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The increasing use of complex, nonfinancial environmental performance measures in managerial decisions motivates consideration of contextual influences that potentially impact managerial judgments in environmental settings. This study extends general evaluability theory (GET: Hsee & Zhang, 2010) to environmental accounting by investigating the combined effects of evaluation mode and incomplete supplemental evaluability information (SEI; e.g., benchmark data) on management decisions. To elaborate, evaluation mode is the display format in which the accounting information system (AIS) provides available information for analysis; e.g., a manager’s or business unit’s performance is assessed either comparatively (i.e., in joint mode) or individually (i.e., in separate mode). GET suggests more decision weight on measures containing SEI in separate mode because that evaluation mode contains less context in which to analyze information. On the other hand, more decision weight should result for measures that do not contain SEI in joint mode because that mode already contains more context for analysis (e.g., comparing multiple performances with each other). To test these predictions, experimental participants (n = 53) evaluated environmental measures for factories with similar environmental performances. To operationalize the information available in many environmental AIS, some, but not all, performance measures contained benchmark data (incomplete SEI); factories were evaluated either jointly or separately. Participants evidenced decision intransitivity; i.e., in separate evaluation mode, factories rated higher when a favorable measure contained SEI, while in joint evaluation mode, factories rated higher when a favorable measure lacked SEI. The results extend previous AIS and management accounting research by investigating contextual influences, and potential systems design elements, in judgments using environmental AIS.

Prior research identified conflicts in implementing performance measurement systems that include both financial and non-financial measures. Attempts to incorporate non-financial measures, for example, balanced scorecards (BSCs), have shown short-term success, only to be replaced with systems that rely on financial measures. We develop a theoretical model to explore evaluators’ choice and use of the most important performance measurement criterion among financial and non-financial measures.

Our model links participants’ prior evaluation experiences with their attitudes about relative accounting qualities and with their choice of the most important performance measure. This choice subsequently affects their evaluation judgments of managers who perform differentially on financial versus non-financial measures.

Experimental testing of our structural equation model indicates that it meets the accepted goodness of fit criteria. We conclude that experience has an influence on choice of performance measures and on decision heuristics in making such evaluations. We suggest that an “experience gap” must be considered when deciding which performance metrics to emphasize in scorecards or similar performance reports. We analyzed four accounting qualities, importance, relevance, reliability, and comparability and found that importance, relevance, and reliability have strong effects on how managers prioritize and use accounting measures.

We conducted our study in a controlled, experimental setting, including participants with diverse experiences. We provide direct evidence of participants’ experience and attitudes about the relative accounting qualities of financial and non-financial measures which we link to their choice of the most important performance measure. We link this choice to their performance evaluations.

This study investigates the relationship between lean manufacturing practices, management accounting and performance measurement (MAC & PM) practices, organizational strategy, structure, and culture, and facility performance. We extended past research by examining the relationships between lean manufacturing, MAC & PM practices and performance in a broader organizational context. Our study was performed using survey data provided by managers and executives at 368 facilities that had contacted the Shingo Institute for information or that had entered a Shingo Prize competition. Consistent with past research we found a significant positive association between lean manufacturing practices and lean MAC & PM practices. We found that greater employee empowerment, use of process performance measures, and use of lean accounting practices were driven primarily by lean strategy and secondarily by the extent of lean manufacturing practices. We also found that changes in organization structure to support lean are driven primarily by lean strategy and secondarily by lean manufacturing practices. Change toward lean culture, on the other hand, is driven by the extent of lean manufacturing practices. Further, we found that emphasizing process performance measures does not reduce emphasis on results performance measures and emphasizing results performance measures leads to improved financial performance. Process and results measures are being used in tandem and value stream costing has not replaced traditional accounting. The results of our study provide important insights for managers of companies engaged in lean transformation and for academics who teach or research lean accounting.

Purpose – This study investigates the interplay between strategic performance measurement and management accounting to gain a deeper understanding of how strategic measures of performance evolve with the managerial accounting practices.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The study explored the performance measures used at a bank focused on the development and sustainability initiatives in Africa. Thirty-two semistructured interviews were conducted with directors, managers, and analysts from nine different categories of job families.

Findings – Analysis shows that managers assimilate a comprehensive, multifaceted measurement system to understand the creation and delivery of sustainable value. The results show that the managerial accounting practices adapt to incorporate an integrated set of performance measures that afford sustainable value to the stakeholders. The findings provide rich insights into how the managers adapt their information assimilation practices to the changing demands of the different stakeholders and adopt practices which innovate measures of performance that are aligned to the strategic goals. Finally, the findings illustrate that the interplay between strategic performance and managerial accounting practices has the potential to improve or inhibit sustainable development.

Originality/Value – Little is known about how performance measures evolve, and how they interplay with the managerial accounting practices within organizations. This study reveals that the interplay of strategic performance measurement and managerial accounting can only be understood in the confluence of organizational change and sustainability. While acknowledging the need to embrace change and sustainability simultaneously, the study offers insights into the dynamics of change – the duality of emergent managerial accounting practices and the evolution of strategic performance measurement systems.

The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between the organizational effectiveness (OE) models developed in the field of organizational theory and the performance measurement models presented within the management accounting literature. The specific evolution of these two complementary streams of research stemming from two different fields of research are reconciled and integrated by analyzing their convergences and divergences. As a response to theoretical and practical pressures, the evolution of OE models reflects a construct perspective, while the evolution of performance measurement models mirrors a process perspective. Performance measurement models have moved from a cybernetic view whereby performance measurement was based mainly on financial measures and considered as a component of the planning and control cycle to a holistic view based on multiple nonfinancial measures where performance measurement acts as an independent process included in a broader set of activities. This paper contributes to the performance measurement literature by establishing the origins of the performance measurement models and by shedding light on unexplored fertile areas of future research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the relative and incremental value‐relevance of a comprehensive set of accounting‐based measures of firm's performance in the emerging capital market of Egypt.

The regression models are estimated using OLS to investigate the relative and incremental value relevance of accounting‐based performance measures. The relative value relevance tests are used to examine which performance measures better explain stock returns. The study also uses the incremental value relevance tests to examine whether one of these measures provides value‐relevance data beyond that provided by another.

The results of the empirical tests indicate that relative and incremental value relevance tend to increase when moving down in the income statement, with net income having the largest relative and incremental value relevance while total sales have the lowest relative and incremental value relevance. Also, all of the accrual‐based performance measures have relative and incremental value relevance statistically higher than that of operating cash flows.

The results highlight the importance of accounting‐based performance measures in Egypt. The results shed light on the fixation on net income that is bottom line performance measure in the income statement where net income has the highest value relevance to Egyptian capital market. However, owing to relatively small sample size, given the thinness of the Egyptian capital market, these findings should be interpreted with caution.

This study presents extended research on the usefulness of accounting‐based metrics as proxies for firms' performance in Egypt as one of emerging markets.

This paper focuses on the need to revise the conceptualisation and measurement of evaluative style in future Reliance on Accounting Performance Measures (RAPM) research. Based on a review of the existing literature, we identify a number of issues in the conceptualisation and measurement of evaluative style and conclude that none of the existing measures is ideal for use in future research. We see two general dimensions of evaluative style that need specific attention in future research. The first dimension addresses the evaluative focus of the superior (e.g. budgets, other quantitative targets, short or long‐term targets, etc.). The second dimension addresses the superior’s way of handling the evaluation process (e.g. rigid or flexible, fixing blame, using it as a learning opportunity, etc.). Building on these two dimensions, there i a need for studies that assess how specific performance measures are used in different way within a particular organisational context, enabling a distinction between the design and the use of control tools. These conclusions suggest a need for qualitative indepth field studies within single organisations rather than quantitative survey research across organisations in future research on evaluative style and its behavioural consequences.

This study aims to examine the economic consequences of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Saudi Arabia. More specifically, the study examines the impact of the mandatory adoption of IFRS on the accounting-based performance measures.

Data on study variables were obtained manually from the published financial statements of 67 of listed companies in the Saudi stock market during the period 2014–2019. The study addressed the research hypotheses by comparing the accounting-based performance measures computed under the Saudi accounting standards for three years (2014–2016) before the mandatory adoption of IFRS and the corresponding three years (2017–2019) after the mandatory adoption of IFRS. The Mann–Whitney U Test was used to investigate the significance of differences between the values of performance measures in the pre- and post-mandatory adoption periods.

The findings of the study revealed that there were no significant differences between the values of accounting-based performance measures related to the three performance categories (i.e. profitability, liquidity and leverage) in the post-mandatory adoption period (IFRS) compared to the values of these measures in the pre-mandatory adoption period (Saudi accounting standards).

The results of the study indicated that there is a good convergence between the Saudi accounting standards that were implemented before 2017 and the IFRS that began to be applied starting from 2017. This convergence resulted in a low significant impact of IFRS on the financial statements of companies and then on the accounting-based performance measures calculated from them. However, this study suffers from some limitations, the most important of which is the small sample size as a result of the small number of listed companies in the Saudi market during the study period.

Although the impact of the adoption of IFRS have always been a subject of intense research in developed countries, the study of the impact of the adoption of IFRS in developing countries still limited. This study contributes to the literature by examining the economic consequences of adopting IFRS in Saudi Arabia as one of developing countries.

The main aim of this chapter is to review the use of accounting-based measures of merger and acquisition (M&A) performance. To do so, we conducted a keyword search in 28 leading management journals and one edited book (i.e., Advances in Mergers & Acquisitions). To complement our review, we draw on very recent literature reviews of M&As (e.g., Haleblian, J., Devers, C. E., McNamara, G., Carpenter, M. A., & Davison, R. B. (2009). Taking stock of what we know about mergers and acquisitions: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 35(3), 469–502; Kolev, Haleblian, & McNamara, 2012; Meglio, 2009). Results indicate that accounting-based measures of performance have been used in 36 studies. Also, in these studies, there exists much heterogeneity with respect to the operationalization of M&A performance, the time lag, and the level of analysis. Next, the chapter proceeds with the discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of accounting measures and the proposition of four substantive priorities for future research in the area.

Faced with new wealth creation paradigm, triggered by technology and relentless globalization of markets, increasing number of companies are becoming knowledge‐based enterprises. This paper aims to discuss the change in enterprise environment; evolution of performance and cost measures; and the challenges for managerial accounting researchers and practitioners in developing value‐based costing and performance measurement systems (PMS).

A conceptual discussion and approach are taken.

Internet and e‐commerce have changed forever the way companies conduct their businesses. Virtual enterprise and efficient supply chain management systems will shape the future of these enterprises. Organizations are trying to become agile enterprises with the help of strategic alliances of firms and integration using information technologies. Traditional performance and cost measures are no longer suitable for developing and managing enterprises in the so‐called new environment. In order to remain relevant and to add value, cost and performance measures must be designed and systematically evaluated to reduce the often‐unnoticed mismatch between strategic goals and operational tactics.

Suggestions are presented for future research directions in managerial accounting areas that would address the requirements of new economy enterprises.

Alerts managerial accounting researchers and practitioners to develop new costing and PMS taking into account the new enterprise environment.