Management Accounting

Motivated by the paucity of published empirical evidence on SMA this paper reports the results of an exploratory study carried out on Electrical and Electronics (E&E) companies operating in Malaysia. Specifically, it explores the extent of strategic management accounting (SMA) information elements usage among Malaysia's E&E companies. The results indicate that E&E companies use SMA information elements extensively. The results imply that companies are extending their management accounting information towards more externally focused and strategic material. This finding enriches our current knowledge about the extent of SMA information usage among organisations. It also supports the findings of several previous researches which suggested that companies operating in today's environment emphasise beyond traditional management accounting information.

When management accounting was introduced as an advanced version of cost accounting after second world war its early advocates had claimed that it would make accounting more useful in assisting managers in their decision making function. As the discipline has failed to live up to the promise now strategic management accounting has been presented as a messiah for the discipline of accounting. New promises have been made that while the traditional management accounting failed to make use of strategic thinking and other qualitative aspects of management the new discipline is likely to make accounting more relevant and important for managers. The empirical evidence on successful diffusion of strategic management accounting is still not overwhelming. It is therefore yet to be seen if strategic management accounting can live up to its promise in future or not.

Management Accounting Research, 2010

2000

Rapid changes in the external environment of organisations have been accompanied by calls for accountants to change the nature of information they provide, the skills they possess and the role they play in the organisation. The proposed changes, which are encapsulated under the phrase accounting for strategic positioning or strategic management accounting are two pronged. On one hand accountants are required to reposition themselves in the organisation hierarchy where they will be involved in the formulation, implementation and choice of strategies. Accountants are also being urged t o adopt a range of techniques whose emphasis is futuristic and external to the firm especially emphasizing the importance of monitoring customers and competitors. A review of the literature has revealed that while considerable effort has been put into the development of rational techniques for proposed use less has gone into whether, how and with what effect the proposed techniques have been implemented in organisations and society. The literature has adopted an uncritical approach to the proposals for a strategic accounting, providing little insight into how the discourse of strategy has come to occupy such a position of centrality in organisations and society with other functions seeking to be branded "strategic".

Journal of Marketing Management, …, 2008

A review of the marketing and accounting literatures has revealed that to date no previous study has examined the intersection of the marketing and accounting literatures pertinent to Customer Accounting (CA). This paper provides a synthesis of these two literatures by exploring the potential of CA. It updates the recent achievements in the CA literature from an accounting perspective and explores the nature of marketing based measures pertaining to customer marketing and management. It appears there is considerable potential for accountants to draw on points of focus raised in the marketing literature to further advance customer focused accounting measures of performance.

2004

Intellectual capital literature devotes considerable growing attention to its valuation, measurement and reporting, but far less attention to its implications for managerial accounting. This study concerns the impact of IC on management accounting practices (MAP) and corporate performance. It examines whether, and how, the degree and form of IC influences MAP, specifically performance measurement, budgeting, capital budgeting, and economic exposure management.

2011

Normative commentaries in the accounting literature have hinted at the potential of customer accounting (CA) information to aid management decision making and also have prescribed a number of factors that may impact the use of CA information. This study identifies and provides evidence of a number of these organisational decision-making implications, as well as factors that influence the use of CA practices, by drawing upon in-depth interviews in fourteen Australian organisations. The main decision-making areas that CA practices were identified as providing useful information for were customer service management, customer retention, customer pricing, performance evaluation and allocation of marketing resources. The industry/market characteristics of cost differentials, revenue differentials, multiple products and competition and the organisational characteristics of market orientation, size of customer base, and company size were evidenced as having an impact upon the use of CA practices. Based on the study's findings a preliminary contextual model is developed that will be advanced and tested in the future.

Intellectual capital literature devotes considerable growing attention to its valuation, measurement and reporting, but far less attention to its implications for managerial accounting. This study concerns the impact of IC on management accounting practices (MAP) and corporate performance. It examines whether, and how, the degree and form of IC influences MAP, specifically performance measurement, budgeting, capital budgeting, and economic exposure management.

This paper examines the management accounting practices in three manufacturing companies within a public limited group company in Barbados. Semi-structured interviews were done with a financial controller, production/operations manager and supervisor in each company. Respondents perceived that management accounting practices enable management to obtain relevant information for meaningful decision making. Budgeting was used as a control tool within the planning process and for monitoring the cash flow. The majority of management accounting practices were widely used by the sample. No sophisticated management accounting software was used to generate information other than the normal accounting software. Timeliness, technology, effectiveness, information needs and an adoption of best practice were important factors influencing the choice of management accounting practices used. Respondents perceived that the management accounting practices employed within the three entities were very effective and contributed to the success of the entities. It was also found that the management accounting practices were consistent and standardised across the group.