The Influence of Business Environment on the Characteristics of Management Accounting Practices

Abstract

The importance of management accounting systems (MAS) to organisations resides in their role in providing information for planning, controlling, evaluating performance, developing and improving competitive strategies and making decisions. Despite this multifaceted importance, little is known about management accounting practice in the world, particularly in emerging economies. As an attempt to understand practice, the contingency theory approach which is adopted in this study, starts from the premise that practice does not have to be uniform. Universally relevant MAS that fit all circumstances and organisations simply do not exit. Thus, an organisation’s business environment [external and internal factors] is seen as instrumental to the design of an effective MAS. Consequently, as the compatibility between the MAS and the businesses environment increases, a company's performance should also improve