Development of Modern Management Accounting System

Abstract

Management accounting (MA) studies disclosed the significance of MA for organizational change, progress and showed the benefit of a performance measurement process. This is the reason why management of organizations should have MA system (MAS) effectively providing information for decision-making at the acceptable costs. Issue of the right MA tools setting and correct transformation of existing system into the optimal one is not new. Nevertheless, the biggest part of scientific works related to MA is concerned with separate tools of MA and are fragmented. The main aspect of the relevance of this issue is the question what features should have modern MA and how should the existing MA systems be changed into modern ones. The objective of this paper is to examine theoretical and practical assumptions for the development of MAS adjusted with the environment of an organization. According to the mentioned objectives theoretical and practical assumptions for the development of modern MAS adjusted with the environment of an organization and satisfying management needs of timely receiving the most relevant information with no surplus costs was examined in this paper. The analysis of scientific literature, the systemization of results of different researches related to MA, the studies of business companies, the conduction of financial and managerial analysis, the synthesis of management/MA theories, methods and practical cases were made in this research. The research disclosed that MA could be assessed company-wide, seeking to find an optimal configuration of the local management accounting system (Technical - Managerial View). Also different MA theories, MAS of different companies can be compared and the best choice or conclusions can be achieved based on systemization of theories and practices (Pragmatic – Interpretive View). Besides that, relationship between MA and external environment in much wider context can be analyzed (Critical-Socio-Economic View). The performed analysis showed that MAS are strongly influenced by the internal, external environment and objectives of organization. Organizations differently pursue Return on Capital (ROE) maximization. Each type of organization has interim objectives helping them to cope with the obstacles of external/internal environment and to take advantage on possibilities. Companies performing in volatile environment use simpler MAS and vice versa, so different sets of MA tools should be applied to different types of organizations. This assumption is the key matter for the modern MA system creation. Basic principles of modern MAS development state that managers first of all should determine an organization type. Depending on that set of MA techniques adoptable to the particular organization should be determined and applied. Implementation of proposed MA tools demands to organize that on a project basis. Project team should be organized and an approval as well as the support of the top management is mandatory. Acceptance, support and involvement of all management and employees are necessary for a successful change of existing MAS. Constant monitoring of an organization type change, the assessing of MAS effectiveness and top management’s support is necessary for a successful functioning of modern MAS.