Browsing by Author "Hunt, Chris"

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ACCY223: Accounting: Management Accounting
(Victoria University of Wellington, 2006) Hunt, Chris
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ACCY223: Accounting: Management Accounting
(Victoria University of Wellington, 2008) Hunt, Chris
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ACCY223: Accounting: Management Accounting
(Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Hunt, Chris
Restricted
ACCY223: Accounting: Management Accounting
(Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Hunt, Chris
Open Access
Can Budgetary Slack Still Prevail Within New Zealand’s New Public Management?
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Hills, Joanne; Bradshaw, John; Khanna, Bhagwan; Hunt, Chris
The New Zealand (NZ) Government began its public sector reforms in 1984. The purposes of the reforms were to build a more open public sector, a plainer and clearer way of reporting, emphasising accountability and transparency (Wallace, 1993). A central focus of the reforms was to change the accounting culture by adopting accrual accounting and a 3 year budgeting and planning management cycle within Government Ministries. By investigating whether or not budgetary slack is used as a risk management strategy in NZ’s new public management (NPM) control setting, this study examines how successful the reforms are, more that 20 years after their inception. Budgetary slack is the excess requirements for resources or understatement of productive capability. Slack allows a budget to be easily achieved and gives a false perception of managers’ performance, defeating the basic purpose of budgets. As little research has been conducted on this phenomenon in NZ’s NPM, this study was undertaken. Using budgetary slack and earnings management literature, an empirical model is developed to examine whether the potential for budgetary slack exists in NZ Government Ministries. The five Ministries of: Health, Education, Transport, Justice, and Building & Housing, were chosen for this study. They provide a mix of sizes and are very topical for some specific reasons within the political arena. Results of this study will be of interest to the Government, public sector managers, taxpayers, other stakeholders, and academics.
Open Access
Paying for Urban Water Services: Some Insights from Across the Ditch
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Hunt, Chris
Chris Hunt presented Paying for Urban Water Services: Some Insights from Across the Ditch at an ISCR in September 2007
Open Access
A Risk-focused Performance Management System Framework for Planning Change in Organisations: New Zealand 'Gentailers' and the ETS
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2008) Hunt, Chris; Bui, Binh; Fowler, Carolyn
In 2007 the New Zealand government in principle adopted the implementation of a cap and trade emissions trading scheme (ETS) in the energy sector from 2010. The objective of this paper is to develop a risk-focused performance management system (PMS) planning framework for organisations undergoing externally-driven regulatory change that constrains their operating environment and increases business and operating risk exposure. This paper focuses on the New Zealand electricity generators and retailers (gentailers). It utilises contingency theory and secondary data to explain PMS change implications due to the altered business risk exposure potential of the proposed emissions trading regime and the associated carbon constraints this regulatory change imposes on these organisations' operating environment. The risk-focused PMS planning framework developed in this study allowed the identification of the drivers and attributes that due to the ETS adoption potentially have significant negative business risk impacts for some gentailers. The findings arising from the application of this risk-focused PMS framework to the New Zealand electricity gentailers suggest that the predominantly thermal-based generators will be more disadvantaged due to a reduction in competitiveness and profitability. This reduction is the result of the interaction between the ETS-related risks and the sources and types of external and internal environmental uncertainty associated with the regulatory change. The business risks identified not only influence organisational-level PMS design function and operation needs but also have economic consequences at sectoral and national levels particularly in relation to national security of electricity supply. The paper provides insights into an organisation's potential internal adjustments in response to increases in internal and external business risks due to the introduction of the ETS and changing wider environmental management expectations. Theory implications relate to the role and use of risk in improving the application of contingency theory in explaining organisational change under environmental pressures. Additionally the paper contributes to the management accounting research through the examination of the internalisation of externalities such as wider climate change management. Consequently the findings of this study will be of potential interest to academics managers accountants other professionals governments and policy-makers.
Open Access
Uncertainty, MCS and Firm Performance: Towards an Integrated Business Risk Focused Framework
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Bui, Binh; Bradshaw, John; Hunt, Chris
Uncertainty is the core variable in any contingency theoretical framework (Chapman, 1997; Donaldson, 2001). Many reviews however have claimed that the accounting literature lacks a comprehensive framework for analysis of the relationship between uncertainty and MCS (Otley, 1980; Dent, 1990; Chapman, 1997; Langfield-Smith, 1997, Chenhall, 2003). Central to this study is the specification of uncertainty as it has been applied in contingency-based MCS research. This study argues that uncertainty, whilst well specified in terms of sources and types, it is under (not sufficiently) specified in terms of determining the degrees of uncertainty. This limitation is argued to impact on the explanatory and predictive capacity of an MCS based contingency theory (Schoonhoven, 1981). A theoretical framework is developed drawing insights from Otley (1999) and Kaufman (1992) that adopts a business risk view of uncertainty to explain or predict MCS fit/misfit with firm objectives, strategies and operational activities. It is postulated that the degree of change in business risk will signal and influence the level of required changes in MCS design and/or use and go toward addressing the under-specification of ‘degrees of uncertainty’. The level, extent and form of actual changes are dependent on firm capacity, defined as the available and accessible human and non-human resources, to realize the required changes. In doing so, along with considering the equilibrium/fit issues raised by Hartman and Moers (1999), the framework provides a potential basis for reviewing the apparent inconsistencies of past MCS research, and for positioning those studies argued to be narrow and/or of incomparable research design (Otley, 1981; Chapman, 1997). More importantly, a methodology for identifying external and internal drivers of uncertainty from a business risk perspective is presented. Additionally, through such identification a potentially proactive signalling mechanism for changes to MCS design and/or use is provided. The analytical findings of this paper will be of interest to managers, industry professionals, practitioners and academics alike.
Open Access
Why do Queensland Urban Water Entities Resist the Adoption of User Pays Pricing?
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2008) Hunt, Chris; Dunstan, Keitha
This study is motivated by the apparent reluctance of Australian urban water entities to adopt the user pays pricing formula despite strong encouragement by Australian Governments to do so. Elements of contingency theory political cost theory and transaction cost economics are employed in developing an empirical model to explain the differences between those Queensland urban water entities which have been persuaded to accept Government policy and those which have not. The Queensland urban water entities most resistant to adopting the user pays pricing formula were found to be those which faced the greatest potential economic wealth transfers combined with a less certain revenue base. The findings highlight the potential strategic uncertainty and political nature of the pricing of water and that this policy friction poses for government and regulators attempting to encourage the voluntary adoption of more efficient pricing formulas.
Open Access
Why do Queensland Urban Water Entities Resist the Adoption of User Pays Pricing?
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Dunstan, Keitha; Hunt, Chris
This study is motivated by the apparent reluctance of Australian urban water entities to adopt the user pays pricing formula despite strong encouragement by Australian Governments to do so. Elements of contingency theory, political cost theory and transaction cost economics are employed in developing an empirical model to explain the differences between those Queensland urban water entities which have been persuaded to accept Government policy and those which have not. The Queensland urban water entities most resistant to adopting the user pays pricing formula were found to be those which faced the greatest potential economic wealth transfers combined with a less certain revenue base. The findings highlight the potential strategic uncertainty and political nature of the pricing of water and that this policy friction poses for government and regulators attempting to encourage the voluntary adoption of more efficient pricing formulas.