PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the role of accountants as advisors in professional services firms (PSFs), and it examines the impact of digital transformation on the work, knowledge and skills of accountants in their role as advisors in PSFs.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using semi-structured interviews predominantly with partners in Australian PSFs, including the Big4 and directors of professional accounting bodies.FindingsThe findings show that accountants as advisors fill a critical role in PSFs as they represent substantial human capital for such firms. Accountants as advisors are a valuable strategic resource because of their unique capabilities in combining generic human capital with digital human capital and social capital resources. Some differences between the Big4 and non-Big4 were found in terms of services offered that were attributable to the respective industry foci and resource availability.Practical implicationsThe findings have broader implications for both the accounting profession and the education sector in terms of providing a better, and more overt, understanding of what the future holds for the accounting profession and the relevant knowledge and skills required. Also, recruiters and managers at PSFs are likely to benefit from the findings.Originality/valueEvidence from PSFs provides insights into an evolutionary path for the accounting profession, and the knowledge and skills accountants need to work in that increasingly competitive domain, due to digital transformation.

Because most real-world domains intended to be supported by an information system are complex, practitioners often use multiple different types of conceptual modeling scripts to understand them. We performed two experiments to examine how two theoretical factors of multiple scripts??? combined ontological completeness and ontological overlap???influence how users develop an understanding of a real-world domain from multiple scripts. Results of the first experiment show that to some degree, ontological overlap improves participants??? understanding of a domain, more so than combined ontological completeness. In the second experiment, we tracked the eye movement data of participants to understand how ontological overlap between scripts impacts users??? information search and cognitive integration processes. We found that some occurrence of semantically similar constructs between scripts helps individuals to identify and relate constructs presented in different scripts. Users, therefore, can identify and focus on script areas that are relevant to their problem tasks. However, a high level of ontological overlap decreases the attention paid by participants to relevant task-specific areas because they spend more time searching for relevant information. Together, our findings both refine and extend existing conceptual modeling theory. We clarify the dialectics between the full and parsimonious real-world representations offered through multiple scripts and the individual???s understanding of the domain that is represented by those scripts.

The benefits that organizations accrue from information systems depend on how effectively the systems are used. Yet despite the importance of knowing what it takes to use information systems effectively, little theory on the topic exists. One recent and largely untested exception is the theory of effective use (TEU). We report on a contextualization, extension, and test of TEU in the business intelligence (BI) context, a context of considerable importance in which researchers have called for such studies. We used a mixed methods, three-phase approach involving instrument development (n = 218), a two-wave cross-sectional survey (n = 437), and three sets of follow-up interviews (n = 33). The paper contributes by (1) showing how TEU can be contextualized, operationalized, and extended, (2) demonstrating that many of TEU’s predictions hold in the BI context while also revealing ways to improve the theory, and (3) offering practical insights that executives can draw on to improve the use of BI in their organizations.

Because most information systems in real-world domains are complex, practitioners often use different types of conceptual modeling scripts to understand them. Modeling methods such as UML, for example, provide more than a dozen scripts for practitioners to use. We study how script readers decide which of several different scripts to use during systems analysis and design tasks. We carried out a free-simulation experiment to test how users select scripts based on two factors: combined ontological completeness and ontological overlap. We find that participants indeed decided to select more than one script to achieve a more complete domain representation. But, when they selected more than three scripts, they decided to remove scripts and reduce combined completeness to increase the clarity of the combined representation. Our results indicate that script readers prefer relatively less complete scripts with high levels of clarity over more complete, but more overlapping, script combinations. We detail the implications these findings have for the theory and the practice of conceptual modeling.

an Australian health service.a Given the size and consequences of transformational projects, this is a context where social alignment is likely to be critical. We found in our research that the process of achieving social misalignment involved four phases as did the process of achieving social alignment. These processes were linked, such that stakeholders moved through misalignment and alignment in a non-linear fashion. When we studied the trajectory closely and mapped it out, we noticed improvements in the trajectory

Exploring what leaders can do to improve and sustain social alignment over time.

Much has been written about the adoption and benefits of cloud computing in different contexts, yet it is not clear how cloud computing has affected the practice of accounting. This empirical study applies transaction cost economics to explore the risks of cloud-based accounting systems and services in Australia and it identifies several risk mitigation strategies adopted by organisations. The findings based on interviews with accounting practices, amongst others, are classified according to the Technology-Organisation-Environment framework. The evidence suggests that cloud accounting not only introduces specific risks to the "accounting process" but some of the known risks associated with other cloud-based applications are more pronounced. While transaction-specific factors such as vendor selection and contractual arrangements were considered important as risk mitigation strategies, internal measures including policy development and staff training were seen as critical to cloud accounting.

Representation theory proposes that the basic purpose of an information system (IS) is to faithfully represent certain real-world phenomena, allowing users to reason about these phenomena more cost- effectively than if they were observed directly. Over the past three decades, the theory has underpinned much research on conceptual modeling in IS analysis and design and, increasingly, research on other IS phenomena such as data quality, system alignment, IS security, and system use. The original theory has also inspired further development of its core premises and advances in methodological guidelines to improve its use and evaluation. Nonetheless, the theory has attracted repeated criticisms regarding its validity, relevance, usefulness, and robustness. Given the burgeoning literature on the theory over time, both positive and negative, the time is ripe for a narrative, developmental review. We review representation theory, examine how it has been used, and critically evaluate its contributions and limitations. Based on our findings, we articulate a set of recommendations for improving its application, development, testing, and evaluation.

When analyzing or designing information systems, users often work with multiple conceptual models because each model articulates a different, partial aspect of a real-world domain. However, the available research in this area has largely studied the use of single modeling artifacts only. We develop a new theory about interpreting multiple conceptual models that details propositions for evaluating how individuals select, understand, and perceive the usefulness of multiple conceptual models. We detail implications of our theory development for empirical research on conceptual modeling. We also outline practical contributions for the design of conceptual models and for choosing models for systems analysis and design tasks. Finally, to stimulate research that builds on our theory, we illustrate procedures for enacting our theory and discuss a range of empirically relevant boundary conditions

Project management is more efficient and effective when project stakeholders are socially aligned on what the project objectives are and how they should be achieved. This outcome occurs because social alignment reduces the friction amongst stakeholders each time a project management decision is made. Yet, how social alignment develops or dissolves over time in a complex project is unknown. This research develops a dynamic model of social alignment and misalignment, and it identifies some of the project controls that appear to affect their development. Drawing on interview and observational data from 17 respondents involved in a complex health-IT project over a two-year period, we show that social alignment and misalignment involve eight stages – separation, disrespect, lack of cross-discipline participation and social misalignment through to learning, respect, cross-discipline participation and ultimately, social alignment. The research has implications for how researchers theorize social alignment in complex projects and how practitioners can facilitate its development.

IS Professionals often use multiple types of models because most information systems are too complex to represent in a single model. When a domain is represented through different models, some features of the envisaged system can feature in multiple models. This situation may lead to overlap between models. The literature is unclear whether overlap is beneficial in understanding multiple models, and how overlap should be designed – or avoided. We propose that understanding multiple models with overlap is a function of both pragmatic and semantic factors. We will execute an experiment to investigate our propositions, which will include eye-tracking to examine how users identify and deal with information overlap between multiple conceptual models. The results of this study can contribute to the existing theories of domain representation by analyzing the interaction between pragmatics and semantics. We can provide practical guidance on how different domains should be presented through multiple models.

for evaluating conceptual modeling grammars and scripts. They then provide some brief history about the early research that discussed how ontological theories might be used to study conceptual-modeling grammars and scripts. An overview of the progress that

Representation theory (RT) is one of few long-standing, native theories in the Information Systems discipline. Over the past 30 years, RT has spawned a wide program of research, primarily on modeling of information systems but also on other phenomena such as data quality, system alignment, security, and effective system use. Nonetheless, descriptions of RT are splintered across many papers over many years. RT has also attracted repeated criticisms about assumptions, tests, and results. As a result, the nature of RT, its merits (or lack thereof), and how best to progress it, are unclear. Motivated by these issues, this paper provides a much-needed overview of RT. It further offers an evaluation of RT and explains how research on RT can improve, using a novel framework for evaluating theoretical programs. Our analysis shows that RT's merits (or lack thereof) remain inconclusive because prior research has not proceeded systematically enough. In this light, we explain and illustrate how research can proceed more systematically.

Conceptual models are used to graphically capture the requirements of an information system. Research on conceptual modeling has focused on improving the modeling process. The vast majority of studies has focused on evaluations of single grammars or models. However, practitioners typically use multiple, and different types of models in system analysis and design tasks. Recker (2014) proposed a theory of combined ontological coverage to predict and explain the faithful use of multiple models in combination, but this theory has not been tested yet. The aim of this research in progress paper is to describe how experiments can be designed to examine the propositions of Recker’s theory of combined ontological coverage. The findings of our experiments, once executed, will provide a grounding that will justify further research on conceptual modeling use as well as provide deep insights and foundations to understand how conceptual models are used in today’s system analysis and development process.

The benefits of using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as a business reporting standard have been widely canvassed in the extant literature, in particular, as the enabling technology for standard business reporting tools. One of the key benefits noted is the ability of standard business reporting to create significant efficiencies in the regulatory reporting process. Efficiency-driven cost reductions are highly desirable by data and report producers. However, they may not have the same potential to create long-term firm value as improved effectiveness of decision making. This study assesses the perceptions of Australian business stakeholders in relation to the benefits of the Australian standard business reporting instantiation (SBR) for financial reporting. These perceptions were drawn from interviews of persons knowledgeable in XBRL-based standard business reporting and submissions to Treasury relative to SBR reporting options. The combination of interviews and submissions permit insights into the views of various groups of stakeholders in relation to the potential benefits. In line with predictions based on a transaction-cost economics perspective, interviewees who primarily came from a data and report-producer background mentioned benefits that centre largely on asset specificity and efficiency. The interviewees who principally came from a data and report-consumer background mentioned benefits that centre on reducing decision-making uncertainty and decision-making effectiveness. The data and report consumers also took a broader view of the benefits of SBR to the financial reporting supply chain. Our research suggests that advocates of SBR have successfully promoted its efficiency benefits to potential users. However, the effectiveness benefits of SBR, for example, the decision-making benefits offered to investors via standardised reports, while becoming more broadly acknowledged, remain not a priority for all stakeholders.