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The general theme explored in this thesis is the role of accounting in realigning corporate purpose. To this end, this study presents three papers, each from a different perspective, examining the role of carbon accounting and reporting practices in redefining the role of corporations in addressing climate change. The first paper (Chapter 3: Corporate perspective) examines the role of the external carbon reporting requirements in influencing managerial decision-making. Based on a field study informed by semi-structured interviews with 30 sustainability managers in large UK-based companies, this paper demonstrates that the introduction of the carbon reporting requirements enabled the sustainability managers to initiate and implement some degrees of changes to the business practices. However, the paper also shows that they simultaneously inhibited the managers from addressing the unquantifiable and unprofitable aspects of climate change. As such, the paper highlights the positive role of carbon accounting and reporting practices, but also the risk that they may serve to create a 'false' sense of comfort. The second paper (Chapter 4: Voluntary regulatory body's perspective) examines the role of the 'harmonisation work' of voluntary regulatory bodies in making climate change reporting 'comparable' with financial reporting. Based on a case study of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) informed by semi-structured interviews with its 13 key personnel and 2-month participant observation, this paper demonstrates that the harmonisation work enabled the CDSB to initiate some degrees of changes to the corporate reporting practice. However, the paper also shows that there is a risk that it may inadvertently lead the CDSB into an 'institutional trap' through which changing the corporate reporting practice becomes seen as the ultimate objective, instead of changing the underlying business practice. The third paper (Chapter 5: Regulatory perspective) examines the role of the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in shaping the formulation of a policy proposal which sought to mandate climate change reporting practice. Based on archival analysis of the public consultation documents, this paper demonstrates that the FRC played a subtle 'thought leadership' role in shaping the way that the actors involved in the regulatory debate perceived the issue. This, in turn, created a 'regulatory-policy loop' which supported the policy makers' formulation of the proposal. As such, the paper highlights the role of the corporate reporting regulator in supporting the formulation of the carbon accounting and reporting regulation by creating a sense of shared interest between the business and the NGOs communities.

This overview provides a summary of research that explores factors that affect the learning experiences of accounting undergraduates in Higher Education. The submission is based on eleven outputs, the research for which and publication of which spans the period 1988-2007. The outputs relate to the theme of improving or enhancing student learning and encouraging students to "learn how to learn" and to become lifelong learners. It starts with an overview of my career as a teacher, educator, and researcher which traces how I have developed during my career from an untrained and generally clueless teacher to someone who was passionately interested in developing the abilities of my students and motivated in both my teaching and research to convert them into lifelong learners. This is followed by a discussion of each of the eleven publications included in this thesis. Beneath the umbrella of the overall theme of encouraging students to "learn how to learn", these publications are organised into two themes [The Use of IT in Teaching and Learning; and, Using Accounting History to Increase the Relevance of Topics to Students] and a number of sub-themes. Together, these publications represent significant contributions to knowledge. These include: • being the first author in accounting education to demonstrate that asking students to prepare flowcharts of the rules in rule-based topics such as accounting standards may improve their performance in assessments; • the first review of the use of IT in accounting education to focus upon the adoption of computer based instruction; • the first paper (and the only one that I am aware of) that considers whether or not using computer based instruction as an additional, non-integrated into the course resource is a worthwhile use of resources; • the first paper I am aware of that presented data that supported the view that computer based instruction could replace lecturers with no impact on performance of the students; • the first paper published to foresee the impact World Wide Web may have upon accounting education and research; • the first time I am aware of anyone presenting results of a teaching innovation that involved use of the web where students were successfully guided outside their comfort zones; • the first paper to ever present an overview of how the World Wide Web was being used globally in accounting and finance education; • the first paper I know of that presented a case study of learning and assessment that showed that student performance on objective tests had a strong positive correlation with their performance on traditional written examinations and demonstrated that objective tests could guide student learning to the extent that they appeared to have directly impacted students' deeper understanding of their subjects; • the first paper to use a modern day learning materials developmental model to demonstrate that the bookkeeping treatise of Luca Pacioli published in 1494 was as carefully written as today's textbooks. My contribution to knowledge is then summarised and the number of citations of each publication according to Google Advanced Scholar is given, including the date of the latest citation. This is then followed by a list of all my publications. Signed letters from my co-authors confirming my involvement in joint authored work are presented, followed by a list of the eleven publications included in the thesis. Finally, all eleven publications are presented.

The thesis comprises a set of published papers which together investigate the use of functionalist and interpretive research paradigms and methodologies to enhance the understanding and practice of organisational and financial control in the public sector. The thesis describes two ways in which both paradigms may inform such research. The first, referred to as a multiple paradigm approach, entails the investigation of one research site using both paradigms separately. The second approach, referred to as a multiparadigmatic approach, entails the use of both paradigms, concurrently. Neither paradigmatic approach has previously been taken to empirical research in public sector accounting. The thesis consists of seventeen chapters, arranged in four sections, linked by a preface. Each section focuses on a different research project which contributes to the overall thesis. The first section comprises three normative papers setting out the arguments in favour of researching financial control in the public sector using different paradigmatic approaches. In the second section a multiple paradigm approach is taken to investigate the relationship between organisational culture and financial control processes and behaviour. The section provides the first empirical evidence of the relationship between organisational culture and financial control processes and practice to be reported in management accounting contingency research literature. It shows that this relationship is complex and both constitutive and reflexive, and that it can be understood by a combination of 'scientific' analysis of appropriate questionnaires and 'naturalistic' understanding of historical and social processes. In the third section a multiparadigmatic stakeholder approach is taken to assist the strategic decision making process of a psychogeriatric community health service. In the fourth section a multiparadigmatic stakeholder approach is taken to designing and implementing an information system for community health services for the elderly. The thesis provides a clear methodology for using such an approach for these purposes and also provides extensive evaluations of the two applications.

The marked disintegration of the UK banking system in 2008 led to significant Government ownership in two major banks: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) (National Audit Office, 2009). The banks are termed ‘quasi-nationalised’ due to the retention of stock exchange listings alongside Government ownership The thesis offers a documentary analysis on the public accountability of these banks. The research themes are: - The impact of Government intervention on the accountability of the quasi-nationalised banks - The banking crisis through the lens of financial reporting for RBS and LBG - Newspaper reporting of the banking crisis in RBS and LBG A multiple theory framework is utilised in the study. Property rights (Alchian, 1974; Alchian and Demsetz, 1973; Demsetz, 1967) and agency theory (Fama, 1980; Jensen and Meckling, 1976) explore the implications of Government Intervention. Impression Management and Stigma (Goffman, 1968; Goffman, 1956a) are used to critique financial reporting since the crisis. Critical Discourse Analysis assesses newspaper reporting of the banks’ finances (Fairclough, 2010; Fairclough, 1995). Summary findings for the three research themes are as follows. Quasi-nationalisation has been a positive response to the banking crisis. Banks acknowledge they must consider societal responsibilities as well as corporate profits. Yet the increased accountability mechanisms have been difficult to define and enforce. Property rights theory applauds the retention of private sector scrutiny. Agency theory, however, identifies the muted disciplinary effects of the markets in the circumstances. The banks’ financial reporting gives an alternative perspective on the banking crisis. Both banks acknowledge their role in the crisis but simultaneously distance themselves from it. RBS highlights the virtues of a ‘new’ bank different from the failed one. LBG explains poor results through ‘market dislocation’. The statutory accounts themselves are relegated in favour of managerially defined pro forma numbers and promotional materials. In this way, the statutory numbers can be seen as part of the ‘dirty work’ (Goffman, 1956b) of the crisis. Using critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2010; Fairclough, 1995), findings are that newspaper reporting of the banks’ accounting results occurs across a broad spectrum of titles and articles. Headlines favour big numbers for impact. But constant focus on banking pay endures. The accounts provide an important counterpoint to the news context of the banks. Positively, accounting is portrayed as a neutral challenger to the public relations news process and fulfils democratic accountability. Critically, however, it is in the interests of papers to create and sustain media panics (Leach, 2006). The thesis responds to calls for literature on the financial crisis (British Accounting Review, 2012; Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 2011; Arnold, 2009), multi-theoretical research in the public sector (Jacobs, 2012; Kurunmäki et al., 2003), linguistic theory in accounting (Evans, 2010) and accounting in the tabloids (Jeacle, 2012) as well as interpretive research in financial reporting (London School of Economics, 2011; Brennan and Solomon, 2008; Parker, 2007).

The twelve refereed publications which form the basis of this PhD each deal with the impact of regulatory change on the perceptions and behaviours of key participants. The publications are drawn from three collaborative research projects exploring different aspects of financial reporting, auditing and corporate governance regulation. The first project considered the way in which a new regulatory enforcement body, the Financial Reporting Review Panel interpreted its role and the impact of its actions on preparers and auditors of financial statements. The second project reviewed the developing perceptions of preparers, regulators and auditors following the European Commission announcement that IFRS would be adopted for the consolidated accounts of all EU listed companies with effect from 2005. The third project explores the impact of the re-regulation that followed the Enron and Worldcom scandals. In particular it examines auditor / client financial reporting and auditing interactions and presents evidence on the role taken by the newly empowered audit committee in that process. All of the publications present the results of empirical evidence. While a wide range of research methods are used, interviews and questionnaire surveys dominate. All of the publications are policy relevant and recommendations are made in each paper. Although all the research has been undertaken in a UK setting, the issues are explored within the framework of international literature, and most of the findings and recommendations are of international significance. The first part of this commentary provides an overview of the contribution and quality of the work being submitted. The publications are then located within the broad sweep of regulatory theory to demonstrate the coherence of the submission. Each of the three projects is then considered in turn and the contribution to knowledge of each of the publications is then discussed in detail, and summarised in the conclusion.

Several writers on the development of accountancy in the nineteenth century, such as Jones, have stated that the accounting profession developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Another claim, which is made by writers such as Stacey, is that it was the increase in company legislation that was responsible for the formation of the profession; in particular he identifies the 1862 Companies Act as being a major factor. However, the first accounting bodies in the UK were formed in Scotland in 1853, well before Stacey's date of 1862, and, although the Industrial Revolution led to an increase in the number of accountants in Scotland, it was not these accountants who formed and joined the early accounting societies. The purpose of this thesis is, first. to identify the factors that were responsible for the formation of the first Scottish accounting bodies and the social background of the early members, and to examine the matters which were of major concern to those bodies during their early years. Since very few secondary sources are available in this area, it was necessary to use primary sources at the Scottish Records Office, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, British Parliamentary Papers and both private and public legislation. This established the background of the new profession. the reasons for the formation of the Scottish chartered societies, and a social analysis of the accountants who were instrumental in forming them. The second stage was to examine their development over their first fifty years by, firstly, analysing the population of the three chartered bodies to identify differences between the three groups and secondly, to study how the work of members changed during this period in response to changing legislation and economic factors. A third matter was to identify issues that were of concern to the societies and a final concern was to establish when Scottish accountancy could claim to be regarded as a profession. The study concludes, firstly, that there can be little doubt of the importance of bankruptcy work to Scottish accountants in the mid-nineteenth century or that the proposed changes in bankruptcy legislation was the most important single factor in the formation of the first Scottish chartered societies. As far as social status is concerned the accountants studied were generally middle class and of a lower status than the older professions. In addition. there were significant differences between the groups in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The issues that are recorded as being of concern to members included protecting their title against competing accounting bodies, protecting the work that they already had and attempting to obtain monopolies in new areas of work which became available. Throughout the period their main professional interest lay in bankruptcy work and they gained new work by their own individual efforts rather than by the efforts of the societies or through legislation requiring that chartered accountants be preferred to others. The influence of Scottish chartered accountancy spread to London and to the colonies throughout the whole period of study, as significant numbers found that their prospects in Scotland were limited. When they did emigrate they undoubtedly contributed to the formation and development of other accounting societies throughout the world. Although it is difficult to establish the exact date. there is no doubt that by the end of the nineteenth century the Scottish chartered accounting societies could justifiably be described as professional bodies.