prosocial incentives to stimulate employee effort and performance”.
In these proposed studies, they will investigate how prosocial incentives can be used to steer employee behavior. Prosocial incentives are donations to charity that are tied directly to the work activities of employees. With the support of FWO, they will continue to do exciting research about this topic during the coming four years. They would also like to thank their colleagues for reading the proposal, participating in the mock interviews and providing valuable feedback.
Doctoral Scholar Stage I funding from the Institute of Management Accountants' Research Foundation
The goal of this program is to increase the number of scholars who teach and research in management accounting. The program provides support for students at various stages in their doctoral education in accredited programs, enabling them to work on studies that will advance management accounting research and practice.
They are looking forward on collaborating with them on this project!
CSEAR Emerging Scholars Colloquium and International Congress
At the end of August 2023, CSEAR community traditionally organizes its yearly UK conference. Annelies had the honor to present this year ongoing work at the colloquium of this conference. She is very grateful for the supportive feedback she received and the interesting conversations with colleagues. She hopes to be back next year!
Navigating Sustainability: Nicola's Experience at DTU's Doctoral Course
In the lively city of Copenhagen, Nicola's June took a greener turn. Eager to explore sustainable solutions, he joined a doctoral course at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) focused on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in solid waste management.
The course also tackled the challenge of dealing with uncertainty in data, how to address this uncertainty and how to classify and communicate it. Last but not least, the course confronted the challenging part of how to accurately and visually communicate the results of a LCA.
During his week in Copenhagen, he also had the opportunity to meet and interact with other PhD candidates from around the world, and share insights and discuss current research.
38th International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society
Between May 22nd and 26th 2023, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, buzzed with activity as the Polymer Processing Society hosted its 38th International Conference (PPS-38). Among the attendees was Nicola, who had the chance of immersing himself in a diverse range of insightful discussions and attend interesting presentations.
Nicola also had the chance to present his own research, focusing on how methodology from management accounting can create knowledge and insight, to base decision making on in the context of plastic recycling.
In his presentation, Nicola discussed how this method can offer a clearer understanding of costs in plastics recycling. By breaking down the cost components, he demonstrated how it becomes possible to trace the origins of expenses more accurately and how this can be used in decision making processes regarding improved quality parameters in mechanical recycling. Another highlight of his talk concerned the exploration of how different integration and scaling scenarios can influence the final product's cost.
12th International Management Control Association Conference
In June 2023, Dwight Waeye attended the 12th International Management Control Association Conference in Durham (United Kingdom). He had the opportunity to interact multiple times with a broad public interested in management control by:
presenting his work-in-progress on how incentive systems and internal audits can influence whistleblowing behavior, co-authored with Sophie Maussen, at the doctoral colloquium.
presenting his working paper “Financial rewards: The Trojan Horse of frivolous whistleblowing?”, co-authored with Sophie Maussen, at the conference.
discussing the working paper of Chris Ford and colleague on how accounting visuals can be used in an innovative entrepreneurial setting
In addition to a great academic experience, Dwight had the opportunity to meet the author of the first academic article he read when starting as a PhD student. Can you guess the article?
📢 VACANCY ALERT PHD STUDENT
🎓 Interested in pursuing a PhD in accounting with a focus on experimental research at Ghent University? Sophie Maussen and Evelien Opdecam are looking for a PhD student! The exact research topic can be discussed with both supervisors.
💡We offer you a 6 year position in a great research team and inspiring environment. The position will start at the beginning of the upcoming academic year (September 2023). Besides doing research, you will also provide teaching assistance for the courses we are teaching.
Interested or you want some more information? Contact:
In June 2023, Annelies Fievez attended the CSEAR France Conference 2023, hosted by Montpellier Management. There she presented her working paper on ‘Determinants of voluntary sustainability disclosure in social enterprises: Empirical evidence from Flemish Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs)’, co-authored with Sophie Hoozée and Lies Bouten. She is grateful for the valuable feedback she received on this project and for the insightful conversations with other participants of the conference. She is already looking forward to CSEAR UK St-Andrews this summer to discuss further work with the CSEAR community.
45th EAA Annual Congress
Sophie Maussen and Dwight Waeye attended the 45th Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association in Espoo (Finland).
Sophie Maussen presented her working paper “Consuming slack resources opportunistically versus effortfully: an experimental study on how superiors’ implementation decisions direct subordinates’ extra-role behavior”, which is based on the fourth chapter of her doctoral dissertation.
Dwight Waeye presented his working paper “Rewarding whistleblowers: the Trojan horse of frivolous reporting?” co-authored with Sophie Maussen.
New publication in Management Accounting Research
This study investigates the mechanisms that link strategic orientation to choices regarding the purposes of cost information use. We do so by examining whether costing system design choices regarding complexity and diversity mediate the relationships between an exploitation or exploration orientation and cost information usage for decision making and control. Using survey data collected from 191 business units of medium- and large-sized Thai manufacturing and service firms, structural equation modelling demonstrates different patterns of results between an exploitation and an exploration context. As predicted, we find that costing system design choices are mediating mechanisms only in the context of exploration. By providing insight into antecedents and consequences of costing system design choices, our study complements prior costing research as well as studies on management control practices across different innovation modes.
Reference: Daowadueng, P., Hoozée, S., Jorissen, A., & Maussen, S. Forthcoming. Do costing system design choices mediate the link between strategic orientation and cost information usage for decision making and control? Management Accounting Research: 100854.
Accounting Research Day 2023
Our Management Accounting & Control research group attended the Accounting Research Day 2023 at Ghent University on March 30th.
Annelies Fievez presented her working paper “The determinants of voluntary sustainability disclosure of work integration social-enterprises” co-authored with Sophie Hoozée and Lies Bouten.
Melissa Verniest presented her extended proposal “Keeping up appearances: donation transparency and the effectiveness of optional and mandatory prosocial incentives” co-authored with Sophie Maussen.
Sophie Maussen presented her working paper “Rewarding whistleblowers: the Trojan horse of frivolous reporting?” co-authored with Dwight Waeye.
The editors of the Journal of Management Control honor Sophie Hoozée with the Distinguished Reviewer Award 2022
External Seminar by Jacob Zureich
Jacob Zureich is assistant professor in the Department of Accountancy at the Tilburg University School of Economics and Management. He earned his PhD in Accounting from Emory University and uses an experimental economics approach to study how organizational control systems affect employee learning and motivation.
Jacob has publications in The Accounting Review (TAR) and Journal of Accounting Research (JAR).
Doctoral seminar and Conference in Lisbon (Pekima)
In December 2022, both Melissa Verniest and Dwight Waeye attended the doctoral seminar, organized by the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) in Lisbon. Interesting and valuable topics were touched upon by Wai Fong Chua, Chris Chapman and Eddy Cardinaels. This doctoral seminar was a helpful preparation for the conference, also organized by the EIASM, later that week. Also Sophie Maussen joined for the 2 day conference.
New publication in Accountancy & Bedrijfskunde
On May first 2019, the new Belgian corporate law, “Wetboek van vennootschappen en verenigingen” (WVV) replaced the former “Wetboek van Vennootschappen” (W.Venn.). In this study, we focus in-depth on one specific novelty: the replacement of the former “Private Company with Limited Liability” (BVBA) by the “Private Company” (BV). Earlier, Belgium had voluntarily chosen to apply many of the stringent European regulations to the former BVBA. The BV now ends this phenomenon of “goldplating”. Although existing literature gives a profound justification to include less stringent regulation in corporate law, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to the impact on practice. This research reveals important insights for practitioners by means of a qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (database) study. In doing so, we conclude that the new BV, although much more flexible, does not differ fundamentally from its predecessor.
Reference: Waeye, D., Maussen, S., & Everaert, P. (2022). Van BVBA naar BV: what’s in a name? Accountancy & Bedrijfskunde 2022(2): 20-38.
New publication in the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
Following up on their previous publication in Radiotherapy and Oncology (Defourny et al., 2019), the authors now report the policy implications of their interdisciplinary costing project, in which they estimated the cost of radiation treatments at the national level.
Reference: Defourny, N., Hoozée, S., Daisne, J.-F., Lievens, Y., forthcoming. Developing time-driven activity-based costing at the national level to support Belgian policy recommendations for radiation oncology. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy.
New edition textbook Management Accounting
The new edition of the 'purple textbook' is as of now avaiable. In this new edition, new exercises are added, especially for service companies and non-profits.
Reference: Everaert, P., Hoozée, S., Bruggeman, W., 2022. Handboek management accounting: kostprijsberekening voor managementbeslissingen, 12de editie, Lefebvre Sarrut.
New publication in the Journal of Management Control
This study addresses differences and similarities in a wide variety of management control practices in Anglo-Saxon (Australia, English Canada), Germanic (Austria, non-Walloon Belgium, Germany) and Nordic firms (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden). Unique data was collected through structured interviews from 584 strategic business units (SBUs).
Reference: Malmi, T., Bedford, D.S., Brühl, R., Dergård, J., Hoozée, S., Janschek, O., Willert, J., forthcoming. The use of management controls in different cultural regions: an empirical study of Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Nordic practices. Journal of Management Control.
New publication in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Organizations pursuing a hybrid mission balance multiple objectives without singling out the financial objective as the dominant one, they. Based on a case study undertaken at a luxury hotel chain, this study investigates how a control package that fosters staff’s basic psychological needs can be designed to the persistence of such a hybrid mission.
Reference: Bouten, L., Hoozée, S., forthcoming. Hybridity in a hotel chain: designing a package of controls to sustain a hybrid mission. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.
New publication in Management Accounting Research
Inspired by Maarten Vansteenkiste’s plenary presentation at an EIASM conference organized by our department, Evelyn Van der Hauwaert, Sophie Hoozée, Sophie Maussen and Werner Bruggeman draw on self-determination theory to explain the relationship between enabling performance measurement and managerial performance. As predicted, survey data from 186 Belgian managers confirm that autonomous work motivation mediates the relationship between enabling performance measurement systems and managerial performance through satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness).
Reference: Van der Hauwaert, E., Bruggeman, W., Hoozée, S., Maussen, S., forthcoming. The impact of enabling performance measurement on managers’ work motivation and performance. Management Accounting Research.
Chapter in Routledge Handbook of Environmental Accounting
This handbook (edited by Jan Bebbington, Carlos Larrinaga, Brendan O’Dwyer and Ian Thomson) showcases the broad spectrum of diverse approaches to environmental accounting which have developed during the last 30 years across the globe. In chapter 14 of the handbook, Lies Bouten and Sophie Hoozée provide an overview of prior research on eco- control practices and to offer critical reflections and avenues for future work.
Reference: Bouten, L., Hoozée, S., 2021. Designing eco-controls for multi-objective organizations. In Bebbington, J., Larrinaga, C., O’Dwyer, B. & Thomson, I. (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Accounting, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 194-206.
Sophie Hoozée joins editorial board of AAAJ
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (AAAJ) is an interdisciplinary accounting research journal publishing investigations of accounting, auditing and accountability issues and their impacts on policy, practice and society.
New publication on time estimation errors in costing systems
Time estimates are an important part of many costing systems. As they may be subject to estimation error and hence result in measurement error in product and service costs, it is important to understand the sources of this estimation error as well as mechanisms to mitigate them. We performed a computer-based lab experiment to test the joint impact of task interruption and interactive time estimation on the accuracy of time estimates. As predicted, we find that the negative impact of task interruption on time estimation accuracy is mitigated when participants are allowed to interactively discuss their time estimates before making a final time estimate alone. We explain our findings through the underlying effects of cognitive load and confidence. Hence, managers may improve the accuracy of their time-based costing systems by enabling an interactive time estimation process to offset the detrimental effect of task interruption.
Reference: Maussen, S., & Hoozée, S. (2020). On the influence of task interruption and interactive time estimation on estimation error in time-based costing systems. European Accounting Review.
This article is also included in the second chapter of Sophie Maussen’s doctoral dissertation.
Reference: Hoozée, S., Maussen, S., Bruggeman, W., & Scheipers, G. (2020). Fitting responsibility center structures to strategy: Bakery Products International. Journal of Accounting Education, 53 (in press).
Building upon the experiences of Werner Bruggeman and Geert Scheipers as practicing consultants, the authors, together, developed an educational case on responsibility center structures and transfer pricing. Sophie Hoozée and Sophie Maussen implemented the case in the course Management Control (as part of the Master of Science in Business Economics-Accounting). Using a need-supportive teaching style, the instructors maximized students’ autonomous learning motivation and brought students’ intrinsic motivation to the fore which resulted in highly creative case presentations (as demonstrated on the picture). The case teaches students that an organization’s responsibility center structure and its transfer pricing system need to be aligned with the competitive strategy in order to maintain organizational alignment and minimize dysfunctional behavior. As such, the case also illustrates that transfer pricing is not just about tax optimization, but also has important motivational consequences.
This educational case is published in the Journal of Accounting Education’s Special Issue devoted to the BAFA AE SIG Conference, where the case was presented in 2019 in Ghent.
New publication in Accounting, Organizations and Society
This study examines whether one of the central contentions of agency theory, that incentive contracting and delegation are jointly determined, holds in different cultural regions. Using survey data collected through structured interviews with top managers in 584 strategic business units across three Western cultural regions (Anglo, Germanic, Nordic), the results show that the interdependence between delegation and incentive contracting is confined to Anglo firms. In the Nordic and Germanic regions, strategic and action planning participation operate as a complement to delegation, while delegation is also complemented by manager selection in Nordic firms.
Reference: Malmi, T., Bedford, D.S., Brühl, R., Dergård, J., Hoozée, S., Janschek, O., Willert, J., Ax, C., Bednarek, P., Gosselin, M., Hanzlick, M., Israelsen, P., Johanson, D., Johanson, T., Madsen, D.Ø., Rohde, C., Sandelin, M., Strömsten, T., Toldbod, T., forthcoming. Culture and management control interdependence: an analysis of control choices that complement delegation of authority in Western cultural regions. Accounting, Organizations and Society.
Sophie Hoozée joins Editorial Board of SEAJ
Social and Environmental Accountability Journal (SEAJ) is the official journal of The Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR). It is a predominantly refereed Journal committed to the creation of a new academic literature in the broad field of social, environmental and sustainable development accounting, accountability, reporting and auditing. SEAJ is listed in the ABS Journal Guide with a ranking of 1.
Along with chemotherapy and surgery, radiotherapy is one of the three core therapeutic modalities for treating cancer. While brachytherapy places radioactive sources close to or into the tumour, external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) destroys cancer cells by using beams of ionizing radiation. In this interdisciplinary project with the university hospital, a time-driven activity-based costing model was developed to calculate the cost of EBRT treatments. To demonstrate the model’s capabilities, a dataset was constructed for the hypothetical country Europalia.
Reference: Defourny, N., Perrier, L., Borras, J.-M., Coffey, M., Corral, J., Dunscombe, P., Hoozée, S., van Loon, J., Grau, C., Lievens, Y., 2019. National costs and resource requirements of external beam radiotherapy: a time-driven activity-based costing model from the ESTRO-HERO project. Radiotherapy & Oncology, 138, 187-194.
Credibility of CSR disclosures
Our experimental study reveals that in contrast to specialist readers, generalist readers perceive plain language CSR information as more credible than CSR information written in difficult language. Credibility of CSR information may thus be perceived differently by readers depending on their specialization.
Reference: Hoozée, S., Maussen, S., Vangronsveld, P., forthcoming. The impact of readability of corporate social responsibility information on credibility as perceived by generalist versus specialist readers. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal.
Sophie Maussen & Sophie Hoozée
Review article: The expressive role of performance measurement systems
In this review article, Sophie Hoozée discusses “The expressive role of performance measurement systems: A field study of a mental health development project”, written by Robert H. Chenhall, Matthew Hall and David Smith (Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2017, vol. 63, pp. 60-75).
Reference: Hoozée, S., 2018. The expressive role of performance measurement systems: a field study of a mental health development project. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 38(3), 227-227.
Exploring the efficacy of EU law concerning payments to governments reports
The EU’s requirements for country-by-country reporting of payments to governments by oil, gas and mining (extractive) and forestry companies consist of the Accounting Directive’s Chapter 10 provisions and the equivalent provisions of the Transparency Directive (collectively ‘the Directives’). The provisions require in-scope companies in the extractive and forestry sectors to publicly report details of payments they make to governments on an annual and per-country basis, including at project level.
To explore the efficacy of the EU law concerning reports on payments to governments, a report was prepared by the STAR Collective, an academic group (of which Sophie Hoozée is a member) from across the EU acting to enhance Social wellbeing through Transparency and Accountability Research.
ABC or TDABC: who wins the horse race?
The relationship between activity-based costing (ABC) and time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) has not been systematically investigated. We compare the two systems analytically and via a numerical experiment. Our most important finding is that TDABC is more accurate than ABC when traceability of resources to activities is high and activity traceability to products is low, while ABC is more accurate when activities are more traceable to products, irrespective of the level of resource traceability to activities.
Reference: Hoozée, S., Hansen, S.C., 2018. A comparison of activity-based costing and time-driven activity-based costing. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 30(1), 143-167.
While promoting a holistic approach and highlighting the role of human motivation, the authors show how financial and strategic performance control processes can be integrated to create and improve internal strategic alignment. This book conceptualises the management control concepts, methods and practices used to manage both financial and strategic performance.
Reference: Bruggeman, W., Slagmulder, R., Hoozée, S., 2018. Management control: concepts, methods and practices, Intersentia, Cambridge, UK.
The impact of society on management control systems
Using unique data from an interview-based survey encompassing 610 strategic business units from nine countries (seven European countries plus Canada and Australia), this study investigates whether certain configurations of management controls dominate in certain societies and whether the effectiveness of a given archetype of management control systems varies depending on the socio-cultural setting in which it operates.
Reference: Greve, J., Ax, C., Bedford, D. S., Bednarek, P., Brühl, R., Dergård, J., ... & Willert, J. (2017). The impact of society on management control systems. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 33(4), 253-266.
How can managers’ participation in costing system design stimulate process improvement?
Based on survey data obtained from 170 Belgian managers, Hoozée and Ngo found that contributions to process improvement mainly emerge through informational mechanisms rather than motivational mechanisms triggered by the participation process.
Reference: Hoozée, S., Ngo, Q.-H., 2018. The impact of managers’ participation in costing system design on their perceived contributions to process improvement. European Accounting Review.
Who influences the design of management accounting systems?
The findings of a survey among Belgian managers and management accountants reveal that, on average, corporate management have the stronger influence on management accounting system design but that their influence is mitigated by the involvement of parent companies and consultants.
Find the full article here: Who influences the design of management accounting systems? An exploratory study.
Reference: Hoozée, S., Mitchell, F., 2018. Who influences the design of management accounting systems? An exploratory study. Australian Accounting Review.
The relationship between motivation, learning approaches, academic performance and time spent
Previous literature calls for further investigation in terms of precedents and consequences of learning approaches (deep learning and surface learning). Motivation as precedent and time spent and academic performance as consequences are addressed in this paper. The study is administered in a first-year undergraduate course. Results show that the accounting students have a slightly higher score for deep learning compared to surface learning. Moreover, high intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation have a significant positive influence on deep learning. Next, deep learning leads to higher academic performance; surface learning on the other hand leads to lower academic performance. The effect of deep learning on performance still holds, when we control for time spent, gender and ability. Consequently we can conclude that a deep learning approach is much more than ‘simply’ spending a lot of time on studying.
Reference: Patricia Everaert, Evelien Opdecam, Sophie Maussen. The relationship between motivation, learning approaches, academic performance and time spent. Accounting Education, 26 (1), 78-107 (2017).
Let’s do it safely: Sophie Hoozée publishes case study on Altrad Balliauw’s best practice
After a fatal accident, Altrad Balliauw, a Belgian scaffolding firm, launched a creative safety campaign hinged upon a sexy, blond model. The case study shows how the firm configured a package of controls (planning, cybernetic, reward and compensation, administrative and cultural) tailored to different organizational levels to embed safety throughout the entire firm. Thanks to the control package, Altrad Balliauw’s safety performance was enhanced and the firm has also won various safety awards, including the Dow Environmental, Health and Safety Contractor Award.
Reference: Bouten, L., Hoozée, S., 2016. Let’s do it safely: how Altrad Balliauw configured a package of control systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 136(Part A), 172-180.
Sophie Hoozée publishes teaching case on integrated reporting in Issues in Accounting Education
In contrast to standalone sustainability reporting, integrated reporting takes into account the connectivity and interdependencies between social, environmental and financial actions and impacts. Through the reporting practices of Telenet, a Belgian telecommunication company, the teaching case demonstrates the pivotal role of materiality and completeness in assessing the quality of sustainability reporting and exposes students to the challenges that companies may face in developing their integrated reporting.
