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A well developed manufacturing strategy is becoming increasingly important to many manufacturing organizations. A major feature of such a strategy is the definition of a manufacturing infrastructure that is consistent with how products and services compete in the selected market. The managerial accounting system is a key component of this infrastructure. Reports the results of a survey of 85 manufacturing companies. Finds that many companies use an accounting system that appears to be inappropriate. The systems are often ill suited to their marketplace and inconsistent with an appropriate manufacturing strategy. Discusses recommendations for change for companies currently developing a manufacturing strategy.

This study examines the nature of the researchers’ perspectives used in analytical and empirical cost system research published in the 1990s in an attempt to better understand current cost system research. The conceptual framework used for the evaluation is based on the research perspectives that have influenced the selection of different approaches in cost system research in the last three decades and reflects assumptions made in the research models and useful empirical implications.

The taxonomy used in the paper deepens our understanding of current cost accounting research and is argued as relevant on the premise that researchers would certainly care about finding a “better” cost system. A “better” system is defined in this study as the system that would lead to changes in decisions resulting in payoffs that are greater than the costs of implementing the new system.

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.

This paper aims to investigate how and why German cost accounting prevails and develops in German multinational organisations despite the various indications in the literature that it will converge towards an anglophone system over time. To analyse this, the authors draw on the ideas of professional practices (Jarzabkowski et al., 2016) and their path dependency (Schreyögg and Sydow, 2011) as a method theory.

The authors deploy an exploratory method using multiple case studies to determine similarities and differences between organisations concerning how cost accounting practices developed over time. They conducted interviews with cost accountants, group controllers and managers of German multinational organisations as well as experts from higher education institutions and consultancies.

This paper shows the path-dependent development of German cost accounting. It identifies self-reinforcing learning and complementary effects that seem to make it inefficient for organisations to deviate from the learned path as well as economic and normative pressures that affect the design of cost accounting systems.

By considering German cost accounting a path-dependent professional practice, this paper illustrates how and why the core of German cost accounting prevails, although organisations make adjustments within the existing structures to respond to the pressures they face. This paper hereby highlights the role of cost accountants in defining (and consequently bringing about or preventing changes to) the design of cost accounting systems.

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.

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.

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).

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.

This paper aims to explore the relationships among cost accounting systems structure and information quality properties through an integrated framework of cost system design and use.

In the framework, cost accounting systems structure is defined in terms of the level of detailed information existence, the cost disaggregation according to behaviour, the scope of variances calculation and the frequency of cost information provision. Cost information quality expresses its perceived usefulness by the users in terms of relevance, accuracy, timeliness, usability, compatibility with their needs, up‐to‐datedness, reliability and thoroughness for decision‐making purposes. In order to investigate the existing relationships, data were gathered from 119 leading Greek manufacturing companies via a questionnaire survey.

The empirical findings indicate that the majority of cost accounting systems structure characteristics exert a statistically significant positive influence on cost information quality dimensions. Only the systems' ability to disaggregate costs according to behaviour and their capability to generate customized to user specifications reports were not found to be statistically significantly associated with information quality.

The authors believe that their conclusions have important implications for researchers and professionals with respect to cost systems design as well as cost systems evaluation.

The innovation of the study lies in the development of an integrated framework that encompasses both cost systems structure characteristics and cost information effectiveness features.

Purpose – To analyze the diffusion of management accounting tools in Italian manufacturing firms and the impact of contingency factors with a particular focus on internationalization.

Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a qualitative statistical analysis and two quantitative data analyses focusing on the effects of contingency factors. In particular, 274 questionnaires were analyzed. A questionnaire-based e-mail survey was used to collect data.

Findings – The results confirm positive relationships between management accounting systems and traditional contingency factors such as company size, organizational structure, and operational complexity. In addition, a positive correlation was found between the internationalization and implementation of activity-based costing and target costing.

Research limitations/implications – In the context of internationalization, this exploratory study considers only the impact of foreign customers. Further research could include other factors such as foreign suppliers, joint ventures, and technological exchanges.

Originality/value of paper – This paper contributes to the analysis of the impact of internationalization, a contingency variable not yet fully investigated in management accounting system research.