Management Accounting for Service: A Research Agenda

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to point out a research agenda for Management Accounting under the emergent Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic. S-D Logic is widely discussed in the field of Marketing, the paper tries to extend S-D Logic in the Management Accounting context and develops some related considerations. Methodology/approach – Service related change in economy and firms raises new challenging issues in management accounting topics such as cost classification, cost structure, cost object, the role of “traditional” accounting tools and models, price-cost relations for pricing decisions. In this paper, we identify several critical research questions that address a tentative research agenda in the field of management accounting to better explore its role within service science. Throughout the paper many different examples are provided in order to support what is sustained. Findings – The conclusions of the paper trace some aspects addressed as core in the distinction between Goods-Dominant Accounting and Service-Dominant Accounting. Considering the new changing service environment, the role of management accounting in providing information to support managerial decision making and control can be widely renewed. Research implications – The paper opens many underexplored topics on Management accounting in the interface with service and traces a research agenda for further research. Originality/value – This is the first paper, after the brief overview on accounting and Service Science provided by Kerr (2008), aiming at understanding the role of Management accounting in the context of S-D Logic.Service-Dominant Logic, Management Accounting, Costing, Measurement, Value.

Do management accounting systems influence organizational change or vice-versa? Evidence from a case of constructive research in the Healthcare Sector

The paper aims to analyze the process of change of management accounting system (MAS) as a consequence of changes in the complexity of organizational structure in healthcare. It analyzes the process of change of MAS according with the theoretical frameworks of Habermas (1987) and Laughlin (1991).In this organizational changes are seen as the consequence of the interaction between tangible and intangible elements of the organization and between the organization and the external environment. The process of change was not studied from an external standpoint, but through an active participation and contribution of the researchers in the process of change itself. Using a constructive approach, the researchers were actively involved with the actors of the change in developing the process of change, and in facilitating the overcoming of some cultural gaps and resistance which could arise in professional organization. The paper provides empirical insights of the characteristics of the process of change of MAS in a Heath Care setting with a particular focus on aspects characterizing the process of change itself. Finding suggests the importance of putting high attention in the development of the process of change and underlines how the attention to peculiarities of the organization, in to this phase, could make the MAS able to impact on the behaviours and culture of professionals.Management Accounting Change, Healthcare Accounting, Habermas

Communicating Intellectual Capital: Evidence from Social and Sustainability Reporting

Since the work of Guthrie & Petty (2000) several studies on intellectual capital (IC) reporting have been made to analyze the company disclosure process both public and private communication channels. Within public communication channels, company annual report is the most used document but in general it shows a low level of IC information. Other analyzed public channels are the initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses (Bukh et al. 2005; Cordazzo, 2007), the intellectual capital statements (Bukh et al., 2001; Mouritsen et al., 2001, 2002) and the web sites (Gerpott et al., 2008), all showing different level of IC information. The aim of this paper is to assess in depth the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) communicated through social and sustainability reports in a sample of 37 Italian listed companies by a longitudinal content analysis (2005, 2006). IC disclosure (on human, organizational and relation capital) is analyzed in quantitative & qualitative, time dimension and financial & non financial terms in order to analyzed more in depth the ICD process. Findings show an overall increase in all categories of intellectual capital over the two years with a particular relevance for the organizational capital category. Overall the amount of ICD is higher when compared to the majority of previous studies based on annual report and it demonstrates the need to investigate more in depth a wide range of company reports to understand carefully the companies intellectual capital disclosure process and the possibility to integrate intellectual capital report and social and sustainability reporting in a single report.

Intellectual capital communication: evidence from social and sustainability reporting

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level and quality of intellectual capital information communicated through social and sustainability report for a sample of 37 Italian listed company over two years (2005 and 2006). The study use the resource based theory to explain the relationship between corporate social responsibility and intellectual capital. Content analysis is applied through a multidimensional framework composed by three main disclosure profiles(time orientation, nature and type of information) which permits to analyse in depth the quality of intellectual capital information. The results highlight significant and increasing presence of intellectual capital information in CSR reports which is communicated principally in non financial, quantitative and non time specific terms. Human capital is the most reported category followed by relational and organisational capital. There are many similarities between the two typology of report contributing to the ongoing debate on corporate reporting practices.The results suggest that the integration between IC report and CSR report is a plausible issue and that could be useful to enhance the transparency and the understanding of company processes and activities both for internal and external stakeholders. Very few studies have analysed the intellectual capital in CSR report in atheoretical and mono-dimensional way. Moreover the resource base theory has been scarcely applied to explain the disclosure of intellectual capital even if there are several similarities between the two perspectives.intellectual capital, disclosure, social and sustainability reporting, resource based view, corporate social responsibility

An exploration of the factors affecting the diffusion of advanced costing techniques: a comparative analysis of two surveys (1996-2005)

The issue of cost calculation has been largely debated in the last years under the pressure of the perceived lost of relevance of the so called "traditional cost accounting approaches". The enthusiasm for new management accounting techniques has often driven most of attention towards technical or theoretical aspects of the proposed new cost models. In particular, Activity-Based Costing (ABC) implementation literature pinpoints a large number of studies that have looked at technical and organizational/behavioral factors that influence effective implementation. Recently a great attention has been paid by researchers on the contingent factors affecting the adoption of advanced management accounting techniques and the influence of the variables that drive towards higher levels of cost system sophistication. The need is felt for insightful studies regarding processes and contingent variables working through time in relation with these changes. Improved analysis can be obtained by undertaking replication studies based on larger number of responses and/or across geographic and cultural borders. Whitin the boundaries of a contingent framework analysis, this paper has provided additional insights into areas relating to factors influencing the level of sophistication of product cost systems in Italy. The paper presents the comparison of two survey results carried on in a ten years distance on the same sample of Italian largest companies. These two long-distance surveys provide the opportunity to assess the changes occurred in the companies that in 1996 declared the adoption of (or the interest in adopting) ABC and Target costing (Cinquini et al., 1999).Moreover, the time elapsed could allow the perception about adopters’ behavior, along different stages of the diffusion process of advanced costing techniques. The research findings pinpoint that only “importance of cost information” and “cost structure”, among the contextual variables considered in the more recent survey responses, are positive and significant in relation with increasing in implementation of advanced costing techniques. This outcome could open to further studies to assess whether or not adopters are moving from a “fad and fashion” behavior of the early stages, to a more rational approach in which the matching between management needs and tools potentiality is maximized.Management accounting innovations, Activity-Based Costing, Target costing, Product costing design, Cost system sophistication, Contingent factors

The Making of Uniform Costing in a War Economy: the case of the 'Uniconti' Commission in Fascist Italy

The paper analyses the experience carried out by the Uniconti Commission in setting rules of uniform costing in Italy during the World War II (WWII). This initiative was promoted by the Italian Fascist government and the Confederazione dell’Industria (Industry Confederation) in 1941. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the process of setting the uniform costing rules and “why” and “how” they were designed, according to a Foucauldian perspective that allows the problematization of accounting as a complex phenomenon, whose emergence and functioning is linked to the context and dependent on the interplay of different influences. Starting from the aims inspired to the totalitarian ideology of the government that promoted the Commission, the analysis is grounded on archival primary sources and provides the perspective of the making of new accounting rules by the interplay among the participants acting in the process. This allows focusing the interaction between the domains of interests and of expectations - political-ideological, technical and economic - that the process of setting the uniform costing system in that context implied. The outcome of the Commission represented a compromise between the stances of the accounting academy, the interests of business representatives, the dominant ideology and the political targets. Thus, the paper provides insightful evidence of the complex interplay between knowledge, techniques, institutions and ideology in setting accounting rules in a totalitarian context, marked by a prevailing role of ideology and state in the regulation of econom

An exploration of the factors affecting the diffusion of Advanced Costing techniques: a comparative analysis of two surveys (1996-2005)

The issue of cost calculation has been largely debated in the last years under the pressure of the perceived lost of relevance of the so called "traditional cost accounting approaches". The enthusiasm for new management accounting techniques has often driven most of attention towards technical or theoretical aspects of the proposed new cost models. In particular, Activity-Based Costing (ABC) implementation literature pinpoints a large number of studies that have looked at technical and organizational/behavioral factors that influence effective implementation. Recently a great attention has been paid by researchers on the contingent factors affecting the adoption of advanced management accounting techniques and the influence of the variables that drive towards higher levels of cost system sophistication. The need is felt for insightful studies regarding processes and contingent variables working through time in relation with these changes. Improved analysis can be obtained by undertaking replication studies based on larger number of responses and/or across geographic and cultural borders. Whitin the boundaries of a contingent framework analysis, this paper has provided additional insights into areas relating to factors influencing the level of sophistication of product cost systems in Italy. The paper presents the comparison of two survey results carried on in a ten years distance on the same sample of Italian largest companies. These two long-distance surveys provide the opportunity to assess the changes occurred in the companies that in 1996 declared the adoption of (or the interest in adopting) ABC and Target costing (Cinquini et al., 1999).Moreover, the time elapsed could allow the perception about adopters’ behavior, along different stages of the diffusion process of advanced costing techniques. The research findings pinpoint that only “importance of cost information” and “cost structure”, among the contextual variables considered in the more recent survey responses, are positive and significant in relation with increasing in implementation of advanced costing techniques. This outcome could open to further studies to assess whether or not adopters are moving from a “fad and fashion” behavior of the early stages, to a more rational approach in which the matching between management needs and tools potentiality is maximized.Management accounting innovations, Activity-Based Costing, Target costing, Product costing design, Cost system sophistication, Contingent factors

Analysis of publishing patterns in accounting history research in Italy, 1990-2004

In the last decade, an increasing number of analyses of accounting history literature have been undertaken to classify historical research paths and to map the variety of approaches and issues of the discipline in different geographical settings so as to make international comparisons. The paper develops these topics in the Italian context by studying the development of accounting history research (AHR) in the last 15 years. Contributions by Italian authors have been published in international and national specialist journals as well as in more general accounting journals. Other papers have been presented and published in the proceedings of the biannual SISR (Societa Italiana di Storia della Ragioneria) Congress and in the Congress celebrating the 500th anniversary of the publication of Pacioli\u27s Summa held in Venice in 1994. The findings chart publication trends during the period 1990-2004 from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, based on different dimensions, the dynamic of change in Italian AHR, and its possible limitations. The paper is informed by an international perspective and causal interpretations are attempted