Management Accounting Research

Description

Management accounting is an interdisciplinary subject that draws on accounting, engineering, finance, information systems, management, marketing, psychology and sociology for the purposes of organisational management.  There are several streams of management accounting (see Akroyd et al., 2023):
• Cost and operations management, e.g., activity-based costing and management
• Planning and budgeting, e.g., periodic vs. rolling target setting
• Value chain analysis from suppliers to consumers and compared to competitors, e.g., customer profitability analysis
• Organisational structure, culture and systems, e.g., transfer pricing
• Management control systems, performance measurement and incentive schemes
• Short- and long-term decision-making, e.g., NPV vs. real options for investment decisions
Drawing on a range of economic, management, psychological and sociological theories of human and organisational behaviour, management accounting research investigates:
• The design and use of management accounting practices and systems
• The effect of external and internal factors (e.g., technological change) on these practices and systems
• The effects of these practices and systems on human and organisational behaviour as well as organisational outcomes
• Societal and environmental implications of organisational behaviour that has been shaped by management accounting practices and systems
These and other issues are covered in this course.