Deck 5: Interpretive and Critical Perspectives on Accounting and Decision Making

Question 1

The way of looking at the world which sees accounting as a method of representing economic reality for an organization is termed:

A) Rational paradigm
B) Interpretive paradigm
C) Social construction paradigm
D) Critical paradigm

Answer 1

Rational paradigm

Question 2

Research in accounting and management control can best be described as:

A) Describing practice
B) Developing theories that explain practice
C) Developing theories in isolation from practice
D) Developing practical theories

Answer 2

Developing theories that explain practice

Question 3

The normative approach to research in accounting and management control describes:

A) What does happen in practice
B) What does not happen in practice
C) What ought to happen in practice
D) What ought not to happen in practice

Answer 3

What ought to happen in practice

Question 4

The interpretive approach to research in accounting and management control is most commonly carried out through:

A) Statistical analysis
B) Quantitative studies
C) Qualitative studies
D) Both quantitative and qualitative studies

Question 5

A paradigm to understand accounting and management control that does not rely on an economics-based approach can be termed:

A) Rational
B) Almost rational
C) Irrational
D) Non-rational

Question 6

In Scott's (1998) conception of rational, natural and open systems perspectives, behavioural theories are categorised as:

A) Open natural
B) Closed natural
C) Open rational
D) Closed rational

Question 7

Frederick Taylor's (1911) scientific management is categorised as:

A) Closed rational
B) Open rational
C) Closed natural
D) Open natural

Question 8

Non-cybernetic approaches to accounting and management control are typified by:

A) Objective knowledge
B) Subjective knowledge
C) Formal systems and procedures
D) Values and rituals

Question 9

Subjectivity can best be described as:

A) Based on subject-specific knowledge
B) Based on interpretation, involving experience, emotion and judgment
C) Fact-based, measurable and observable
D) Based on guesswork and hunches

Question 10

The social construction approach can best be described as individuals acting towards things on the basis of:

A) The construction of a reality by each individual based on their unique experience
B) The meaning that things have for them as individual members of society
C) Meanings shared between individuals in a social group
D) Society's construction of a consensus view

Question 11

Hopwood's term 'accounting in action' refers to the reflective and constitutive roles of accounting. In its constitutive role, accounting:

A) Creates organizational reality
B) Accurately reports organizational reality
C) Reports organizational reality from the accountant's own perspective
D) Ignores organizational reality

Question 12

Organizational culture can best be described as:

A) Shared rules and procedures
B) Based on a common social construction
C) Based on a strict hierarchy
D) Shared key values and beliefs

Question 13

If control systems are not sensitive to organizational culture, the organization is likely to face:

A) Success
B) Crisis
C) Change
D) Resistance

Question 14

The radical or critical paradigm is concerned predominantly with:

A) Power of one group in the organization over another group
B) The role of the State, distribution of the surplus of production and class difference
C) The impact of the industrial revolution, British colonialism, and American industrial power
D) Changing the role of accounting in society

Question 15

In an organizational setting, power is:

A) The ability to influence behaviour
B) Either a resource or a social relation
C) Either conflictual or consensual
D) All of the above

Question 16

The primary purpose of creative accounting (or earnings management) is to:

A) Present financial information in a way that investors may prefer
B) Take advantage of loopholes in accounting rules
C) Make estimates or judgments that are unrealistic
D) Manipulate profits to maximise the earnings of senior executives

Question 17

Accruals, stock valuation, creating or reducing provisions, capitalizing or expensing costs can best be described as examples of

A) Illegal practices
B) Unethical practices
C) Income smoothing
D) Off-Balance Sheet adjustments

Question 18

Errors of judgment or poor decision-making by senior management can best be described as:

A) Illegal
B) Unethical
C) Dishonesty and incompetence
D) None of the above