The purpose of this study was to identify the present level of use of cost accounting by nature and type of organization in Bangladesh. The research attempted to identify the need, as well as the areas of current problems and prospects, of use of cost accounting. This study attempted to determine the level and nature of educational skills required in order effectively to apply cost accounting. The study was conducted by the nature and type of organizations in the main cities in Bangladesh. The aim of this study was to expand the depth of investigation in the cost accounting field by descriptive qualitative method. The data from two questionnaires were combined with the interview data to answer the research questions as follows:
1. What is the level of use of cost accounting in Bangladesh by nature and type of organization?
2. What are the accounting users‘ perceptions of the importance and need of cost accounting procedures?
3. What are the accounting users‘ perceptions of use of cost accounting and possible obstacles?
4. What are the accounting users‘ perceptions of education needed in order to meet cost accounting needs in Bangladesh?
Research Design
The questionnaires and the open-ended interview questions were based on a pre-tested questionnaire used in Bangladesh by Mr. Abul Kalam Mazumdar, but the questionnaires were modified to meet the needs of this study. By using the descriptive and the demographic
in Bangladesh, and (b) the importance of cost accounting, as well as its current obstacles and prospects, in business enterprises in Bangladesh.
The data from the interview questions were based on face-to-face interviews with the participants. The main purposes of the interviews were to gain more information and to combine that with the findings from the descriptive questionnaire data. By listening to the participants‘ discussion, the researcher attempted to gain vital information about (a) the importance and need of cost accounting, and (b) the education required effectively to apply cost accounting in
business enterprises in Bangladesh.
Pilot of the survey. Both questionnaires were summarized and modified in light of the
purpose of the study from the original pre-tested questionnaire in Bangladesh by Mr. Abul Kalam Mazumdar. The researcher selected another set of accounting personnel, those who did not participate in the original study, to pilot the questionnaires to ensure that the items were understood. No change was made after piloting the questionnaires.
Participants. The list of business enterprises including their addresses was obtained from
the Chambers of Commerce of different main cities in Bangladesh.
Questionnaires. From the lists of the Chambers of Commerce, 150 business enterprises in
the main cities of Bangladesh were selected, including manufacturing, trading, and service organizations based on larger volume of production and services. From the 150 business enterprises, the goal was to obtain 100 completed questionnaires. Each of the 150 sets of questionnaires was mailed and included a cover letter, a letter of informed consent, a one-page demographic questionnaire, and a two-page descriptive questionnaire. The participants were the employees (accountants/cost accountants) who worked directly in the accounting department.
Interviews. Staff in 20 organizations were selected for face-to-face interviews in the main
cities of Bangladesh based on a larger volume of productions or services. The interviewees were the managers or the heads of the accounting departments.
Setting for the interview. The setting for each interview depended on the schedules of
the interviewer (researcher) and the participant. The researcher conducted the interviews in the participant‘s respective business premise.
Instruments. Three different instruments were constructed and used in this study: (a) a
demographic questionnaire, (b) a descriptive questionnaire, and (c) questions for the interview.
Demographic questionnaires. Demographic questions were utilized, including name and
address, year of establishment, type of ownership, nature of operation, produced product, and size of the organization. The demographic questionnaire is shown in Appendix A.
Descriptive questionnaires. The descriptive questionnaire was developed to collect data
from accountants/cost accountants in the organizations to investigate (a) the current level of use of cost accounting in Bangladesh, and (b) the importance of cost accounting, as well as its current obstacles and prospects, in the business enterprises in Bangladesh. The questionnaire is shown in Appendix B.
Interviews. The open-ended questions were designed in this study to identify (a) the
importance of and need for cost accounting, and (b) the required education effectively to apply cost accounting in business enterprises in Bangladesh. A sample set of interview questions is shown in Appendix C.
Data collection. Three steps were utilized to collect data.
Professional literature. The first step was an analysis of the professional literature related
Questionnaires. The second step was to use the descriptive and the demographic
questionnaires for accountants/cost accountants of different business enterprises. To collect the required data to answer the questionnaire, 150 sets of questionnaires were mailed with the goal receiving 100 completed questionnaires. Unfortunately, a satisfactory number of responses from those selected organizations was not received within the time frame. Eventually, four students from ICMAB (The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh), Khulna Branch, and from Azam Khan Government College, Khulna, were hired to collect questionnaire data by visiting those organizations several times.
Among the 150 business enterprises, 100 completed questionnaires were finally collected from manufacturing, trading, and service organizations. Out of 100 organizations from the main cities, 55 organizations were from Dhaka, 25 from Khulna, and 20 from Chittagong. Among the total 100 organizations, the number of manufacturing, service, and trading companies were 50, 35, and 15 respectively. According to the ownership of the surveyed organizations, 24 were public enterprises, 14 were public limited companies, 8 were multinational companies, 7 were joint venture companies, 12 were government organizations, and 35 were private limited companies. The list of characteristics analysis of functional classification of operation is shown in Appendix D.
Interviews. The third step was the use of interviews with open-ended questions for the
manager or head of the accounting department. Each participant was interviewed for approximately 30 minutes. The interviews were conducted in an informal way to make the interviewee feel at ease. The data were collected by those in-depth interviews. All interviews were supposed to be audio taped to capture the data with the permission of participants.
Bangladesh is a very densely populated country, and people live on low incomes. ―More than 80% of these people survive on less than $US 2 per day – many are under constant threat from floods, droughts and cyclones‖ (Bashar & Rashid, 2012, p. 152). In such a situation, no one wants to take the risk of losing his or her job by any chance. In order to collect interview data, the researcher tried to record the interviews, but the interviewees felt uncomfortable knowing the conversation was to be recorded. The interviewees thought the discussions would somehow be disclosed and they might lose their jobs, as they were disclosing their official secrets. Besides that, they requested several times to keep their identity anonymous in their interview period. In this situation, according to Belson (1967), the use of the tape recorder might restrain the authentic information.
Clearly, the recorder can hardly be used in the highly personal or semi-confessional type of interview because people in that situation may well be expected to suppress
information or to give respectable replies or simply to refuse to take part. But even with more ordinary issues, there is the possibility of adverse reaction of some kind: minor fears, wariness, formality. (p. 253)
Some interviewees were quite nervous when they saw the tape recorder and tried then to avoid the interview. As a result, detailed notes were taken while conducting the interviews to make the interviewees fairly comfortable, so they would speak openly. In that situation, the
recommendation was followed from Weiss (1994), who stated ―if a tape recorder would be intrusive, then of course you should take notes and let the tape recorder go‖ (p. 55).
Interviewing was conducted in English, but due to the personal and complex nature of some issues that might be discussed, the participants felt more comfortable at times expressing themselves in their native language, Bengali. It was believed that if the participants spoke in their own language, they would feel at ease in expressing their ideas clearly. The interviews were transcribed and translated into English.
There were many complications that arose, including those in the country of Bangladesh, which had caused a delay in the study. The original 100 completed questionnaires were obtained in 2005. During the delay, the researcher used this opportunity to re-examine the data and to conduct additional interviews. Those additional interviews were conducted at the 5-year point, and showed the original research problems still to be appropriate.
Ten more interviews were conducted in 2010 with managers or heads of the accounting departments who had not participated in the 2005 data collection. Because the degree to which respondents were forthcoming varied (see the discussion of interview procedures in this chapter), 10 providing the most comprehensive responses were selected among 20 that were collected in 2005, and 10 that were collected in 2010. The list of the interviewees, their position titles, and their educational credentials is shown in Appendix E.
Data Analysis
The data from the participants‘ answered descriptive questionnaires was analyzed to find the following: (a) the current level of use of cost accounting in Bangladesh, and (b) the
importance of cost accounting, as well as its current obstacles and prospects, in business enterprises in Bangladesh.
For analyzing the interview data, the interviews and related questions were read several times to become familiar with the data. Each transcript was analyzed to identify respondent comments relevant to the research questions. ―Data interpretation and analysis involves making sense out of what people have said, looking for patterns, putting together what is said in one place with what is said in another place, and integrating what different people have said‖ (Patton, 1987, p. 347). Markers in different colors were used to mark key words, sentences, paragraphs, issues, and ideas that seemed to be relevant to the research topics. Themes in each transcript
were compared with the other transcripts to look for categories, until no new information or key categories could be gathered from the data.
A set of general findings about the question topics was developed. Each specific theme was described and explained by documenting it with quotes from the participants‘ comments in Chapter 4: Findings. A connection from those findings was attempted to some appropriate literature in Chapter 5: Discussion and Recommendations. From the analyzed data from
interviews, the study found: (a) the importance and need of cost accounting, and (b) the required education effectively to apply cost accounting in business enterprises in Bangladesh.
Protection of Human Subjects
All participants were informed of the purpose of the study and the time commitment required for the interview prior to their agreeing to participate. At the very beginning of each interview, the participants were told how important their participation for the study was. The participants were assured that their identity would remain anonymous and would not circulate in any written records. The approval of the Institutional Review Board at University of the
Incarnate Word was sought before beginning the research (Appendix D). Also informed consent was obtained from the subjects before they participated in the study.
Credibility of the Study
To ensure the interpretation of data was accurate, several approaches were used in this study. One approach was the Member Check (Merriam & Associates, 2002). That strategy was conducted with the participants to avoid misunderstandings of the responses given during the interview. The other approach was Thick Description (Merriam & Associates, 2002). All participants had the opportunity to comment on the interpretation of their responses by the
researcher. Another strategy was the use of descriptive language. The data from the participants‘ comments were documented with quotes, thus assuring more trustworthiness of the findings.
Also the triangulation of data strengthens the research paper when multiple combination methods are used to gather data, such as documents, interviews, observations, questionnaires, or surveys. ―Triangulation refers to the practice of collecting data from more than one source‖ (Gay, 1996, p. 59). Data triangulation confirms the data and research by cross verifying the same information. ―The most persuasive evidence comes through a triangulation of measurement processes‖ (Webb, Campbell, Schwartz & Sechrest, 1966, p. 3). Three different elements were used for triangulation of the data: (a) interviews, (b) questionnaires, and (c) professional literature, and the relationship and consistency among those elements was demonstrated in the reporting and discussion of findings.
Chapter 4: Findings