A gap in management accounting education: fact or fiction
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to gain insights into the gap that persists between management accounting education (MAE) and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
MAE is examined from four perspectives of the balanced scorecard (BSC), in terms of what is being taught at tertiary level: customer satisfaction, learning and growth, internal business and financial. A survey questionnaire was sent to management accountants selected randomly from a list of practicing management accountants identified by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in South Africa.
Findings
The study finds support for allegations that a gap exists between MAE and practice and indicates that to address this gap, a holistic focus using the four perspectives of the BSC would be useful to investigate the gap.
Research limitations/implications
Previous studies in relation to the gap in management education have focused on the lack of skills provided by tertiary education. As one of the few studies to focus on the overall performance of MAE, this study identifies that the gap is not limited to the provision of adequate skills. The findings show that the gap is significant in terms of customer perspective but is not significant in relation to the internal business, learning and growth and financial perspectives of the BSC. The study provides deeper insights into the gap and will help tertiary education providers to improve their performance.
Practical implications
As one of the few studies on gaps between MAE and practice, the study provides insights to the potential gaps. The findings serve as a basis for further empirical and theoretical enquiries.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the management accounting literature by focusing on the gap in MAE using a BSC approach. Rather than single out the lack of skills provided by MAE as a reason for the gap, this paper provides information on the four areas of the BSC as ways to identify the gap.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of the paper was presented at the New Zealand Management Accounting Conference in 2013 at Queenstown, New Zealand, and further at the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand annual conference in 2014 at Sydney. The authors would like to thank James Guthrie, Ralph Adler, Carolyn Stringer and the conference participants at the above conferences for their helpful comments on the paper.
Citation
Botes, V.L. and Sharma, U. (2017), "A gap in management accounting education: fact or fiction", Pacific Accounting Review, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 107-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/PAR-01-2016-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited