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Implementation of lean production introduces the problem of what kind of management accounting to use. The purpose of this paper is to analyse aberrations that are typically created when traditional accounting is used in a lean organisation. Furthermore, the purpose is to discuss whether activity‐based costing (ABC) and value stream accounting are suitable for lean production. These three accounting systems are compared under the particular conditions of a small‐to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) that is in an early stage of lean implementation.

The paper is based on a case study carried out within a SME illustrated by three examples. In the first and second examples the SME analyses how the introduction of improvements, by the means of lean production, can lead to cost product mistakes when traditional accounting calculations are used. The second example deals with a comparison benchmark between traditional accounting and ABC. The third example analyses value stream accounting as an alternative to ABC and discusses the implications and limits for the SME.

The results of the examples show first, the possible mistakes introduced by traditional accounting, and second, how the costing of a manufacturing lot varies when using traditional accounting and ABC. In addition, the results illustrate the interrelationships between lean production, ABC and value stream accounting. In particular, ABC seems to introduce some difficulties in terms of IT automation, and there are difficulties with value stream accounting because it requires a particular value stream‐based organisation not particularly suitable for this SME.

The generalisability of the research findings is limited because of the use of a case study within a SME in which lean production is in an early stage of application and has a particular flexible organisation. This implies a need for further studies on other SMEs in different organisational situations.

The implications are useful for SMEs that are implementing lean production and are thinking of a changeover from traditional accounting. The results can guide SMEs in the selection of the most effective accounting system considering particular factors such as the state of lean implementation, whether the organisation is value stream oriented or type of products manufactured.

The paper discusses for the first time the implications of ABC and in particular of Value Stream Accounting inside a SME that is implementing Lean Production.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the shortcomings of traditional cost accounting techniques in lean companies and then it seeks to analyse the validity and convenience of value stream costing (VSC) as a tool in a company that has adopted some concepts of lean manufacturing.

The paper reviews the relevant literature in order to discuss the deficiencies of costing methods in lean manufacturing. It evaluates the requirements of VSC and provides a concrete illustration of VSC in the continuous improvement process of a point of sales terminal assembly line.

The paper evidences the possible mistakes of cost accounting. The necessity and validity of VSC in lean manufacturing are presented, followed by a case example. In order to make continuous improvement decisions, VSM, VSC and box score offer complete information on the performance of the value stream.

Although accompanied by an application on a real case study, this is not an empirical investigation on the adoption of VSC.

VSC requirements agree with the fundamentals of lean management. Therefore, VSC is a valid tool for lean companies, although the applicability depends on the maturity of the lean implementation.

This paper contributes to the lean accounting literature because the management accounting literature still lags behind the lean transformation. This is one of the first papers on VSC in relevant journals and the first one to combine VSC and box scores with value stream mapping. The paper will be useful to academics involved in new accounting systems but also to practitioners who are implementing lean manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the applicability of lean accounting and throughput accounting in a company with considerable investments in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT).

The paper compares lean accounting and throughput accounting with the traditional accounting system the company is using today. The authors investigate the differences between the three alternative approaches and use a case study approach to illustrate the effects of applying different modern accounting approaches in a complex manufacturing setting.

Pair-wise comparisons of the three approaches provide some interesting cost information as to the role of bottlenecks and value streams.

The specific results of this study are limited to the case company, but can hopefully contribute to further research on how to combine lean and throughput accounting for mixed manufacturing environments, involving both value streams and bottlenecks.

Lean and throughput accounting provide other perspectives on cost information to traditional accounting, and can therefore be used in combination. The authors identify some issues and challenges involved in using lean accounting and throughput accounting in an AMT company.

This paper contributes with a comparison of traditional, lean, and throughput accounting in a specific industrial setting characterized by AMT and complex manufacturing.

Lean manufacturing (LM) has advocated gains by reducing waste and intensifying continuous improvement. As a holistic organizational policy, it must overpass the limits of the manufacturing function. Management accounting should be aligned to lean thinking, aiming to meet the demands and goals of a lean organization. This paper aims to investigate the degree of alignment between management accounting systems and LM practices.

Two representative case studies were carried out in industry leaders in the implementation of LM, in Brazil. The key research constructs and were identified by means of a systematic literature review. The rhetoric and practice concerning the alignment between management accounting and LM are discussed based on the existing theory and the conducted case studies.

The analysis showed that many of the principles that form the rhetoric of lean accounting are far from the accounting practices observed in the companies. Using the theory-building function of case studies, 10 propositions to be tested in future research are proposed. The main propositions are also summarized in a framework based on analogies with optical lenses.

To the best of the knowledge, there are no previous in-depth studies focusing on characterizing this alignment between management accounting and LM practices. The analysis yields prescriptive directions for managers that seek to improve this alignment in their business. This study also proposes a five-stage maturity model, which can be used by the managers to assess this alignment and to set goals for reaching more advanced levels of maturity.

The inherent variability on process times and demand are the factors that prevent the efficient application of lean philosophy in multi-project product development (PD) environments. Considering this variability, a hybrid push–pull project control system is developed, and value stream costing (VSC) analysis is performed to reflect the relation between project lead time, capacity and project cost. The assessment of the push/pull project control on lead time improvement and long-term savings on capacity have been aimed with the proposed complete design structure.

In a team-based structure, formed through clustering, push control techniques for planning tasks within cross-functional teams and pull control techniques for planning tasks between cross-functional teams are developed. The final step evaluates the proposed structure through VSC and long-term savings have been pointed out, especially in terms of freed-up capacity. For the validation of the proposed methodology, an office furniture manufacturing firm’s PD department has been considered and the performance of the hybrid system has been observed through simulation experiments and based on the simulation results, the lean system is evaluated by VSC.

The results of simulation experiments show a superior performance of the proposed hybrid push/pull project control mechanism under different settings of cycle time between projects or shortly project cycle time, dispatching rules within teams and variability levels. The results of the Box-Score (tool to apply VSC) indicate increased capacity in the long term to add extra projects during the planning period with the same project lead time and without additional cost.

Although extensive simulation experiments have been performed to quantify the effect of project control structure and positive results have been reported on lead time and cost, the proposed design structure has not been tested in all existing PD environments.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, the quantification of the effect of hybrid project control with VSC is the first attempt to be applied in lean PD projects.

The purpose of the paper is to perform a review and analyze the literature on lean accounting (LA) to develop insights into how LA research is developing, offering a critique of the research to date and underlining future research opportunities.

The research uses a structured literature review (SLR) to categorize and analyze 39 research articles from relevant journals with a publication date from 1996 to 2020 (September) and to answer three research questions.

Findings demonstrated that although LA seems to be the most suitable method for lean companies, it still lacks research in terms of the role of accountants in lean organizations as well as how its concepts are integrated with the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

The paper provides both academics and practitioners with valuable insights regarding the role of management accounting and accountants in the pursuit of lean transformation, presenting meaningful themes and a complete analysis of the literature along with research gaps for future research.

The paper contributes to lean manufacturing literature by providing a comprehensive SLR of articles regarding LA. Also, the paper serves as a basis for developing future research agendas in management accounting practices for lean organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to show how the Estimated Value Via Intellectual Capital Analysis (EVVICA™) model, which represents one way the analysis of human, relational, and structural capital in conjunction with the renewal capacity of a business, can be used to yield a more accurate depiction of future worth.

The paper provides empirical evidence about the use of a managerial model on companies' performance based on the assessment and management of the knowledge assets founding their processes.

As reliance on intellectual assets increasingly becomes the dominant factor within business innovation and development cycles, application of conventional valuation models is becoming consequently less reliable. Discounted cash‐flows do not adequately depict the future value of such IA‐rich businesses and do not reflect their transformational nature. Operating within turbulent markets where the capacity to continually adapt and redefine is crucial, a new valuation model is clearly required to complement existing financial tools.

Combining alternative, possibly simultaneous, revenue generation possibilities within the model, more meaningful evaluations are possible which, in addition, illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the business proposition and its capacity for sustainable change.

The paper introduces EVVICA™, a useful valuation model for intellectual asset‐rich businesses.

A large number of small-scale industries have shown their existence in India, tough competition among them made the survival of small industries difficult. All facing problems like reduced production and poor quality. The case study presented in the paper deals with Kaizen implementation in a machine vice manufacturer company. Kaizen has tremendous impacts on the production techniques and lead times. Case study represented is to motivate practitioners for implementing Kaizen in small-scale industries of India. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The methodology applied to implement the Kaizen in Indian small-scale industry. Fishbone diagrams have been used to represent cause and effects. The result has been shown as savings in terms of money and time.

Processing time has been reduced by 44.4 percent and an amount of Rs. 64,000 has been saved by recovering a total of 80 square feet working area. Improvements in the form of work flow have been achieved.

Value stream mapping can be integrated with Kaizen for more reduction in the product lead time.

The paper will be worthily for practitioners and consultants for understanding Kaizen implementation in small-scale industry of India.

The paper yields lots of values for practitioners to understand the impacts and significance of the Kaizen in small-scale industries of India. Also it bridges the gap between theory and practical of Kaizen implementation in small-scale industry of India.

As the manufacturing industry is under pressure to face the global competition, it is necessary to improve productivity and reduce costs through minimization of wastage of resources for their survival. This paper aims to present an analysis of the status of resource flexibility and lean manufacturing through conducting a case study in an Indian textile machinery manufacturing company and also demonstrate the various areas of future scope for improving lean manufacturing.

The case study has been conducted using the flexible system methodology (FSM) framework (Sushil, 1994). For measuring resource (labour and machine) flexibility and lean manufacturing, various factors contributing towards labour flexibility, machine flexibility and lean manufacturing are identified. To determine their relative weights, an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) has been used. A specially designed questionnaire is used to collect the information during case study on different aspects of resource flexibility and lean manufacturing. SAP-LAP analysis has also been carried out to look in to the ways the company is building up resource flexibility and lean manufacturing.

The status of labour flexibility, machine flexibility and lean manufacturing is merely 49.30, 47.10 and 47.40 per cent, respectively. The most important factors of labour flexibility and machine flexibility attained a value of 59.50 and 61.17 per cent, respectively. Similarly, only 39.09 per cent wastes are eliminated through lean manufacturing. There is a huge scope to achieve a higher degree of lean manufacturing through focusing on continuous improvement, just in time (JIT) and resource flexibility factors.

The present study includes only labour and machines to compute the resource flexibility. Other resources may also be included to compute the overall resource flexibility.

The present study provides guidelines to analyze the status of resource flexibility and lean manufacturing. According to conclusions, frail areas in the manufacturing system can be identified and a suitable course of action could be planned for the improvement. Hopefully, this study will help the firm’s management to identify the problems to manage resource flexibility and implement an effective lean manufacturing.

In this work, the theoretical perspective has been used not only to update the original instrument, but also to study the subject from a perspective beyond that usually associated with resource flexibility and lean manufacturing.

Manufacturing industry is under pressure to improve productivity and reducing costs through minimization of wastage of resources. This paper aims to present case study of an automobile component manufacturing company to implement lean manufacturing through resource flexibility and also demonstrate the various areas of future scope for improving lean manufacturing.

The case study has been conducted using the flexible system methodology framework. For measuring resource (labor and machine) flexibility and lean manufacturing, various parameters contributing towards labor flexibility, machine flexibility and lean manufacturing are identified. To determine their relative weights, analytical hierarchy process has been employed. A specially designed questionnaire is used to collect the information during case study on different aspects of resource flexibility and lean manufacturing. SAP-LAP analysis has also been carried out, to look into the ways the company is building up resource flexibility and lean manufacturing.

Although all parameters of labor flexibility contribute towards overall labor flexibility but ability of workers to work on different machines has the maximum impact of 35.16 percent. Ability of machines to perform diverse set of operations has maximum contribution of 40.38 percent towards machine flexibility. Similarly elimination of waste is 35.15 percent responsible for lean manufacturing implementation. There is also a huge scope to achieve higher degree of lean manufacturing by implementing zero defects, changing attitude towards change and installing flexible machines. It is inferred that 76.2 percent of lean manufacturing is endorsed by resource flexibility.

The present study includes only labor and machines as the elements of resource flexibility. Other resources may also be included to compute overall resource flexibility.

The present study provides guidelines to assess the status of resource flexibility and lean manufacturing. According to conclusions, feeble areas in the manufacturing system can be identified and a suitable course of action might be planned for the improvement. Hopefully this study will help the firm's management to identify the problems to manage resource flexibility and implement an effective lean manufacturing.

In this work, the theoretical perspective has been used not only to update the original instrument, but also to study the subject from a perspective beyond that usually associated with resource flexibility and lean manufacturing.