Marchant (2013) wrote the article Management Accounting in the 21st Century: A Profession for Which the Time Has Come, about the growing importance of management accountants in the new century. The author indicates that the twenty-first century has witnessed the emergence of an economy based on the information age, in which knowledge is a primary source of competitiveness. As the boundaries of traditional industries become a blur, there is a new level of demand for the skills of today`s accountants (Marchant, 2013).
Marchant (2013) underline the importance of developing an analytical ability, by assembling a team of professionals that can make analytics work. The author indicates the first skill is a qualification in an analytical discipline (such as accounting, finance, economics, mathematics or equivalent). Second, Marchant (2013) suggests experience in data analysis. Next, an understanding regarding the core issues of data management, data sourcing, and data quality. Fourth, the ability to know the underlying business, and connect analytics towards it. Finally, the team must be a trusted partner in the firm. Marchant (2013) states that these should all seem extremely familiar to those in the management accounting profession, as indicated by research over the last ten years. The author posits management accountants can easily slip into the role of a strategic analytics team member, and to supply the core analytical capabilities required to compete in the information age.
Marchant (2013) states that the management accounting profession has evolved, either by thoughtfulness or by serendipitous convergence, its skill set and capabilities away from the excess of finance, typical of the 20th Century, into a far more strategic focus. This happened simultaneously as the worldwide economy advanced with rapid technological change, leaving the competitive benefit in the capable hands of people who can make the most of the available data and information, through the use of analytics (Marchant, 2013). Lastly, the author states that management accountants will increasingly find themselves as core members of a strategic team which will make use of their skills and abilities in information technology and analytics to develop and keep the distinctive capabilities of these businesses. Hence, professional success will favor the accountants whose best skills are analytical. (Marchant, 2013)
Reinstein, Higgins, & Rebele (2014) wrote the article Strategic Planning for Metropolitan and Regionally-Focused Accounting Programs. They dissertate on challenges faced by academic institutions dealing with issues such as increased competition, climbing costs, a diminishing population of traditional students, and a tight job market faced by graduates. The authors worked with participants at American Accounting Association (AAA) meetings, indicating how metropolitan and regionally-focused accounting programs can keep their student enrollment numbers.
Reinstein, Higgins, & Rebele (2014) list the following challenges universities face nowadays: overcapacity and increased competition from traditional and non-traditional academic institutions; emerging technologies (for instance, MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses); changing student populations and their demographics; high and increasing costs of college education and student loans; and a challenging employment market that is raising questions about the economic payout of college education. The authors examined accounting education programs, identifying some of their key strategic advantages, and suggested how non-accounting programs can apply some their ideas (Reinstein, Higgins, & Rebele, 2014). AAA roundtable meeting participants offered suggestions associated with a program's external environment: they noted that location near major business facilities provides students with an engaged, real-world education, interaction with accounting and business specialists, fundraising, and faculty development, which are all strategic advantages of metropolitan accounting programs. Programs that pursue but a few of these suggestions would be better able to strengthen their student populations, the level of education provided to students while keeping graduate programs relevant (Reinstein, Higgins, & Rebele, 2014).
Al-Mawali & Al-Shammari (2013) wrote about management accounting and control systems (MACS) in their article Strategic Management Accounting Usage, Perceived Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Performance. The authors’ analysis revealed the level of Strategic Management Accounting usage had significant positive relationships with organizational performance. Al-Mawali & Al-Shammari (2013) indicated that customer profitability analysis and customer equity analysis are fundamental elements of management accounting information for services organizations to become more capable than their primary rivals. Furthermore, the authors posit that where businesses used such Strategic Management Accounting techniques, they were able to upgrade continuously and alter their company strategy, in response to the environment. Accordingly, whenever a company successfully modified and updated its strategy, it increased the likelihood of achieving its performance goals.
Al-Mawali & Al-Shammari (2013) further state that their research suggested that the relationship between Strategic Management Accounting and the organizational performance ended up being losing strength by the amount of risk faced by businesses. However, the authors contend that Strategic Management Accounting usage continues to create a positive impact on organizational performance irrespective of faced risk, as such companies continually review the organizations' objectives and strategies to cope with external and internal modifications. Hence, to accomplish such continuous change, management has increased the need for sophisticated systems such as offered by Strategic Management Accounting.
Lastly, the authors indicate that their study is limited because (1) the companies in the sample of the analysis are services companies listed on the Jordanian Stock Exchange, (2) the results may not be applicable to other industries, such as manufacture or agriculture industry, and (3) Strategic Management Accounting are long-term techniques, which may not have been fully captured in their sample (Al-Mawali & Al-Shammari, 2013).
Gögüs & Özer (2014) wrote an article named The Roles of Technology Acceptance Model Antecedents and Switching Cost on Accounting Software Use, in which they combine and revise the technology acceptance model (TAM) and information system success models. The authors attempt to understand the impacts of both perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of accounting software programs (Gögüs & Özer, 2014).
Gögüs & Özer (2014) posit managers should guarantee an excellent service to increase client switching costs, ultimately having more loyal customers. The authors` study also suggested that perceived ease of use (PEOU) may not ensure customer loyalty. Managerial efforts should focus on enhancing the perceived usefulness (PU), since the software use loyalty mostly depends on how of useful the accountants understand the system will be, rather than how easy it will be to utilize it.
Ryzhova, Nikolaeva, Kurochkina, & Lebedeva (2015) wrote the article Optimization of Methods and Systems for Strategic and Operational Management Accounting in Agricultural Enterprises. Their article focused on cost management accounting system as a foundation for management and the backbone of future profit. They examined many methods of cost management in agricultural business, presenting the characteristics of such methods in the article.
Ryzhova, Nikolaeva, Kurochkina, & Lebedeva (2015) state that managers should use techniques for cost management as they are essential for making right management decisions. They give the example that direct costing method may be used in combination with the traditional total price accounting in the performance of agricultural enterprises, as such records are required for the enterprise cost accounting, providing all essential financial data to make management useful. The authors point out the following advantages to applying financial methods to support strategic and operational management accounting:
Manage the process costs and product sales profitability competently and efficiently
Result in a more competitive company within its market, and enhance the efficiency of business and financial activities;
Assess the share of every cost center to the assignment of common fixed costs;
Control cost variances and avoid large changes in the value of profits over different periods, thus putting less pressure on the company’s financial needs;
Make management informed of optimal practices, as well as making use of strategic and operational management accounting, to control operations for increasing the effectiveness of agricultural production (Ryzhova, Nikolaeva, Kurochkina, & Lebedeva, 2015).
References
Al-Mawali, H., & Al-Shammari, H. (2013). Strategic Management Accounting Usage,
Perceived Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational
Performance. Competition Forum, 11(2), 220. Retrieved from Questia.
Gögüs, C. G., & Özer, G. (2014). The Roles of Technology Acceptance Model
Antecedents and Switching Cost on Accounting Software Use. Journal of
Management Information and Decision Sciences, 17(1), 1. Retrieved from Questia.
Marchant, G. (2013). Management Accounting in the 21st Century: A Profession for
Which the Time Has Come. Journal of Applied Management Accounting
Research, 11(2), 1. Retrieved from Questia.
Reinstein, A., Higgins, M., & Rebele, J. E. (2014). Strategic Planning for Metropolitan
and Regionally-Focused Accounting Programs. Review of Business, 35(1),
84. Retrieved from Questia.
Ryzhova, L. I., Nikolaeva, L. V., Kurochkina, N. V., & Lebedeva, M. E. (2015).
Optimization of Methods and Systems for Strategic and Operational
Management Accounting in Agricultural Enterprises. Review of European Studies, 7(8), 119. Retrieved from Questia.
