Coordination in a not-for-profit organisation during the COVID-19 pandemic: organisational sensemaking during planning meetings

Purpose: The authors examine how a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) coordinates NPO's actions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic to remain focussed on strategic and operational goals. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a live case study of an NPO as the crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. Drawing on a sensemaking perspective that incorporates sensegiving, the authors develop a framework of five types of organisational sensemaking. The authors analyse weekly planning meetings during which managers discussed past performance, forecast performance and the forecast duration of current cash reserves. Findings: The authors show how three of the five types of organisational sensemaking helped to coordinate actions. The authors highlight how accounting information triggers organisational sensemaking processes;but depending on the type of organisational sensemaking, accounting information has little further role. The authors also show that the stability of decisions depends on the types of organisational sensemaking. Practical implications: The authors show how coordination as a management control practice is enabled by organisational sensemaking within an NPO during a crisis. Organisational sensemaking enabled the agreement of actions, which enabled coordination. Accounting practices provided trigger mechanisms to facilitate organisational sensemaking. Originality/value: Since this study is the first to examine sensemaking processes and accounting practices in coordination in an NPO in a pandemic, the authors contribute to the limited research on NPOs during crises and on the management control practice of coordination. The authors extend the accounting literature on sensemaking by showing that, whilst accounting triggers organisational sensemaking, accounting is only implicated in one type of organisational sensemaking and by revealing the different outcomes of the different types of organisational sensemaking. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Paradoxical tensions of the COVID-19 pandemic: a paradox theory perspective on the role of management control systems in helping organizations survive crises

Purpose: This paper presents paradox theory as a useful theoretical lens for researchers exploring crises such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The authors argue that paradox theory, which emphasizes a “both/and” as opposed to an “either/or” approach, is ideally suited for management control systems (MCS) research on crises. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopt a revelatory case approach to provide empirical examples of the insights that paradox theory can provide. Findings: This paper highlights how MCS can be used to simultaneously manage short-term/operational and long-term/strategic objectives to navigate a crisis. Furthermore, it highlights how MCS can be mobilized during crises to identify and embrace opportunities. Practical implications: This paper illustrates the importance of MCS focusing on not just the short-term, but also the long-term, and managing multiple objectives in assisting organizations to survive crisis. Originality/value: This paper highlights the benefits of using paradox theory to understand the role of MCS in helping organizations manage crises and to use a crisis as a source of opportunity. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Coping with COVID-19: the role of accounting in shaping charities' financial resilience

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of accounting in shaping charities' financial resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a charity was conducted. The financial resilience framework (Barbera et al., 2017) was applied to explore how accounting contributes to charities' capacity to cope with crises. Findings The results show how the accounting practices of budgeting, forecasting and performance reporting (financial and nonfinancial), as well as "accounting talk," form part of the anticipatory and coping capacities that provided the charity the financial resilience to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications The paper evidences the important role accounting plays in establishing financial resilience to help charities cope with crises, particularly the importance of having accounting practices established prior to a crisis and accounting information forming part of managers' discussions. The study also demonstrates that financial reserves have an important buffering capacity role. Originality/value This is the first paper to examine the role of accounting within a charity during an economic crisis. The authors explore the role of accounting in shaping a charity's financial resilience and demonstrate the applicability of the financial resilience framework to a sudden, unexpected crisis such as COVID-19. They extend the accounting talk literature by highlighting its importance to a charity and during a crisis.