Management Accounting Change and the Contemporary Business Environment: An Article Review

Abstract

Many criticisms of the role of traditional management accounting practices started during 1980s. Such criticisms focus on the argument that traditional management accounting techniques are no longer suitable to provide relevant information to managers within the new and complex business environment. This article is principally concerned with reviewing the literature, in an attempt to determine the type of organizational and management accounting change are accrued in response to such criticisms. The article argues that essential management accounting changes presented to cope with criticisms of the role of traditional management accounting practices. However, the article claims that current management accounting practices need more improvement. There is an urgent need to extend the scope of management accounting change to survive with new aspects of the contemporary business environment. Management accounting should encapsulate social, economic and environmental aspects to create the optimal change. Information on such aspects is becoming increasingly important to a broad range of corporate stakeholders because it is a key resource in managing a business’s response to the issue of corporate social and environmental accountability in addition to securing the long survival. In addition, this article argues that management accounting should focus more on Comprehensive Management Accounting Perspectives (CMAP) which seek holistic efficiency instead of concentrated focus on the economic efficiency.