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Abstract

This Editorial introduces and comments on the implications of the papers presented at the 25th Anniversary Conference of Management Accounting Research which was held at the London School of Economics and Political Science in April 2015. It first examines the context in which Management Accounting Research was founded in 1990 and then introduces the six invited review papers. These papers cover a wide range of subjects comprising critical and social theory, managerialist studies, contingency theory, experimental behavioural research and intra-organisational management accounting. Amongst various other recommendations, some of the authors suggest that there is a need for research in management accounting to more effectively build on prior research so as to accumulate knowledge about specific issues and problems. In addition, they suggest that researchers in the different areas (or sub-disciplines) of management accounting should talk to each other more. For instance, insights and findings from qualitative research could be used to inform quantitative studies and vice versa. The later parts of this Editorial discuss opportunities and challenges for management accounting research in the future. In particular, it is pointed out that, compared to when Management Accounting Research was founded in 1990, researchers now have highly theorised understandings of management accounting practices, and one challenge is to use these understandings to try to close the ‘practice-research gap’. It is argued that management accounting theories have had a relatively limited impact on practice and, as there are increasing pressures on universities to demonstrate the impact and value of university research, some suggestions are made about ways of increasing the impact of management accounting research.

6. Final comments

Towards the end of the Conference there was a plenary session, chaired by Wim Van der Stede, during which Martin Messner, Alfred Wagenhofer and Paolo Quattrone commented on opportunities for future research in management accounting. Their commentaries, which are published in this Special Issue, discuss issues relating to (1) industry, (2) regulation and (3) digitisation. Martin Messner began by pointing out that it has long been recognised that context matters and that various theories have been used to provide a context-sensitive understanding of management accounting. However, apart from some specific areas of the public sector, notably healthcare, little attention has been given to industry-related issues. He points to a number of opportunities for studying different kinds of industry specifics and their effects on management accounting. He argues that explicit consideration of industry specifics will not only provide an understanding of how different industries work, but could also “offer better explanations for why accounting is practised in the way that it is”. Drawing on examples of regulatory changes in the European Union (EU), Alfred Wagenhofer argues that the increasing regulation which has followed the recent financial and economic crises provides various opportunities for research in management accounting. He points out that, as organisations determine their own management accounting systems, it might seem odd to suggestthat regulation opens up opportunities for research in management accounting. However, he demonstrates that EU regulation of corporate governance,together with the requirementfor greater transparency and disclosure, provides opportunities for management accounting research. More specifically, the recent changes in the regulation of corporate governance offer opportunities for both analytical and empirical research in a number of areas, and the increasing disclosure and transparency requirements mean that new data will become available for empirical studies. Another potential area for research in management accounting, and also for the development of practice, is the continuing digital revolution which currently often attracts the title ‘big data’. However, in the third commentary, Paolo Quattrone sounds a cautionary note. He points out that whereas the increasing availability of data may lead to the belief that better and more rational decision making is possible, it is more likely to increase uncertainty and complexity, which will require the exercise of the considerable judgement which the likes of automated searches cannot provide. Consequently, he argues that, rather than seeing big data as a way of providing, for instance, a better set of performance measures, it should be seen as the basis for establishing a continuing dialogue among organisational actors. As such,the digitisation of accounting will require management accountants to be able to exercise judgement(rather than to possess data-processing capabilities), and how management accountants seek to do this in an era of big data is a potential area for future research. These commentaries suggestthree areas where there are opportunities for future research in management accounting: industry, regulation and digitisation. Undoubtedly, there are many others, but we will not attempt to set them out here. As we indicated earlier, over the years we have not sought to limit or to direct the scope of management accounting research. Instead, we have intentionally kept the scope of the journal very broad to allow the subject to develop through the research published in the journal. Nevertheless, in this Editorial we have suggested some challenges and opportunities for management accounting researchers in the future. Specifically, we commented on the opportunities for conversations across the different types of management accounting research and the need to accumulate a more coherent body of management accounting knowledge. We also pointed to the challenges which management accounting researchers may face in the future in demonstrating the impact oftheir research beyond the academic journals.