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Abstract
This thesis examines the role of management accounting control practices in interorganisational alliances (IOAs) involving non-cash, ‘value in kind’ (VIK) transactions. The research involves a retrospective case study of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, which examines how the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, (SOCOG), managed and accounted for over $360 million of VIK. The case study is based on document study and interviews with individuals involved with this aspect of the 2000 Olympic Games.
Following a review of previous research concerning both the life cycle (Das and Teng 2002, Moores and Yuen 2001) and the nature of formal accounting controls (Dekker 2004) in IOAs, two research questions are developed. Firstly, what kinds of formal accounting controls are required to manage VIK over the life cycle of an IOA? Secondly, how are extant accounting controls localised through the practice of managing VIK?
This thesis finds the VIK resources are significant to the recipient parties and the IOAs in general. These VIK transactions, however, have been overlooked in previous accounting research with little significant recognition in prior studies or contemporary professional discourse. There is a lack of directly transferable expertise from traditional accounting practices in relation to the following aspects of the management and control of VIK – recognition, planning/budgeting, procedures/rules and performance monitoring. Formal control activities were all experimented with and improvised in order to deal with the challenges presented by the significance of VIK. A ‘drift’ in accounting technologies has been documented by this study (Andon et al 2007).
Given the potential economic significance of VIK transactions, this suggests a need for both further research and professional discourse in this area to ensure sufficient visibility of, and management planning and control for, VIK transactions. Future research could include studies of: management and control of VIK in real time; provider organisations and the impact of VIK on their formal accounting controls; the role of social or informal controls and trust in negotiating and managing VIK; IOAs involving organisations that are operated as an indefinite going concern and, the recognition, valuation and attestation of VIK resources across a range of organisations.