SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration
No 2009:9:
Towards a General Theory of Financial Control for Organisations
Lars Östman ()
Abstract: In this paper, a theory of accounting, control and
accounting-related areas is outlined.It is based on a number of previous
research-oriented books published over several decades and the author´s
specific own experiences from internal and external processes with
organisations in focus.Consistency and integrative power of the ideas have
been tested in relation to certain books in various fields outside the core
of the subject:theatre,sociology, applied systems theory,economic history,
institutional theory and economics.The general approach can be described in
simple terms as follows.There are global value chains, from resources to
output that are in use.These chains change with time.Uncertainty and
unpredictability prevail for the present state and for possible changes; to
some extent it is possible to estimate risks of the future. At any moment,
each organisation has taken some limited position on a chain.Each
organisation has a hierarchy which lies above operations. Over time,
chains, organisations, hierarchies, output and personal functions vary.
According to the approach, insights into control problems for every
organisation and system can be gained by analysing relationships between
global value chains and a hierarchy of one or several organisations.Time is
crucial.
Keywords: financial control; management control; public administration; financial entities; financial reporting; dependencies; function-driven organisations; pay-driven organisations; transfer-driven organisations; supervisory boards; mass media; auditors; natural systems; panarchy; pseudo-commercial units; inter-organisational control; long-term control; short-term effects; hierarchies; global value chains; vertical control; horizontal control; corporate governance; remote control; controllability; transparency; values-in-use; values-in-exchange; fair values; historical costing; opportunity costs; product costing; transfer pricing; local optimization; time-bound optimization; longitudinal relationships.; (follow links to similar papers)
60 pages, April 16, 2009
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