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When an organization acquires a computer system, accounting is normally the first business application that is computerized. In the past most business had to develop their own accounting software, or continue to operate without one, because of the lack of suitable off‐the‐shelf accounting software packages. In recent years, software companies have been developing a wide spectrum of accounting software packages and currently there are well over 100 accounting software packages on the market ranging from simple cheque‐book programs to powerful modular systems. Selecting the right accounting package has become increasingly complex, and a business needs to evaluate various accounting packages to select one that will best satisfy the company′s current and future financial information needs.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a contingency framework that allows researchers to classify and study management accounting innovation within the context of the literature on the sociology of diffusion and adoption.

The process of innovation in organizations involves two stages: the stages of diffusion and adoption along two dimensions of extent: technical and administrative, and scope: autonomous and systemic. A combination of these two dimensions yields four types of accounting innovations: mechanistic, organic, organizational development, and organizational transformation. Management accounting innovations has been studied using these four innovation typologies.

The paper suggests that management accounting researchers pay particular attention to an organization's approach to diffusion and adoption strategies of innovation, particularly, the extent and scope dimensions when designing and implementing process innovation programs.

The innovation contingency framework developed in this paper facilitates the analysis of two important research questions. First, why have some innovations been readily accepted while other, apparently similar proposed innovations have not? Second, why has a particular innovation succeeded in some firms and failed in others?

The subject of accounting innovations and change are important to managers. Accounting innovations as administrative and technical innovations are intertwined in performance evaluation as well as compensation systems. Accordingly, they are resisted.

The paper's contribution is in the advancement of sociological theories in behavioral managerial accounting. The paper develops a process innovation framework that integrates organizational sociological research in process innovations, particularly in diffusion research.

This paper develops and tests a descriptive model of management accounting system choice through an empirical analysis of the adoption of innovative cost accounting systems in not-for-profit hospitals. The logistic regression analysis indicates that management accounting system design is impacted by organi zational objectives, technological complexity, and other features of the organizational control system. Descriptive statistics indicate limited use of management accounting techniques common in manufacturing firms, such as standard costing and variance analysis. A cross-lagged model suggests that implementation of an innovative management accounting system may be causally linked to decreasing operating costs.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge about to what extent integrated information systems, such as ERP and SEM systems, affect the ability to solve different management accounting tasks.

The relationship between IIS and management accounting practices was investigated quantitatively. A total of 349 responses were collected using a survey, and the data were analysed using linear regression models.

Analyses indicate that ERP systems support the data collection and the organisational breadth of management accounting better than SEM systems. SEM systems, on the other hand, seem to be better at supporting reporting and analysis. In addition, modern management accounting techniques involving the use of non‐financial data are better supported by an SEM system. This indicates that different management accounting tasks are supported by different parts of the IIS.

The study applies the methods of quantitative research. Thus, the internal validity is threatened. Conducting in‐depth studies might be able to reduce this possible shortcoming.

On the basis of the findings, there is a need to consider the potential of closer integration of ERP and SEM systems in order to solve management accounting tasks.

This paper adds to the limited body of knowledge about the relationship between IIS and management accounting practices.

This study aims to report the descriptive statistics of cost-system obsolescence (CSO) in the Turkish hotel industry and contingent factors that affect the CSO.

To validate the reflective measurement model, first, an exploratory factor analysis in statistical package for social sciences was conducted. Then, a confirmatory factor analysis using maximum likelihood in analysis of moment structures was performed to establish the reliability and validity of the construct measurements.

The results demonstrate that CSO symptoms did not occur frequently in sample Turkish hotels. Turkish hotels were found to operate in intense competition and a significant relationship between competition intensity (CI) and CSO takes place. The hospitability industry has been perceived as rather uncertain. However, perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) had no significant effect on CSO, and there was no mediation effect on the relationship between CI and CSO. Turkish hotels were found to perform market-orientated activities at a mediocre level. However, no significant relationship was found between market orientation (MO) and CSO. Additionally, Turkish hotels with decentralized decision-making structures and “prospector-type” strategies were found to have less CSO. On average, Turkish hotels have centralized decision-making structures and pursue “analyzer-type” strategies.

This study contributes to previous literature related to accounting information in the hotel industry. It also aims to give additional insight into Turkish hotels’ competitive environment, MO activities, decision-making structures and strategies and their association with CSO.

The study examined CSO in the Turkish hotel industry and factors that affect CSO. The study results provide additional insight into Turkish hotels’ competitive environment, MO activities, hotel structure and strategy. A new model to test CSO was created and validated using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Recent accounting research has connected the coercive and enabling types of formalisation (C/E) (Adler and Borys, 1996) with the distinction between diagnostic and interactive controls (D/I) proposed by Simons (1995, 2000) to tackle research questions on complex control situations involving both the degree of employee autonomy and patterns of management attention. The diverse conceptual approaches used for connecting C/E and D/I have led to fragmentation in the literature and raise concerns about their conceptual clarity. In this paper, we assess the conceptual clarity of various forms of connection between C/E and D/I. Firstly, we conduct an in-depth content analysis of 59 recent papers, and inductively identify three points of conceptual ambiguity and divergence in the literature (namely, the perspective from which a phenomenon is studied; whether categories capture choices driven by design or by style-of-use; and the properties of control systems). We also observe that the literature proposes various forms of connection (i.e. coexistence, inclusion, and combination approaches). Secondly, we use the three detected points of ambiguity and divergence as assessment criteria, and evaluate the extent to which conceptual clarity is at risk under each form of connection. Based on this assessment, we provide guidelines to enhance the conceptual clarity of the connections between C/E and D/I, propose several research models, and indicate opportunities for future research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence processes of accounting change in the Jordanian Ministry of Finance as well as the Jordanian public sector within its socio-economic contexts, as brought about by public and fiscal reforms. The study explains the ways in which accounting change dynamics can emerge on the basis of interaction between “external” origins and “internal” accounts; which identifies that accounting is both shaped by, and shaping, wider socio-economic and political processes.

The paper uses an interpretive case study approach. The study adopts institutional and structuration theory as a theoretical lens and uses triangulation in data collection, including interviews, observations and documents and archival records.

The paper concludes that the new budgeting systems together with the Results-Based Management emerged as a result of interaction between “external” origins and “internal” accounts. It also highlights the interaction between these levels from one side, and the accounting and organizational change from the other side. The study confirms that factors other than economic may also play an influential role in the emergence of accounting change. It also concludes that there is a radical change of accounting systems in the case study (Ministry of Finance), which is not only a cosmetic change in accounting but is also represented in the actual working practices. The study also confirms that accounting is not a static phenomenon, but one that changes over time to reflect new systems and practices.

The paper has important implications for institutional research on accounting change and public sector reforms in responding to recent calls to bridge the gap between the extra- and intra-organizational levels of analysis. Hence, it has essential implications for the way in which successful change can be defined in accounting and organizational change literature. It also identifies that management accounting is both shaped by, and shapes, wider socio-economic and political processes, which has important implications for the methods of studying management accounting change.

The paper is one of the few case studies in the accounting literature to analyze the practical issues organizations face when changing their method of budgeting as influenced by public sector and fiscal reforms. The study contributes to both accounting literature and institutional theory by providing further understanding and “thick explanation” of the dynamics of accounting change in the public sector.

The study aims to explore the processes of implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a public service organization operating in an emerging market economy, namely, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The study draws on Laughlin’s (1991) model of organizational change to highlight how the introduction of an ERP system, particularly its accounting modules, disrupted the adopting organization’s modes of thinking and its members’ practices. It uses a case study methodology. Data collection methods included semistructured interviews, documentary evidence and personal observation.

The case study findings show that despite implementation and customization problems, the organization’s employees were forced to use the ERP system. The findings also highlight how the ERP system was acted upon to mobilize the organization’s members toward a new era of information technology. However, the misfit between pre- and post-ERP system accounting practices led to some organizational members to form absorbing groups that questioned accounting-based ERP system organizational changes. The top management’s persistent desire to adopt the ERP system through forcing the organization’s employees to use the system’s modules led the organization to undergo what Laughlin (1991) calls “colonization” organizational change.

The use of a case study methodology inherently limits the generalizability of the study’s findings. The case study was carried out over a relatively short timeframe, namely, ten months. Therefore, the use of a longitudinal case study to examine accounting-based ERP organizational change is recommended.

The study provides insights that can assist top management in formulating organizational change strategies. It also provides insights about emerging economies’ regulatory particularities that influence ERP system implementation.

The study is one of the first studies that utilizes Laughlin’s (1991) model of organizational change to examine accounting-based ERP organizational change in an emerging market economy.

Most research on management accounting change relates to practices in developed countries. This paper reports on a field study of management accounting change in the South African context. It uses a contingency theory framework within four retail companies to understand the processes of their management accounting systems change and to explore the rationales for such change processes. The findings indicate considerable changes in management accounting systems within the four cases. Such changes include increased use of contemporary management accounting practices notably activity‐based cost allocation systems and the balanced scorecard approach to performance measures. The paper suggests that recent environmental changes in the South African economy arising from government reform/deregulation policy and global competition largely facilitated the management accounting change processes within the participating organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of leadership in management accounting change processes and outcomes.

The paper draws on an ethnographic study in a Southern European company and mobilizes leader–follower relations as a method theory to analyse the observations.

The findings show how a leadership dispute between two top managers can be amplified during the management accounting change process and percolate throughout an organization. The authors identify five contested areas where the role of accounting amplifies the leadership dispute by unfolding its reach to other organizational actors. The leadership dispute can shape and reinforce a fragmented organization, with some organizational members creating convergent leader–follower relations while others divert and fragment with an increased turnover. This amplification can lead to unexpected outcomes of the change process in terms of how and by whom accounting is performed.

The authors propose the study of leadership and followership as an important but, to date, largely neglected theme in management accounting research.

In contrast to the prior management accounting literature, the paper departs from a leadership-centric and role-based approach and employs a co-constructionist and relational approach to leadership and followership to analyse management accounting change. In addition, it applies and extends Alvesson's (2019a) theory on “divergent relationalities” between the presumed leaders and followers. In doing so, the paper also adds to the leadership field by theorizing and integrating the situation of a leadership dispute in this novel theoretical framework.