Management accounting offers rewarding research opportunities. If researchers are able to identify more efficient ways to analyze internal accounting data, these new methods can be adopted immediately by interested companies. Breakthroughs in management accounting research do not have to filter through a standard-setting body before they can have an impact on practice. Due to the absence of management accounting rules, the great demand for management accounting research, and the availability of management accounting data, it is not surprising that academic research is beginning to drive the field of management accounting