Persistent but adaptable – the path dependent development of German cost accounting
Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change
ISSN: 1832-5912
Article publication date: 8 February 2021
Issue publication date: 17 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how and why German cost accounting prevails and develops in German multinational organisations despite the various indications in the literature that it will converge towards an anglophone system over time. To analyse this, the authors draw on the ideas of professional practices (Jarzabkowski et al., 2016) and their path dependency (Schreyögg and Sydow, 2011) as a method theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors deploy an exploratory method using multiple case studies to determine similarities and differences between organisations concerning how cost accounting practices developed over time. They conducted interviews with cost accountants, group controllers and managers of German multinational organisations as well as experts from higher education institutions and consultancies.
Findings
This paper shows the path-dependent development of German cost accounting. It identifies self-reinforcing learning and complementary effects that seem to make it inefficient for organisations to deviate from the learned path as well as economic and normative pressures that affect the design of cost accounting systems.
Originality/value
By considering German cost accounting a path-dependent professional practice, this paper illustrates how and why the core of German cost accounting prevails, although organisations make adjustments within the existing structures to respond to the pressures they face. This paper hereby highlights the role of cost accountants in defining (and consequently bringing about or preventing changes to) the design of cost accounting systems.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Zahirul Hoque (editor–in–chief), Burkhard Pedell (editor) and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.
Citation
Weber, J. and Wiegmann, L. (2021), "Persistent but adaptable – the path dependent development of German cost accounting", Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 471-493. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-12-2019-0124
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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