Macro Economic Policies Adopted by the Bank of England Essay

Macro Economic Policies Adopted by the Bank of England - Essay Example Government regulates many things in an economy including inflation, exports and imports, prices of many vital commodities, and many important economic aspects. Government of England has entrusted the job of determining the monetary policy, in the hands of Bank of England. Bank of England looks into many other big issues. One of the most important issues is that of ensuring monetary stability in the economy, which can be achieved through a combination of stable prices of goods and services across the economy coupled with a low inflation level and level of confidence of the investors in the currency of the country. The Bank comes out with the monetary policy in order to ensure a certain key objectives like, delivering price stability with a low inflation level coupled with an objective to support the Government's economic objectives of growth and employment. Price stability is taken care of, by the Government's usual inflation target of 2%. There is a need to contemplate the crucial and critical role played by price stability in achieving the aforesaid economic stability, and in providing just the right conditions for a sustainable and longe r living growth in output and employment. Chancellor of the Exchequer announces the Government's inflation target every year in the annual Budget statement. Though The 1998 Bank of England Act enables it to set interest rates independently, however, The Bank does hold accountability to the parliament and the wider public, which cannot be refrained from. The legislation provides the government the power to instruct the bank on the interest rates issues for a limited period of time during emergency, for the sake of national interests. (How Monetary Policy Works) The Bank of England has a monetary policy and it uses the same to regulate mechanism of the economy. Like when it decides to change the interest rate, the government is trying to check the overall expenditure of the economy. A change in interest rates is mostly used to contain inflation, which is the result of lavish expenditure by the country. The bank sets a fixed interest rate at which it lends money to financial institutions and depending on this interest rate, individual banks and other financial institutions set up their own interest rates, which apply to the whole economy. This step is of indispensable importance to the economy, as this is very widely used to contain inflation. The only purpose behind such a step is just to contain undue inflationary levels prevailing in an economy. The point to be noted here is that, this interest rate set by the Bank of England is so effective and powerful that it chips in greatly to regulate the whole economy. It affects the stock and bond prices and also influences the asset prices throughout the country. This interest rate also regulated the savings in an economy, which eventually results in capital formation and reinvestment. It is note that when interest rates are high, people prefer to invest money in government deposits that are less risky in nature than the stock markets and similarly high interest rates boost up the savings. Lower interest rates make asset and real estate prices go up, as

Polite and gracious Essay Example for Free

Polite and gracious Essay For the first time in my life things seemed to be looking on the bright side and then, just like usual, it was torn away from me by a selfish, ignorant Mr.Birling. I had been doing well at the works, had only recently been promoted as the leading officer, a head of a group of girls. I was in charge of them and got to know them well, there was Betty, Martha, Lucy, Agatha, Emma, Vicky and quite a few others. Marthas the nicest. Shes an orphan, like me so I guess. Well, during the short holiday in the summer, we got talking about our wages and how most of us were barely scraping by on the measly 22 6pence we got. I mean we were only just surviving and its no good just being able to survive, we wanted to live! Other people do so why cant we! So seeing as we shouldnt be treated as cheap labour, but people we decided to go to Mr.Birling himself and ask for 15 shillings instead. But as he is mean and penny pinching he refused blankly. Said he wouldnt even consider it! After that it only gets worse. Stupid as we were we went on strike hoping that that would show him but of course how could we manage having just been on holiday. We were all even more broke then usual, so the strike having failed miserably we had no choice but to go back to the works.  But No! It wasnt as simple as that, life never is. Of course he wouldnt accept us ringleaders back and came down himself and told us to clear out! I had a lot to say to that Mr.Birling but he wouldnt even listen to a word of it! Sent us packing right on the spot. If only he would have listened to me, Id have told him a thing or two! God, there is so many thoughts and questions running round my head! There is so much I want to say to people, but no one will listen. There are so many others just like me out there, who struggle and suffer simply because of the conditions they work in and the measly wages they receive but no one dares do anything about it. Why shouldnt we try for higher wages? Its unjust that we should be sacked just for having a little more spirit than the others!  But who am I kidding? Im just lower class, cheap labour, scum. Im meant to just accept that thats the way it is. Dont try and go against it, dont ask questions, dont do any thing but just take whats given you. Maybe it is Gods will for me to end up like this, just like it was for my parents. Im angry and frightened and dont know what to do. I have looked for almost 2 months for some kind of work but it is scarce and hard to get, Im living in lodgings which I cannot do for much longer, I have no money saved, not one penny, no family, few friends, no home to go back to, Im lonely and scared, stuck in a rut, unable to climb any where higher or better. No one to turn to for support or comfort apart from the lord some may say. But when out of the many times I have begged him to help me had he answered my prayers? Never. Enough of this miserable complaining. When has it done anybody any good? I guess Eva Smith is better than this (or I shall try to be). Just because some mean selfish man made me lose and job, that I hardly enjoyed any way, doesnt mean I have to throw everything away and stop living! I will try! Tomorrow I will continue looking for a job although if I shall succeed I do not know, but it is better than sitting here counting the pennies in the dark. I have never been so happy! Last week at last, my dream came true! No more cold nights, no more hungry bellies, no worrying if Ill make it till tomorrow, I am at last safe! I have eventually found a respectable, fairly well paid, secure job at one of the best, and most expensive shops around. Milwards! Every body goes there. No, not only every normal body but every rich, prosperous noble body! Its a wonderful stroke of luck, I really couldnt of asked for a better job! Its lovely working there, Im treated like a normal human being for once. Its an amazing change from the factory where I would be surrounded by loud machinery drilling into my head, people moaning and sweating, horrible smells, shouts and cries, no escaping from it. But now its completely different. Everywhere I look I see beautiful, clothes hanging rail by rail and whereas before the most I could do was longingly stare into shop windows I can now actually hold these gorgeous dresses and if Im lucky, try them on! I may even start saving up for one even though it would take a long, long time. Lovely people talk to me there and theyre ever so polite and gracious. They no longer look at me as if Im some piece of dirt but almost as if Im one of them. I feel like Ive entered a different world, a world with out suffering and pain. I see this as a good fresh start for a new life, a new road now lies ahead of me. This job is a lot better pay (I now get 95 shillings a week!) so I can now start looking to try and rent a place out for my self but the first thing I will do is go a buy my self a nice juicy steak with some of this weeks wages. Its been so long since Ive had a proper, tasty meal, I can feel my mouth watering just thinking about it. Well enough about food. I have been thinking recently that its about time I tried to find my self a husband. I look around me and everywhere I see are happy couples arm in arm. I know my parent would have wanted me to find a nice young man and now Im working in respectable job I can hopefully find one who isnt too badly well off and quickly settle down happily. I can see myself, in a few years time, married to a works manager of some sort. Hed be tall and dark and have beautiful blue eyes. Hed be ever so loving and caring to me and would never treat me badly. Wed have two lovely children, a girl and a boy, and we would live in the biggest, most beautiful rose covered, marigold house, along pixmore lane.

Themes in Metropolis

Themes in Metropolis Channelling a zeitgeist of Totalities, Metropolis explores how dystopic values result in loss of humanity. The reductionism of the workers, debased to mindless cattle through the stark uniformity of costuming and emotionless body language during Shift Change, foreshadows the deteriorating economic situation as Germany approached the Great Depression. The dehumanisation of the proletariats as they move through the Workers City is emphasised by the movement of intertitles down the screen. It suggests that the workers have become part of the functional elevator they are riding in, mirroring their social status as the recurring motif of inferior Hands to the superior Head;ÂÂ   addressing the emerging post-war social stratification experienced by Langs original audience. The workers grim reality sharply contrasted with the gaiety and decadence of the Eternal Gardens, a twisted biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden. The gaudy courtesans and men are ironically dehumanised, as their f rolicking in this utopian, idyllic setting gives them a deified yet carnal quality. Lang thus degrades their humanity until what remains is an animalistic baseness, inflated by their expressionist acting resonant of the style in post-war Weimar nightlife. Consequently, the film reveals Metropolis as a cinematic masterpiece hybridising traditional pastoral Germany and the post-war world one modernist era. In stark contrast, Orwell, holds a deeply pessimistic perspective, specifically positing the weakness of character in response to oppression. 1984 is a clear reaction to the prevailing 1940s social orthodoxy which blindly lauded the totalitarian methods of the USSR, and as such, expounds the inevitable subjugation of humanity under state control. The two minutes hate is seen to easily avert the citizenrys oppressed frustrations to an external inimical target, highlighting the malleability of human passion, while the heretic Goldsteins verbosity evokes that of Soviet dissident Leon Trotsky, thus allowing Orwell to equate the Partys despotic practices with the USSRs. In addition, whilst the use of a third person, limited point of view allows for the comprehension of Winstons stark individuality, the parataxis in He loved Big Brother is jarring, and suggests Orwells firm belief in the inevitable weakness of the human spirit against oppression. It is a bleak coda in contrast to that of M etropolis, thus emphasizing the inevitable overwhelming of the human spirit by oppressive forces. Furthermore, the ultimate dismantling of personal reason is illustrated in OBriens self-reflexive They got me long ago, suggesting his previous individuality, now dismantled, with such nihilism emanating from Orwells own betrayal and persecution by pro-Soviet socialist comrades whilst serving during the Spanish Civil War. Further raised in the Partys mantra He who controls the past controls the future this attitude emphasises the perpetual overwhelming of human expression under oppressive regimes. Metropolis also condemns the degeneration within Langs social zeitgeist by capturing the destructive consequences of revolutions, echoing a period of instability in the rebellions against a fragile democracy. Lang reflects Hitlers futile Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, through the biblical allusion of the construction of the Tower of Babel, foreshadows the destruction of Metropolis to didactically warn against anarchy and revolution. Fredersens frantic repetition of, where is my son?! coupled with theatrical acting in an Expressionist fashion emphasises his profound emotional turmoil, positioning audiences to align with Langs perspective that in the struggle to rise against the present, the future of ensuing generations will be compromised. By extension, the juxtaposition of Marias struggle to stop the flooding against Grots ease in initiating this change affirms Langs perspective that it is far more difficult to wind back revolutionary change, echoing Germanys cataclysmic period of hyperi nflation fuelled by the Ruhr uprising in 1923. Thus, Langs portrayal of revolution to entail destructive consequences clearly stems from contextual influence of the revolts in Weimar Germany. Unlike Metropolis, 1984 draws on the beliefs of the time to present an ideological critique of technology as a propagandist tool for manipulation. In keeping with his obsession with national security and through recurring motifs of surveillance, Orwell portrays technology as a means for the Party to amass unchallenged orthodoxy and fear, evident in Winstons apprehensive tone, no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any moment, representing loss of individual agency. Embodied in the brutal personification, you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-for ever, and compounded by the fact that Minitrues technology allows the past to be erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. Relaying contextual fears of a possible Stalinist regime, Orwells polyptoton illustrates that time and truth can be obliterated by technology, reducing them to mere symbols of human fallibility. Furthermore, people can be vaporised, You will be annihilate d in the past as well as in the future. You will never have existed, though the anaphoric use of will is ironic since 1984 operates as Orwells didactic commentary. Orwell aligned with Langs perspective that there is no possibility of a future when the usurpation of natural boundaries through technology as a tool for manipulation results in such a dystopic society.

History of Indonesia :: essays research papers

Early empires By the time of the European Renaissance, the islands of Java and Sumatra had already enjoyed a thousand-year heritage of civilization spanning two major empires. During the 7th to 14th centuries, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya flourished on Sumatra. Chinese traveller I Ching visited its capital, Palembang, around 670. At its peak, the Srivijaya Empire reached as far as West Java and the Malay Peninsula. Also by the 14th century, the Hindu Kingdom of Majapahit had risen in eastern Java. Gajah Mada, the empire's chief minister from 1331 to 1364, succeeded in gaining allegiance from most of what is now modern Indonesia and much of the Malay archipelago as well. Legacies from Gajah Mada's time include a codification of law and an epic poem. Reasons for the fall of these empires remain obscure. Islam arrived in Indonesia sometime during the 12th century and, through assimilation, supplanted Hinduism by the end of the 16th century in Java and Sumatra. Bali, however, remains overwhelmingly Hindu. In the eastern archipelago, both Christian and Islamic missionaries were active in the 16th and 17th centuries, and, currently, there are large communities of both religions on these islands. Colonial era Beginning in 1602 the Dutch gradually established themselves as rulers of what is now Indonesia, exploiting the fractionalization of the small kingdoms that had replaced Majapahit. The most notable exception was Portuguese Timor, which remained under Portuguese rule until 1975 when it was invaded and occupied, becoming the Indonesia province of East Timor. The Netherlands controlled Indonesia for almost 350 years, excluding a short period of British rule in part of the islands after Anglo-Dutch Java War and the Japanese occupation during World War II. During their rule the Dutch developed the Dutch East Indies into one of the world's richest colonial possessions. During the first decade of the 20th century an Indonesian independence movement began, and it expanded rapidly between the two World Wars. Its leaders came from a small group of young professionals and students, some of whom had been educated in the Netherlands. Many, including Indonesia's first president, Sukarno (1945-67), were imprisoned for political activities. World War II In May 1940 the Netherlands surrendered to Germany (see World War II). The Dutch East Indies declared a state of siege and in July re-directed exports for Japan to the US and Britain. Negotiations with the Japanese aimed at securing supplies of aviation fuel collapsed in June 1941, and the Japanese started their conquest of Southeast Asia in December of that year.

Employment Dispute Resolution in Singapore

1. Introduction a. Objectives The objective of the report is to provide a better understanding of the roles of the different courts in settling employment disputes. At the end of the report, reader would be able to find alternatives in settling employment disputes too. b. Methods of Research In this report, there will be real life case studies settled by different courts for settling disputes. These cases will help in illustrating the criteria for using the different courts. This report will also include internet research. 2. Causes of DisputesDisputes are caused when both parties, namely the employer and employee, cannot come into an agreement over monetary issues such as wages, benefits and overtime pay. Other circumstance will be a violation of health safety standards or law that can be common law or related to employment. Court cases will arise when these disputes are not resolved by conciliation or mediation. 3. Acts Relating to Employment There are two main acts that concern th e procedures of settling disputes. They are the Employment Act (EA) and Industrial Relations Act (IRA). c. Employment ActFor employees covered by the Employment Act, employment disputes will only be referred to the Labour Court for adjudication if they are unable to be resolved amicably through conciliation. Conciliation is a process which involves negotiations between the parties, then coming up with a mutually agreed decision that is fair to the parties involved. However, certain conditions must be satisfied, that the claim must be on matters arising not earlier than one year from the date of lodging the claim, and if the employee concerned had already left employment, the claim must be lodged within six months from the date of leaving employment.For managers and executives who are not covered by the Employment Act, the Ministry will consider providing mediation service to help resolve employment disputes on breach of contract or retrenchment. Mediation, a non-adversarial process, involves a mediator who will facilitate the entire process by helping the parties involved to first identify issues, negotiate, then find a practical solution and settlement that all parties involved are mutually agreeable to and able to accept. The mediation process is voluntary and considered on a case-by-case basis.There are certain requirements that will apply, which includes that the managers and executives are earning $4500 and below, the claim is in respect of a matter which occurred within the period of one year before the date that the issue is reported, if the claim is for items related to their termination (e. g. notice, the issue must be lodged within six months from the date on which the employee has left employment), and when viable alternatives such as private amicable settlement with employer had been exhausted.However, if either party fails to respond to mediation or if no amicable settlement could be reached after mediation, the matter will then be pursued in the civil court. d. Industrial Relations Act The Industrial Relations Act is passed in 1960 to provide a mean to settle employment disputes through collective bargaining which involves the union, conciliation and if unresolved, through arbitration held by the Industrial Arbitration court. This act aims to protect employees who are members of the union, allowing them to enjoy benefits covered under.Examples of union include the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union and Singapore Airlines Staff Union. This act limits the representation of employees who are in managerial and executive positions in certain areas. As defined in Section 30(1) of Industrial Relations Act, an executive employee is an employee who is employed in a managerial or executive position. They are not allowed to have representatives from the union to negotiate for retrenchment benefits upon retrenchment or resolving any dispute in the contract of employment.As this act is a bridge to the tripartite relationship in Singa pore, namely the government, employer and employee, there are certain procedures to follow in accordance to filing a case against the employer in a unionized organization. Preceding the filing, the employee would have to try to resolve the dispute with his immediate supervisor. Failing that, he or she can choose to bring the matter up to a member of the branch committee of the Union who would make a representation of the employee in resolving the dispute.In more serious cases, it can be brought up to the Human Resource Department by the General Secretary of Union and may even request a union management meeting with the management of the company. After all means, both parties will then refer the case to Ministry of Manpower for conciliation which is an invitation to negotiate under the Act. If an agreement is not reached by both parties, they can seek mediation by the Industrial Arbitration Court. 4. Different Courts The employees covered under the different acts will bring up their unresolved disputes to different courts. . Labour Court The Labour Court, deals with issues between employers and employees when they cannot be resolved through mediation or reconciliation at the MOM level. It is empowered by law to inquire into and arbitrate disputes between employees and employers. If mediation between the parties does not yield any agreement, for example, company not paying their employee salary or wrongful dismissal. The decisions or orders by the Labour Court are enforceable. It is also more viable for the employee to go through the Labour Court to settle employment disputes.However, the employees must not be earning more than S$2500 per month and are covered under the Employment Act. In the case of Vertex Global Holdings Pte Ltd, they owed an employee in arrears for about 2. 5 months. They gave the reason of having financial difficulties and were not able to pay the employee. The case was brought up to the Labour Court but they did not accept this explanation and the company was ordered to pay the employee amounting to $2820. In another case whereby a cook employed by VP Food Pte Ltd, he was terminated after 3 days.However, the employer was to pay him a sum of $235. 38 for work done but was underpaid. The reason that the employer gave was the distress caused by the cook’s harassment and there was no notice period specified. The explanation was rejected. The court held that Employment Act prevails and notice pay was payable In such cases, Labour Court comes into good use when dealing with unfair treatment from the company. But in recent years, the number of cases being brought up to Labour Court has decreased from 2009 to 2010.This shows that mediation or reconciliation has contributed to a huge part of the decrease in number of cases and they would be a better solution to problems than going to court. f. Industrial Arbitration Court Employment disputes, concerning union members, are not resolve under the conciliation of MOM are re ferred to the Singapore Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) for further remediation. The IAC resolve disputes between employers and employees by offering the best possible solutions that are not only fair and beneficial to both parties but also in the interest of the community and country’s economic situation.The decision made by the Justice of IAC is concluding hence it cannot be disputed or appealed against. Voluntary and compulsory arbitration are the two ways that employers, unions or the government can refer an employment disputes to the IAC. Through the voluntary arbitration, employers and unions can refer their cases to the IAC through a joint or ex-parte application however this is only applicable when mediation at the MOM level is deem inconclusive. Under compulsory arbitration, a dispute is referred to the IAC when it is directed by the MOM or the President of Singapore.With increasing efforts from tripartite co-operation, Singapore has seen a great decrease in the n umber of cases being handled at IAC. The number of employment dispute cases averaged 10 per year and this indicate that that majority of the cases are being resolved at MOM and union level. This is essential as it helps to reduce unnecessary loss of work man hours and provide foreign investor’s confidence to invest in Singapore which in turn boosts the Singapore economy. Over the years, IAC has proven to be an effective way in solving disputes between employees and employers however there are cases when one party might feel otherwise.In the case of the dispute between Singapore Refinery Company and the representing union, the general secretary of SRCEU mentioned that â€Å"the union is disappointed with the ruling as a whole. † The case was brought up to the IAC for settlement as the union demanded salary and service increment for SRC employees. The president of IAC concluded that SRC will increase the service increment to 5 per cent plus $15 and 3 per cent salary incr ement. The union felt that the increment was too low and there was no effective communication between them and the company.This case show that whiles the IAC may provide the best feasible solution however it does not mean that it is the best fit for all the parties involved in the dispute. g. Civil Court The role of civil courts in resolving employment disputes is at minimal. Disputes raised by Professionals, Manager and Executives, also known as the PMEs, earning up to S$4,500, are solved in civil court. However, the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore is looking into resolving their salary disputes in Labour Court in the near future, limiting it to S$20,000.This allows PMEs to seek a lower cost alternative in resolving their disputes. For breaches in employment contract, it will still be handled by civil courts under law of contract. 5. Comparison h. Differences Between The 3 Courts | Civil Court| Labour Court| Industrial Arbitration Court| What they settle? | Employment disputes on breach of contract or retrenchment that cannot be resolved through mediation| Employment disputes that cannot be settled through conciliation| Trade disputes that cannot resolve through conciliation| How they settle? The role of Civil Court in resolving disputes is at minimal. Civil Court handles breaches in employment contract under law of contract. | The court has the authority to analyse and settle disputes(for example, unfair treatment from the company)| Resolve employment dispute through arbitration. The decision made by the Justice of IAC cannot be disputed or appealed against. | Criteria| PMEs(Professionals, Manager and Executives) earning up to $4,500| No legal representation is allowed in Labour Court.Employees not earning more than $2,500 per month and are covered under Employment Act| An executive employee who are employed in a managerial or executive position are not allowed to have representatives from the union to negotiate for them(retrenchment or disputes in the con tract of employment)| Who can go? | Managers and executives that are not covered under Employment Act| Employers and Employees under Employment Act| Employers and trade unions| In the past, Singapore employment law has been favorable to employers.However, the trend in recent years shows that enhancement of employee welfare and safety became more important. i. Singapore versus United States of America Both countries show various similarities of the roles of court in settling employment disputes. In United States of America (USA), employees are allowed to sue for dismissal due to discrimination of gender, religion, origin and many more. Employees are generally protected against discrimination under U. S Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC).In Singapore, employers are encouraged to practice fair employment promoted by Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP). In both countries, employees are allowed to bring their employers to court in any event that there are employmen t disputes and unresolved by conciliation and arbitration. However, there are differences too. In United States of America, the government is more in favor of the employees whereas in Singapore, the government is more in favor of the employers.Also, in any disputes, the United States of America allows employees to hire a lawyer or an attorney to represent them in court. In Singapore, employees covered under different acts are represented by different people such as the union leader or even unrepresented in front of the labour court. The different courts are designed to different cases involving money or other disputes while all disputes in United States are brought to only one court. 6. Conclusion Through intensive research and findings, this report covers the key points on how the different courts resolve employment disputes.Although MOM have proven to be an effective medium in mediating disputes between employers and employees, there is still a need for the presence of court to re solve cases that are more complex. Case studies are being brought up in the report to further illustrate how disputes are being resolved at different levels. In referring to the SRC case, it clearly highlight that although the IAC has provided the best possible remedy however it does not satisfy all parties who are involved in the case.This means that better procedures can be considered to better understand the problems underlying between employees and employers. Through our recommendations, it will provide possible solution to further enhance the system that is already in place. The recommendation will not only look at the current problems but it will also propose how corporations can create a harmonious working relationship among employers and employees. 7. Recommendations

An Introduction to Management and Cost Accounting

International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X Factors Influencing Activity-Based Costing Success: A Research Framework Zhang Yi Fei and Che Ruhana Isa becoming more and more popular [3-7] ABC aims to provide accurate costing information to managers to allocate activity costs to products and services by applying cost drivers [8].Academics who advocate ABC, such as, Cooper and Kaplan [9], and Swenson [10] argue that it provides more accurate cost data needed to make appropriate strategic decisions about product mix, sourcing, pricing, process improvement, and evaluation of business process performance. These claims have led many firms to adopt ABC systems [8]. The benefits of ABC and its positive impact on firm’s performance motivated a numerous studies which examined various aspects of ABC.Among such studies are McGowan [11] who assessed the integrity of ABC success, Innes and Mitchell [4, 12] and Yanren [13] who conducted research on factors affecting ABC adoption, and Shield [3], Shields and McEwen [14], Gosselin [15] and Baired et al. [16, 17]who concentrated on factors influencing ABC success especially at the implementation stage. However, there is mounting evidence that suggests most of firms are experiencing problems in implementing ABC and, in some extreme cases, ABC implementation is not successful [3], which later resulted in abandoning the ABC systems altogether [15].Questions arise as to why ABC implementation is successful in certain companies and fails in others. Based on the contingency theory, researchers have argued that the reasons for different degrees of ABC success could be due to the different contextual factors faced by each firm. These have led researchers to recognize assessing factors that influence ABC success implementation as an important research area.The following are among the research that have been carried out to examine factors that influence ABC success: Anderson [18]; Shie ld [3]; McGowan and Klammer [19]; Krumwiede [20]; and Anderson and Young [21] This article has two main objectives; the first objective is to identify research gaps based on the revision of previous research and the second objective is to propose theoretical research framework for current research.This article is organized as follows: Section II presents a discussion of selected articles related to factors influencing ABC implementation and gaps or limitations of previous studies and suggestions for current research are stated in the section III and IV. The framework for current research is provided in section V, Section VI defines each research variable and the final section presents the conclusion. II. PREVIOUS RESEARCH In this section, selected ABC implementation empirical 144Abstract—In today’s advanced manufacturing and competitive environment, accurate costing information is crucial for all the kinds of businesses, such as manufacturing firms, merchandizing firms , and service firms. Argued to be superior to the traditional volume-based costing system, Activity-Based Costing system (ABC) has increasingly attracted the attention of practitioners and researchers alike as one of the strategic tools to aid managers for better decision making.The benefits of ABC system and its impacts on companies’ performance have motivated numerous empirical studies on ABC system and it is considered as one of the most-researched management accounting areas in developed countries. Previous research on ABC have examined pertinent issues related to ABC implementation such as the levels of ABC adoption in various countries, the reasons for implementing ABC, the problems related to ABC and the critical success factors influencing ABC.This paper reviews the research on ABC carried out within the last decade, from 1995-2008, and from the review research gaps are identified. Specifically, this paper examines the selection of factors influencing successful ABC i mplementation, variables used by previous research and the definitions and operationalization of the variables. The review reveals that past research concentrated mainly on behavioral, organizational, and technical variables as the main determinants of ABC success but very little research have been done to examine the roles of organizational culture and structure.Based on the research gaps identified, a research framework for future research is provided. Index Terms—Advanced Manufacturing Activity-Based Costing, ABC Success Environment, I. INTRODUCTION In today’s competitive and continually changing business environment, firms need to be vigilant of the impacts of the changes in the business environment and devise appropriate strategies to survive and prosper. Advancements in manufacturing and communication technologies have drastically changed the ways businesses conduct their activities.Adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics and computerized manufacturing have resulted in significant changes in the manufacturing cost structure which have led academics and practitioners to argue that the traditional costing methods are no longer sufficient within this new manufacturing environment [1] (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). This had resulted in the change from the traditional volume-based cost model to new costing methods such as Activity Based Costing (ABC) [2].Due to its ability in providing more accurate costing information and enhancing firms’ performance, ABC is International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X studies, which spanned 1995-2008 periods, were collected from four prominent refereed accounting research journals, in management accounting field: Journal of Management Accounting Research, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Management Accounting Research and British Accounting Review.Factors used by previous research to investigate the effect on ABC success impleme ntation are summarized, and stage of ABC implementation also is outlined. A. Technical Variables Early studies of ABC adoption and implementation undertaken by previous researchers concentrated on technical factors, such as identification of main activities, selection of cost drivers, problem in accumulating cost data. Example of these research are Cooper [9], Morrow and Connelly [22].However, technical factors alone may not be adequate to explain the factors influencing ABC success implementation. Cooper et al. [23] argued that the key problem during ABC implementation stage is that companies only focus on technical factors. They suggested that to make ABC implementation more effective, non-technical factors such as involvement of non-accounting in ABC implementation process, top management championship, adequate training program to employees about the objectives and benefits of ABC should be emphasized as well.Similar opinions were expressed by Shield [3] and Shields and McEwen [1 4]. Shield (1995) found no significant relationship between technical factors and ABC success. Shields and McEwen [14] also highlighted that sole emphasis on the architectural and software design of ABC systems leads to the failure of ABC implementation. Therefore many researchers have suggested that new variables should be considered to investigate factors influencing ABC success. B.Contextual, Behavioral and Organizational Variables Recognizing the research gaps in identifying factors that may affect ABC success, academicians shifted their focuses from technical factors to other variables, such as contextual, behavioral and organizational, culture, as well as organizational structure. Anderson [18] conducted a longitudinal investigation of ABC process in General Motor (GM) from a period of 1986 to 1993. In his research, he examined the effects of organizational variables and contextual variables, and segmented ABC implementation into four major stages, initiation, adoption, adapta tion and acceptance.He found that organizational factors, such as top management support and training for the ABC system affected various stages of ABC significantly, while contextual variables, such as competition, relevance to managers’ decisions and compatibility with existing systems produced different degree of impact on different stages of ABC. Shield [3] examined the relationships between diversity of behavioral, organizational and technical factors and the success of ABC implementation.She employed Shield and Young’s [24] framework and summarized behavioral and organizational variables as top management support, adequate resources, training, link ABC system to performance evaluation and compensation, non-accounting ownership, link ABC to competitive strategies as well as clarity of ABC objectives. She found that top management support, linkage to quality initiatives and to personal performance measure (pay/appraisal), implementation of training and resource ade quacy were the significant predictors in explaining ABC success.She also found that technical variables were not associated with ABC success. Shield’s findings are supported by other researchers, such as Shield and McEwen [14], who argued that a significant cause for unsuccessful implementations of ABC of several companies could be due to the emphasis of architectural and software design of the ABC system and less attention given to behavioral and organizational issues, which were identified by Shield [3]. Krumwiede and Roth [25] also stated that barriers of ABC implementation can be overcome if firms could give importance to behavioral and rganizational variables identified by Shield [3]. Similarly, Norris [26] agreed with Shield’s [3] findings that the association between ABC success and behavioral and organizational variables is stronger than with technical variables. She further highlighted that the impact of behavioral, organizational and technical should be focus ed at individual level. McGowan and Klammer [19] conducted a survey of 53 employees from 4 targeted sites in the U. S. o examine whether employees’ satisfaction levels are associated with ABC implementation by They also measured their perceptions of the factors associated with the degree of satisfaction, such as top management support; the degree of involvement in the implementation process; objectives clearly stated; objectives shared; training; linkage to performance evaluation system; adequate resources; information quality and preparer over user. Their results indicated that employees’ satisfaction with ABC implementation was positively related with clarity of objectives and quality of ABC information.Gosselin [15] carried out a survey of 161 Canadian manufacturing companies to examine the effects of strategic posture and organizational structure on adoption and implementation of general forms of Activity-based costing. He segmented the ABC implementation stage int o adoption and implementation. The research findings showed that a prospector strategy was associated with manager decision to adopt ABC, while centralization and formalization were significantly associated with ABC success implementation. Krumwiede [20] surveyed U.S manufacturing firms to study how contextual factors, such as the potential for cost distortion or size of firms; organizational factors, such as top management support, training or non-accounting ownership, affect each stage of ABC implementation process. His findings showed that the different factors affected the various stages of implementation of ABC and the degree of importance of each factor varies according to the stage of implementation. Contextual factors, such as usefulness of cost information, IT existence, less task uncertainty and large organizations were related to ABC adoption.Moreover, organizational factors, such as top management support, non-accounting ownership, and implementation training affect ABC success implementation. 145 International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X In another study by Anderson and Young [21], the relationship between organizational and contextual variables, such as organizational structures, task characteristics, management support, information technology and ABC success was examined.The result confirmed the importance of organizational factors (top management support and adequacy resources) during the ABC implementation stage. In South Africa, Sartorius et al. [27] carried out a mail survey to investigate the effect of organizational factors such as top management, adequate resources, coherence with organizational goals and strategy on ABC success. They found top management support and resources were the crucial factors in explaining ABC success. In the UK, Innes and Mitchell [4] and [12] surveyed the extent of ABC adoption among largest firms.The study aimed to find out factors influencing ABC success by u sing behavioral and organizational variables, and it was found that top management influenced ABC success significantly. In another study conducted by Khalid [28] using a questionnaire survey among the largest 100 firms in Saudi Arabia, ABC adoption was found to be positively related to diversity of products. In Malaysia, Ruhanita et al. [29] conducted a mail survey and a case study to examine that factors influencing ABC success, especially at adoption stage.They found the significant factors were cost distortion, decision usefulness, information technology and organizational factors. In addition, the findings showed that decision usefulness, top management support, link ABC to performance measure and compensation influenced the ABC success adoption significantly. A case study of one Chinese manufacturing firm was carried by Lana and Fei [30] in China. Their research aimed to examine some key success factors pertinent to ABC implementation within Chinese organizational and cultural setting.The research findings showed that top management support, hierarchical and communication structure and high proportion of dedicated professionals were the significant factors in determining ABC success implementation. Majid et al. [7] used a case study approach to describe the process of ABC implementation in a Malaysian service company and a Malaysian manufacturing company. In this research, they categorized ABC implementation into initiation and adoption, design, implementation and use of information.The purpose of the research was to find out the problems faced during ABC implementation, He found that the factors determining ABC success were top management support, suitable ABC software, and finally, ensuring that all affected employees understand and participate in the ABC implementation stage. And they also found that at different stages of ABC, the dominant factors influencing ABC success were also different. Colin et al. [31] adopted behavioral and organizational fac tors summarized by Shield (1995) to examine factors influencing the adoption and degree of success of ABC systems and determinants of that success.In their research, the targeted research population was manufacturing and service firms in the UK. They found that top management support, non-accounting ownership, adequate training provided to ABC determined the ABC success. Besides behavioral, organizational and technical variable, some researchers also indicated that the dimensions of national cultures could affect the level of ABC success [32, 33]. Brewer [32] used Hofstede’s taxonomy of work-related cultural values to examine the relationship between national culture and Activity-Based Costing system.In the study, Hofstede [34]’s work was applied to the case of Harris Semiconductor (HS), which has implemented ABC at plants in Malaysia and the USA. The results showed that the level of ABC success in Malaysia was higher than that of U. S due to high-power-distance and co llectivist cultures in Malaysia. In addition, Supitcha and Frederick [33] also included national culture’s dimension into framework in a case study of one Thai state-owned enterprise’s budgeting system.They found that due to cultural differences, modifications were required when the organizations in Thailand tried to implement ABC system in Thai environment. Apart from national culture, corporate culture factors were also tested by prior research. Baird, Harrison and Reeve [17] conducted a study to investigate the relationship between the extent of ABC adoption and the organizational variables of size and decision usefulness of cost information and business unit culture. In their research, data were collected by a mail survey questionnaire and samples were randomly selected from business units in Australia.The research finding showed significant relationships between ABC adoption and decision usefulness, cultural dimensions of outcome orientation and tight verse loose control. Baird, Harrison and Reeve [16] examined the relationship between success of activity management practices and organizational factors (top management support, training, link to performance evaluation and compensation, and link to quality initiatives), and organizational culture (outcome orientation, team orientation, attention to detail, as well as innovation).They adopted a survey questionnaire method on randomly chosen business units in Australia. The findings showed that two organizational factors (top management support, link to quality initiatives) explained the variations in success of activity management practices, such as ABC, and outcome orientation and attention to detail of organizational culture were associated with ABC success. They also stressed that compared with organizational culture, organizational factors had stronger associations with the ABC.Table 2. 1 presents a summary of the previous research discussed in this section, which highlights the factors inf luencing ABC success and the research method adopted by each research. TABLE 2. 1: A SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH RELATED TO ABC SUCCESS IMPLEMENTATION Author Shield (1995) Method Survey Variable Behavioral, organizational, technical Individual, organizational factors, technical, task and so on Stage Not specify All the stages Anderson (1995) Case 146International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X technical variables Innes et al. (1995) Gosselin (1997) Survey Behavioral & organizational variables Structure & strategy Adoption implement ation Survey Adoption & Implemen tation Not specify Not specify Not specify Not specify All the stage Implemen tation Adapted from Lana and Fei [30] III. GAPS FROM PREVIOUS RESEARCH From the review of previous research, this section highlights the gaps from previous research.First, as highlighted by Lana and Fei (2007) a majority of ABC research still was done in developed countries and very little research has been done in developing country, especially in Asian context. Thus it is necessary to identify whether the Asian culture and way of doing business may have a different impact on the extent of ABC adoption and implementation. Second, a majority of ABC research reviewed adopted the behavioral and organizational variables identified by Shield [3] to investigate factors influencing ABC success. So far only one research. which was conducted by Gosselin [15] examinedthe effect of organizational structure on ABC success among Canadian business units. The importance of organizational structure effect on management accounting practices is stressed by many researchers. For example, Damanpour [35] stated that whether an innovation can be successfully adopted or implemented to some extent is determined by the type of structure the a firm adopts, so the current study also will consider organizational structure as one of the predictors of ABC success.Third, few research have examined the eff ect of corporate culture on ABC success empirically. Hence it is necessary to examine the association between ABC success and corporate culture, as well as how important cultural factors might be relative to organizational, non-cultural factors [16]. Forth, very few studies have investigated the effect of national cultural on ABC and so far, only two researchers, namely, Brewer [32] and Supitcha and Frederick [33], have included this variable in their studies.Supitcha and Frederick [33] argued that national culture differences often require successful accounting practices in one country to be modified for effective use in another country. So the influence of national culture should not be ignored [32]), especially in developing countries, and differences in term of perceived ABC success could be explained by national culture. The next research gap is that some previous research did not specify the ABC implementation stage for example, Shield [3] and Brewer [32].According to Krumwied e and Roth [25], ABC implementation has six different stages. They are initiation, Adoption, Adaption, Acceptance, Routinization, Infusion, the final two stages are considered as â€Å"mature stage† [25]) and it is argued that at different stage, the dominant factors that determine ABC success implementation are also different. In order to investigate the factors influencing ABC success more accurately, the current research will concentrate on one particular stage of ABC implementation that is mature stage.Finally, the selected articles show most of ABC implementation research were conducted using quantitative method such as questionnaire survey, and there are very few research used qualitative method (see Table 2. 1). According 147 Norris (1997) McGowan & Klammer (1997) Foster & Klammer (1997) Brewer (1998) Krumwiede (1998) Anderson & Young (1999) Case Survey Behavioral & Organizational Behavioral & organizational Non Survey Case Survey National culture Contextual & organiza tional Organizational & contextual variables Interview &survey Supitcha et al (2001) Case National cultureNot specify Innes et al. (2000) Sartorius et. al (2000) Cotton et. al (2003) Khalid (2003) Baird et. al (2004) Ruhanita et al. (2006) Lana & Fei (2007) Survey Behavioral & organizational variables Organizational variables Behavioral & organizational variables Size, production, overhead Size, decision usefulness of cost information, culture Cost distortion, decision usefulness, IT, organizational Technical, behavioral, organizational, contextual factors Organizational factors, culture Organizational, technical factors Behavioral & organizational Behavioral, organizational &Adoption Survey Survey Not specify Adoption Survey Survey Adoption Adoption Survey & Case Case Adoption All the stage Baird et al. (2007) Sartorius et al. (2007) Colin et al. (2008) Majid et al. (2008) Survey Survey Survey Case Implemen tation Adoption Implemen tation Adoption & International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X to Cavana et al. [36], questionnaire survey of data collection often encounters problems of low response rate and to counter this problem researchers are encouraged to use multiple methods to collect data. IV.PROPOSED FRAMEWORK FOR FUTURE RESEARCH As very few empirical research have been done in developing countries on ABC adoption and implementation, future research should be conducted in developing nations, especially, in Asian countries such as China. Since China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it would be interesting to know if ABC success is affected by similar factors as in the western countries. Furthermore, since joining the WTO in the year of 2001, Chinese enterprises started adopting western management accounting techniques, thus it is necessary to know the impact of Chinese culture on the ABC success.Hence the current study will focus on ABC success among Chinese manufacturing companies. Kr umwiede and Roth [25] classified ABC implementation into different stages; initiation, adoption, adaption, acceptance, routinization, and infusion. It has been suggested in the literature that the dominant factors that determine ABC success implementation are also different at different stages [20]. A review of the literature shows that more research has been done to examine the determinant factors at the adoption and very few studies on implementation stage.Thus the current research will concentrate on one particular stage of ABC implementation, especially, the ‘mature’ stage (Routinization, Infusion). The current research will also examine the effect of structure on ABC success. It has been argued that in order to examine the effect of structure, the sample should come from only one industry. Gosselin [15] argued that different industries have different level of centralization, and formalization, and he suggested that a study should concentrate on one particular indus try.Similarly, Rotch [37] stated that compared with manufacturing firms, non-manufacturing firms are very different in terms of characteristics. For instance, hotels are different from manufacturing firms and output of non-manufacturing firms are extremely hard to determine. Moreover, activities in non-manufacturers, especially in service sectors are hard to be predicted, and also large proportion of total cost are joint costs, which often difficult to assign to output. Similarly, Clarke, Hill and Stevens [38] highlighted that significant differences exist in terms of cost structure between manufacturers and non-manufacturers.In non-manufacturing sector, direct labor and direct material cost are almost equal to zero, and fixed overhead costs are the dominant costs in the cost structure and this difference makes researching ABC application in this type of industry more problematic. Hence the current study will focus on manufacturing industry only and since ABC is more likely to be im plemented by larger firms [28], this research will also concentrate on large sized manufacturing business. As discussed in the earlier section, previous research has not systematically examined the effects of organizational structure and organizational culture on ABC success.This motivates the current research to investigate the effects of these variables on ABC success. V. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK A. Proposed theory The current research will adopt Contingency theory and organizational theory to develop the research framework. Contingency theory has been widely adopted to conduct research in management accounting field [39-41]. Contingency theory asserts that the design and application of control systems are contingent on the environment of the organizational setting in which these controls operate and function [39].It is widely used to explain the characteristics of management accounting system [42]. Waterhouse and Tiessen [43] stated that the design and structure of management control s ystem is contingent on number of factors; there are product diversity, cost structure, size, level of competition and degree of customization [44, 45]. Sartorius, Eitzen and Kamala [45] illustrated an example to explain the relationship between ABC and the contingency factors. They stated that increasing fixed costs leads to a need for more accurate cost allocation technique such as ABC.This is especially true for firms which produce more than one products as different product products use differential amounts of resources [17]. Competition is another contextual factor that leads to the emergence of more sophisticated costing system such as ABC. In addition, large sized firms are more likely to adopt ABC than smaller firms due to the size of overhead, number of activities needs to be coordinated, as well as limited resources[16, 45]. However, adoption and implementation of an innovation are totally different[41].Hence, Contingency theory alone may not be adequate to explain ABC impl ementation stage. Krumwiede [20] concluded from a survey among US firms that contextual factors may influence the ABC adoption stage while implementation stage is more associated with organizational factors. He also suggested that once a firm arrives at ABC implementation stage, it should pay attention to organizational factors. Hence, another theory should be applied to explain ABC implementation stage, which is organizational change theory [29].According to organizational change theory, changes in organizations could be classified into four categories: technology, products, structure, and culture [29]. Gosselin [15] categorized ABC implementation stage as the administrative procedure. Therefore, ABC could be considered as a structural change and its success is determined by top-down approach. Based on organizational change theory, Cooper and Zmud [46] divide IT innovation into six sequence stages; 1) initiation, 2) adoption, 3) adaptation, 4) acceptance, 5) routinization, as well as 6) infusion.They also stated that at various stages the dominant factors in determining IT innovation are also different. B. Research Framework In view of the discussion in the previous sections, the following framework is proposed, depicted by Figure 1, for this research. Prior research test the relationship between ABC success and behavioral, organizational variables, hence 148 International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X the current research will also base on Shield [3]’s model to examine the impact of behavioral, organizational variables on ABC success.In addition, it also will include two additional variables, organizational culture and structure as Gosselin [15] stated that effect of organizational culture and structure on ABC success should not be ignored. also will adopt those dimensions. As for ABC success, the current study will adopt McGowan ‘s [11] definition. 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They are: 1) Top management support; 2) linkage to competitive strategies, 3) performance evaluation and compensation, 4) non-accounting ownership, 5) sufficient resources, 6) training in designing, implementing and using cost management system and 7) consensus about the clarity of the objectives of the cost management system, so current study will use all this indicators as behavioral and organizational variables.Lana and Fei [30] reviewed past empirical research about factors influencing ABC success and summarized the technical used by prior research, they are software packages, gathering data on cost drivers, identifying activities, knowledge of data requirement and data collection, the participation of external consultants. The current study also employed Lana and Pan [30]’s definition and its measurement for technical variables. 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Activity based costing implementation success in Australia. 2008 [cited 2008 26th August]; Available from: http://eprints. usq. edu. au/3719/1/Byrne_Stower_Torry. pdf. First Author: Mr. Zhang Yi Fei was born on Sept 9th, 1978. He obtained his bachelor degree in Accounting from Sichuan Normal University, Cheng Du City, Si Chuan province, China in the year of 2002. He obtained his Masters in Business Administration specializ ing in Accounting in 2005 from University Malaysia Sabah. Currently he is pursuing his PhD degree in Management Accounting at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Second Author: Che Ruhana ISA (PhD) is currently an associate professor in accounting at the Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya (UM). She joined UM as a tutor in 1987 after obtaining the BBA (Accounting) from Oklahoma State University, USA. In 1990, she graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science with the degree MSc in Accounting and Finance. She obtained her PhD in Accounting from University Putra Malaysia in 2005. Her current research interests are management accounting change, management accounting and performance measurement systems in public sector organizations. 150