Large Accountancy Firms in the UK: Operational Adaptation and Spatial Development
Recent growth in the accountancy sector has been accompanied by a series of structural changes, in particular the concentration, internationalisation and diversification of accountancy practice. At the same time, the future of the partnership structure of accountancy firms is in doubt because of litigation pressure. Within the UK internal structural change has been accompanied by the geographical expansion of the large accountancy firms that now dominate the national and regional accountancy markets.
IT Capital Accumulation and Productivity Growth in Public Accounting Firms
<para> In this study, we apply the tripartite decomposition of productivity growth proposed by Kumar and Russell (<emphasis emphasistype="italic">Amer. Econ. Rev.</emphasis>, vol. 92, pp. 527–548, 2002) to estimate and evaluate the contribution of firms’ IT capital accumulation to their productivity growth. Analyzing a panel data on 52 public accounting firms in Taiwan for ten years from 1993 to 2002, our results indicate that the productivity growth of these accounting firms was primarily due to their accumulation of IT capital. In addition, our results indicate that services diversification towards nonaudit services and workforce quality contributed to accounting firms’ IT capital accumulation, which, in turn, led to their productivity growth. </para>
Socially responsible enterprise in Cuba: a positive role model for Corporate Social Responsibility?’
This article examines the unique institutional environment of socialist Cuba, where currently a process of controlled marketization and expansion of private enterprise is taking place. The article investigates business behaviour in Cuba with particular reference to implicit assumptions relating to socially responsible enterprise, or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as the term is understood in Western Liberal Democracies. It draws upon a series of interviews with business practitioners and business commentators (both Cuban and non-Cuban residents on the island). The interviews focused on the participants’ awareness of business ethics and socially responsible enterprise, and the cultural differences in assumptions and expectations relating to the concept of CSR between the Cuban and non-Cuban interviewees. We find that Cuba at this early stage of tentative marketization presents a positive role model of socially responsible enterprise. Both the highly regulated State economy and the embedded norms and values of social equity that have emerged as a consequence of Cuba’s socialist revolution facilitate business social responsibility. The relevance of this research to current debates in relation to CSR is discussed and it is argued that capitalist economies may similarly benefit from tighter regulatory control and by cultivating more pro-social business norms that prioritise ethical over economic concerns.