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The paper contends that the strategic use of accounting at times of organisational change does not of necessity mean that organisations should adopt new accounting systems ‐ such as activity based costing or throughput accounting. Although not necessarily fully “compatible” with new manufacturing methods, standard costing systems can still continue to be useful. The article examines the changing role of the accounting system in two manufacturing organisations that have introduced a range of new manufacturing techniques over the last decade. These have included reducing inventories, the elimination of constraints and increased investment in automation. Despite these developments, both companies have made few changes to their existing standard costing systems. Possible problems identified in the literature as inherent with standard costing systems were, at least in part, overcome through a range of adjustments to existing accounting and other reporting systems, with the accounting system recognised as providing only part of the information needs of operational management. Also, although changes to the manufacturing environment had taken place, they were not of such a fundamental nature that wholesale change to the accounting system was either required or could necessarily be justified in terms of cost/benefit.

Preface The functions of business divide into several areas and the general focus of this book is on one of the most important although least understood of these—DISTRIBUTION. The particular focus is on reviewing current practice in distribution costing and on attempting to push the frontiers back a little by suggesting some new approaches to overcome previously defined shortcomings.

The use of accounting to help apply the principles of scientific management to business affairs is associated with the adoption of standard costing and budgetary control. This first British industry‐based study of the implementation of these calculative techniques makes use of the case study research tool to interrogate archival data relating to leading iron and steel companies. We demonstrate the adoption of standard costing and budgetary control early on (during the inter‐war period) by a single economic unit, United Steel Companies Ltd, where innovation is attributed to the engineering and scientific background and US experiences of key personnel. Elsewhere, significant management accounting change occurred only with the collapse in iron and steel corporate profitability that began to become apparent in the late 1950s. The process of accounting change is addressed and the significance for our study of the notions of evolution and historical discontinuity is examined. The paper is contextualised through an assessment of initiatives from industry‐based regulatory bodies and consideration of the economic circumstances and business conditions within which management accounting practices were the subject of radical revision.

The purpose of this paper is to review literature on standard costing in Japanese manufacturing environment. It examines the changes in the manufacturing environment in Japan that has lowered the significance of standard costing in Japanese firms and investigates the current level of its applicability in Japanese firms.

The paper systematically categorizes the relevant literature and reviews it methodologically.

The paper finds that standard costing is still being used by a large number of firms both in developing and developed countries. Overall, the research suggests that the importance of standard costing has not declined to such a low level despite the technological changes. In Japan standard costing is still used for different purposes despite its apparent weaknesses.

This is not an empirical investigation of standard costing in Japanese manufacturing firms.

The paper will be useful to researchers, cost accountants and others concerned with product costing to understand the importance of standard costing. It is also expected that the current research will help reveal whether or not one should continue teaching standard costing in the classroom.

The apparent failure on the part of companies to evolve a satisfactory costing scheme for their physical distribution (PD) systems is now giving way before a sustained attempt to rationalise PD costs. The author reviews the legislative and economic changes which have led to a recognition of the need for change, and he suggests that the “Total Distribution” (TD) approach to a solution is the one to be explored. The distinctive nature of the different accounting schemes in use, and their informational requirements, are discussed. The complex nature of PD involves the use of both operational research and statistical techniques. In fact, the need for improved information for PD management is not yet being met, and this hampers decision‐making. The monograph looks at the shortfalls in financial accounting for PD, and at the complex and ambiguous relations between PD and the formal company financial statement. Finally, the profit‐analysis approach may be the answer, and this can be incorporated within the framework of a missions approach. The author concludes that, so far, neither orthodox accounting procedures nor experimental approaches have yet provided a complete answer for PD cost analysis.

One of the most important aspects of managerial accounting is the accumulation of costs in the manufacturing process. This data is of value to the manager owing to the information it provides him for planning, control, and decision making. The purpose of this paper is to describe the different costing systems, compare them, and show how they affect the accumulation of costs for product costing, as well as decision making.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a substantial organization gradually builds a management accounting system from scratch, changing its accounting routines by learning processes. The paper uses the experiential learning theory and the concept of learning style to investigate the learning process during management accounting change. The study aims to expand the domain of management accounting change theory to emphasize the learning-related aspects that can constitute it.

The paper provides an interpretation of management accounting change based on the model of problem management proposed by Kolb (1983) and the theory of experiential learning (Kolb, 1976, 1984). The study is based on a 14-year longitudinal case study (1994‐2007). The case examined can be considered a theory illustration case. Data were obtained from a broad variety of sources including interviews, document analysis and adopting an interventionist approach during the redesign of the costing system.

The paper contributes to two important aspects of management accounting change. First, it becomes apparent that the costing information change was not a discrete event but a process of experience and learning conducted through several iterations of trial-and-error loops that extended over the years. Second, the findings reveal that the learning process can alter management accounting system design in a radical or incremental way according to the learning style of the people involved in the process of change.

Because of the adopted research approach, results could be extended only to other organizations presenting similar characteristics. Several further areas of research are suggested by the findings of this paper. In particular, it would be of interest to investigate the links between learning styles and communication and its effect on management accounting change.

The paper includes implications for the management of learning during management accounting change, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this process.

This paper is one response to the call for an interdisciplinary research approach to the management accounting change phenomena using a “method theory” taken from the discipline of management to provide an explanation of the change in management accounting. In respect of the previous literature, it provides two main contributions, namely, the proposal of a model useful both to interpret and manage learning processes; the effect of learning style on management accounting routines change.

Gomez Electronics produces three models of portable compact disc (CD) players. The company uses a full-cost standard-costing system for both internal and external financial reporting. However, the company's president is considering changing to a standard direct costing (i.e., variable costing) system for internal purposes. Students are asked to prepare two sets of income statements: one based on a standard full costing system, and the other based on a standard direct costing system. Each set of income statements provides information that reflects budgeted sales and budgeted production, as well as actual sales and actual production. Gomez Electronics has three production departments, all of which have excess capacity. The company has received and an offer from a large discount company to purchase a large quantity of CD players that, except for the plastic case, are similar to one of Gomez Electronics' CD players. The offer stipulates the price, the total quantity, and the delivery schedule. Students are asked to make a decision regarding whether to accept the discount company's offer. In addition, students are asked to make a recommendation regarding the adoption of a standard direct costing system for internal use.

Despite arguments that traditional product costing and variance analysis operate contrary to the strategic goals of advanced manufacturing practices such as just in time (JIT), total quality management (TQM), and Six Sigma, little empirical evidence exists that cost accounting practices (CAP) are changing in the era of continuous improvement and waste reduction. This research supplies some of the first evidence of what CAP are employed to support the information needs of a world-class manufacturing environment. Using survey data obtained from executives of 121 U.S. manufacturing firms, the study examines the relationship between the use of JIT, TQM, and Six Sigma with various forms of traditional and non-traditional CAP. Analysis of variance tests (ANOVA) indicate that most traditional CAP continue to be used in all manufacturing environments, but a significant portion of world-class manufacturers supplement their internal management accounting system with non-traditional management accounting techniques.

Many authors have predicted that the shorter product life cycles, advanced manufacturing technologies, decreasing emphasis on labour in the production process, and global competition may lead to the demise of standard costing. This exploratory study aims to provide empirical evidence on the extent to which companies in Malaysia use standard costing. It also examines the differences in the use of such techniques between local Malaysian firms and Japanese affiliates.

From the industrial and consumer products sectors listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange and 21 Japanese affiliates in Malaysia, 66 companies were surveyed.

Despite its various criticisms, the empirical findings suggest that standard costing is still being used by a large majority of firms in Malaysia. Thus, Malaysian companies (both Japanese and local) perceive that the basic principles of standard costing remain sound.

While the empirical results may be interesting, the findings represent an exploratory area of research which ultimately needs to be grounded in theory. To do this, future studies should undertake detailed case studies on management accounting in practice.

Provides empirical evidence of the extent of use of standard costing in Malaysia.