International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol. 3, No.11; November 2013

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1 Investigating the Degree of Importance & Employment of Management Accounting Methods by Managers of Companies Admitted Into the "Tehran Stock Market": Iranian Evidence *Fahimeh Shadmehr 1, & Dr. Mahdi Moradi 2 1 Department of Accounting, Islamic Azad University of Taybad, Taybad, Iran, 2 Associate Professor of Accounting, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. *fmshadmehr@yahoo.com Abstract Heavy competition, limited resources, globalization and technological changes have brought about a need for more precise cost information on the part of companies. Moreover, companies are in need of a management accounting system that would furnish precise, on-time information for facilitation of cost controls, assessment &improvement of yields and decision-making regarding pricing purposes. The aim of this research is to survey the degree of importance and employing modern techniques of management accounting, and the relations among these two by managers of firms admitted into the Tehran Stock Market of Iran. SPSS (version 17) was used to analysis the data collected. For descriptive statistics the frequency, means, and standard deviations, and for inferential statistics Sign test, T-test, correlations and Kolmogorov- Smirnov test was used. Results of hypothesis relating to various methods of management accounting showed that the degree of importance practices of costing system, performance evaluation, & strategic analysis was not high - on the contrary - degree of importance of budgeting practices was high. Besides, degree of employment of none of the above/mentioned techniques was high. Finally, no relation exists between the degree of employment & the degree of importance of financing techniques & performance assessment, while others do. Key Words: Management accounting, employing management, accounting methods, Tehran Stock Market, Iran. 1. Introduction Heavy competition, limited resources, globalization, complications of trades environment, and technological changes have brought about a need for more precise & concise cost information on the part of companies. Aside from this, companies are in need of a management accounting system that would furnish precise, on-time information for facilitation of cost controls, assessment &improvement of yields and decision-making regarding pricing purposes (Johnson & Kaplan, 1987). The aim of this research is to survey the degree of importance and employing modern techniques of management accounting, and the relations among these two by managers of firms admitted into the Tehran Stock Market of Iran. With regards to declaration of "International Accounting Federation" (1998) assessment of the role of a management accounting system consists of several consecutive stages. The first stage relates to establishing costs and financial controls (prior 1950s decade). Next stages consisted of Information stage for managerial control and planning (up to 1965), reductions of 17

2 waste of resources in business processes (up to1985) and the final stage (up to 1995) relating to value creation thru effective usage of resources (IFAC, 1998). Modern methods of management accounting such as Just in Time production (JIT), activity based budgeting (ABB), activity based costing (ABC) and target costing have created important competitive incentives for organizations, helped them in better decision - making, and gain a unique perspective of management strategies with useful & relative information. Much research has been performed on this basis in developed countries - emphasizing the importance of these methods (Ewert, 2006; Adelegan, 2000; Carmona, 2006; Abdel-Kader & Luther, 2006; Islam & Kantor, 2005). These techniques affect all management accounting processes, and emphasize their role from determining cost & financing control to the professional role of value creation thru expansion of resources. Ittner & Larcker (2001) claim that companies are increasingly implementing newer methods of management accounting using value based frames. In spite of points above, there are few studies that emphasize management accounting methods in developing countries- particularly Iran. Aside from this, few of these studies have investigated these methods in companies that have been admitted into the stock market. Lin & Yu (2002) have stated, in regards to less- developed countries, that the degree of employing management accounting methods is not satisfactory. In their study regarding food industries Asquer (2003) reported that many of artistic technologies such as management systems & ABC, use wide amplitude of tools for reaching organization aims and assessing effectiveness of the company - yet many of these companies are far from adopting most of these innovations. Sulaiman et al. (2004) also reported of insufficient studies in Asian nations, and the necessity of investigating reasons for nonacceptance of modern techniques of management accounting. A number of researchers have concluded that information presented by traditional techniques of management accounting are not descriptive, timely, and correct enough to satisfy managers of today. These studies claim that the information of management accounting is completely irrelevant with the aim of strategic decision making a point that calls for new techniques of management accounting. Therefore, management accounting literature has witnessed an increasing interest in research in the field of employment of modern management accounting techniques, and factors effective in sound usage of them (Cooper &Kaplan, 1987; Anderson & Lanen, 1999). The aim of this research is to investigate the degree of importance and employment of modern management accounting techniques and relations between these two by managers of companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market of Iran. To this end, the present research investigates the status of employment & the degree of importance of modern techniques of management accounting, and the relations between them, by managers of companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market of Iran. 2. Research Background Some researchers have considered investigations of management accounting methods and the challenges they face. Research findings regarding employment of ABC techniques in Europe are promising, though the degree of acceptance is low. In Finland, Lukka & Granlund (1996) have reported the rate of acceptance of this technique to be 6%, while Rautajoki (1995) have reported the rate of this acceptance by Finnish companies to be 10%. Bruggeman, Slagmulder, and Waeytens (1996) state that approximately 14% of companies have employed ABC techniques and that higher percentage are in the process of employing this technique. 18

3 Scherrer (1996) too has reported the degree of employment of this technique in German companies as very low. The rate of employment of this technique in Australia too has been reported to be low. The first article about target costing technique was published in late 1980's in Japan by Japanese scholars like Monden & Hiromoto. Monden & Hamada (1991) too have presented an overall view of this technique. The universal interest in this technique came about with publication of the results of an investigative project performed in However, no specific and comprehensive information in this regard exists. Larino (1995) states that more than 80% of assembling industries of Japan employ target cost technique. Other research findings in Australia by Chen, Hall, & Smith (1998) too have shown that 38% of Australian companies also use this technique. In addition, the perceived importance regarding using non-financial measures is on the increase. Behimani (1994) & Dugdale (1994) from England have reported that companies have thoroughly accepted employing non-financial measures. In the Netherlands, the Customer-satisfaction, quality, and innovation measures are used (Groot, 1996). In Australia, Dean et al. (1991) found that performance, working conditions, and organizing measures are considered main non-financial measures by companies. However, Chenhall & Smith (1998) found that techniques gaining increasingly more importance among Australian companies are customer satisfaction, employee viewpoints, group performance, balance score card, and quality criteria. Emmanuel et al. (1990) have expressed that one of important techniques of management accounting is performance evaluation management. Literature in this regard shows that financial & non-financial measures are employed for performance evaluation. In England, Dugdale (1994) stated that budgeting has many advantages, since items relevant to budgeting, ranked 3rd from among 30 management accounting techniques tested by him. In Australia, Dean et al. (1991) reported that performance evaluation technique was in use by 68% of companies, variance analysis by 91%, and operational income by 83% of the companies. Chenhall & Smith (1998) stated that amid the fact that budget based financial performance measure are presented with variety of non-financial measures, still they are transforming into one of important financial aspects of management accounting. Advocates of strategic costs management claim that companies ought to shift their concentration on their performance evaluation measures, and concentrate on numerous indexes such as quality, level of assets, flexibility and innovation. Therefore, newly extended techniques of management accounting such as ABC, target cost, analysis of value chain, shareholder value analysis, product life cycle analysis, pattern-taking as a connecting link between activity of offices and their strategic objectives have been recommended too (Chenhall & Smith, 1998). Past surveys have proven that standard costing and budget planning have still preserved their superiority and priority for operational decisions. Dugdale (1994) found that British companies have gained much advantage from budget planning. In Australia as well, Chenhall & Smith (1998) have expressed that traditional planning techniques have much usage, and great advantages are gained from it. Some of researches have reported that the importance of standard costing has lost importance due to changes occurring in the production environment. In other words, standard costing will continue on in the future in other shapes, such as inclusion of non-financial indexes in standard costing systems. Studies in Australian companies have perceived standard costing techniques for product costing, budgeting, and management control more useful - while in contrast - Japanese companies employ this technique for costs control in production stage. 19

4 Lin & Yu (2002) express that the degree of employment of management accounting in developing countries is not satisfactory. Sulaiman et al. (2004) also point out the lack of exploratory research in Asian nations, and the need for research into why Asian countries do not employ modern management accounting tools. They also tested obstacles for employing such techniques. In Egypt too, as a developing country, research performed by Ismail (2007) tested the degree of effectiveness of performance of assessment methods in private Egyptian companies. This research showed that views of managers towards non-financial indexes and lack of information are major factors in non - employment of modern methods in performance evaluation. Triest & Elshahat (2007) demonstrated the insufficiency of studies about management accounting methods in not-european nations, and that the status of management accounting in these nations has been very confined. This research also proved that usage of cost information is very limited in Egypt, and apparently no new method has been employed - and the main objective of costing system has been decision-making about pricing, rather than to improve processes and performance evaluation. 3. Research Hypothesis The present research aims to investigate the degree of importance and employment of management accounting methods and also the relations between the importance and employment of these methods by managers of companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market of Iran. Therefore, three groups of main hypothesis in this regard were expressed. The first group is relevant to the degree of importance of management accounting techniques based on viewpoints of companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market. The second group relate to degree of employment of management accounting techniques by managers of companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market. And the third group relate to the relations between the degree of importance and employment of these methods by managers of companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. Each of these groups is consisted of five separate subgroups, which constitute the total of 15 hypotheses Hypotheses of the first group 1. The degree of importance of costing system practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 2. The degree of importance of budgeting practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 3. The degree of importance of performance evaluation practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 4. The degree of importance of decision making practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 5. The degree importance of strategic analysis practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high Hypotheses of the second group 1. The degree of employment of costing system practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 2. The degree of employment of budgeting practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 3. The degree of employment of performance evaluation practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 20

5 4. The degree of employment of decision making practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. 5. The degree employment of strategic analysis practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high Hypotheses of the third group 1. There is no meaningful relation between degree of importance and the level of employment of costing system practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. 2. There is no meaningful relation between degree of importance and the level of employment of budgeting practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. 3. There is no meaningful relation between degree of importance and the level of employment of performance evaluation practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. 4. There is no meaningful relation between degree of importance and the level of employment of decision making practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. 5. There is no meaningful relation between degree of importance and the level of employment of Strategic analysis practices in companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. 4. Research Method, Population, & Sample The researcher investigates the degree of importance and employment of management accounting methods by managers of companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. The present research identifies as practical analysis. In respect to hypothesis analysis, hypothesis 1&2 are exploratory and correlational for 3. Statistical population of this research includes all managers of companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market from Directors, Board members, Finance managers, Financial & Administrations Deputies, and Deputies of Finance, at the beginning of Research samples were selected from among 380 member companies of Tehran Stock Market - consisting of various industries such as food, textile, metals, chemical, electronics, etc. The location of the research is all companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market of Iran. The sample size used was 110 managers. It was more than the minimum number (77) determined by the Cochran formula. The pilot test was performed with samples from 8 companies and scientific specialists of management accounting techniques field - and revised based on their feedback. 5. Data Collection Tools Considering objectives of the research, using questionnaire was decided the most suitable method. After numerous studies and interviews with experts, a questionnaire was created for the research. The present questionnaire includes 38 questions in 5 main topics of practices of costing system, budgeting, performance evaluation, decision-making, and strategic analysis - each question consisting of 2 parts - Present status of employment, and the degree of importance Validity This research was performed using questionnaires. The questionnaire method has been used in numerous management accounting methods researches. This questionnaire was employed to explore the peculiarities of companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market, and consists of two parts - first one includes number of questions about individual descriptions. These questions relate to gender, work experience, and the type of industry of participants. 21

6 Second part consists of questions relating to the degree of importance, and employment of each of management accounting methods by managers of companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market. Therefore, this part is constituted of five sections including costing systems, budgeting, performance evaluation, decision-making, & strategic analysis. This section contained items from previous studies such as Abdel- kader & Luther (2006), Aadelegan (2000), Kowalac et al. (2007), & Chan et al. (1997). Furthermore, in the final section responders were asked to describe other likely methods the company has employed Reliability The reliability of the questionnaire of this research was assessed by the Cronbach s alpha. TABLE 1. Cronbach s alpha coefficients of research variables No. Research Variables Cronbach s alpha 1 Degree of importance of costing system practices 7 / <><7 2 Degree of importance of budgeting practices 7 /;=9: 3 Degree of importance of performance evaluation practices 7 /<7:7 4 Degree of importance of decision making practices 7 / <:8> 5 Degree of importance of strategic analysis practices 7 /;>:6 6 Degree of employment of costing system practices 7 / <9<6 7 Degree of employment of budgeting practices 7 / <;<: 8 Degree of employment of performance evaluation practices 7 /<<8> 9 Degree of employment of decision making practices 7 / <=;= 11 Degree of employment of strategic analysis practices 7 / <;>6 11 Degree of employment of costing system practices 7 / < Degree of employment of budgeting practices 7 / =;:6 6. Statistical Methods Statistical software of SPSS (version 17) was used to analysis the data and observations. Analysis of the data was performed thru descriptive and inferential statistics methods. For descriptive statistics the frequency & percentages tables, means, and standard deviations, and for inferential statistics T-test and 22

7 Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine normality of variables Testing the normality of variables Since the study variables are interval, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test would be most suitable for determining normality of variables. If meaningful level of the test becomes less than 0.05, it will be assumed that the variable under examination is not normal - else, the variable is normal. TABLE 2. Results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for variables of the research Research Variables Mean Sd. Kolmogorov- Smirnov Z Sig. Result value Degree of importance of costing system practices Degree of importance of budgeting practices 6 /=<< 7 / 7>; 6 / 78> 7 / 7>8 7 /77 7 / 7:> 6 / 8=> 7 / 797 Degree of importance of performance evaluation practices Degree of importance of decision making practices Degree of importance of strategic analysis practices Degree of employment of costing system practices Degree of employment of budgeting practices Degree of employment of performance evaluation practices Degree of employment of decision making practices Degree of employment of strategic analysis practices Degree of employment of costing system practices Degree of employment of budgeting practices 7 /76 7 / 7=; 6 / 87: 7 / 7; 7 /6< 7 / 7<7 6 / / 7;9 6 />8 6 / 78: 6 / 8 7 / 7;= 7 /<; 7 / 97> 6 / 7= 7 / 6>9 8 /77 7 / / 8= 7 / 79: 7 /7= 7 / 98; 7 / 6;6 7 / 68: 7 />8 7 / 9; 7 / <76 7 /;<; 7 /7< 7 / 8== 7 / >=7 7 / 7=> 7 /79 7 / 68: 7 / <98 7 /;8= 7 /;< 7 / 6>: 7 / <7: 7 /;;> Unnormal Unnormal 7. Research Finding A noticeable number of researches in the field of management accounting methods have been published that report employment of various techniques of management accounting methods in various countries. The present research too is based on such reports - however the distinguishing aspect of 23

8 present research from previous researches is in that it covers a broad range of management accounting methods (38 methods) Hypothesis testing of the first group Considering that variables of assumptions 1, 3, 4, & 5 (degree of importance of costing system, performance evaluation, decision-making, & strategic analysis, sequentially) at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market have normal distribution, the one-sample t- test was used. Also, considering that the variable for degree of employment of budgeting practices at the companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market does not have a normal distribution, therefore, non-parametric sign test is used for testing hypothesis 2. Hypothesis 1. As observed from results of table 4, since the P-Value is 0.99, null hypothesis is not rejected at = 0.5, meaning that the degree of importance of costing system practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. Hypothesis 2. Considering that the degree of importance of budgeting practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market does not have normal distribution,, non-parametric sign test is employed to test the assumption. M is assumed the median of the degree of importance of budgeting practices. Since the variable of the degree of importance of budgeting practices assign themselves values between 1-3, we would consider values of equal or less than 2 as No effect, and higher than 2 as effective - hence we'll test following hypothesis: H H 0 1 : 2 : 2 TABLE 3.Sign test for variable of degree of importance of budgeting practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market Median sample in Values less than median Values of equal to median Values more than median 7 / ; <= 7 / Sig. As evident from above table, since P-value is at = 0.05, null hypothesis is rejected. So, degree of importance of budgeting practices at companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market is high. Hypothesis 3. Considering results from table 4, since P-value is 0.29, at = 0.05 null hypothesis is not rejected; meaning that the degree of importance of performance evaluation practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. Hypothesis 4. Considering results from table 4, since the P-value is , at = 0.05 null hypothesis is rejected; meaning that the degree of importance of decision-making practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is high. Hypothesis 5.As evident from results from table 4, since the P-value is equal to 0.99, at = 0.05 null hypothesis is rejected; meaning that the degree of importance of strategic analysis practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. 24

9 TABLE 4. Results of the t-test for variable of degree of importance of employing the management accounting practices Hypothesis Variable Mean SD T-Value df Sig. Result of H 0 1 Costing System 3 Performance Evaluation 4 Decision Making 5 Strategic Analysis 1 /87 1 / /11 1 / /17 1 / /93 1 / 235-4/ / 99 Accept 1 / / 29 Accept 6 / / Reject - 3/ / 99 Accept 7.2. Hypothesis testing of the second group Considering that variables of hypothesis 1, 3, 4, & 5 (degree of employing of costing system, performance evaluation, decision-making, &strategic analysis) at companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market have normal distribution, therefore one sample t-test is employed for testing of these hypothesis. Furthermore, considering that variable of the Degree of employing budgeting practices does not have normal distribution, non-parametric sign test is employed for testing hypothesis 2 (degree of employing of budgeting practices). Hypothesis 1. As evident from results from table 6, since the P-value is equal to 0.99, at = 0.05 null hypothesis is not rejected- meaning that the degree of employing costing system practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. Hypothesis 2. Considering that the variable for degree of employing budgeting practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market does not have normal distribution, non-parametric sign test is employed for testing of hypothesis. M is assumed the mean of the degree of employing budgeting practices at the companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market in the intended population. TABLE 5. Sign test for variable of degree of employing budgeting practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market Median in sample Values less than median Values of equal to median Values more than median 8 /7<6 8> 6: :9 7 / 7<8 Sig. 25

10 As evident from results from above table, since the P-value is equal to at = 0.05 null hypothesis is not rejected- meaning that the degree of employing budgeting practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. Hypothesis 3. As evident from results from table 6, since the P-value is equal to 0.000, at = 0.05 null hypothesis is not rejected - meaning that the degree of employing performance evaluation practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. Hypothesis 4. As evident from results from table 6, since the P-value is equal to 0.99, at = 0.05 null hypothesis is not rejected- meaning that the degree of employing decision-making practices at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. Hypothesis 5. Results from table 6 show that since the P-value is equal to 0.99, at = 0.05 null hypothesis is not rejected- meaning that the degree of employing strategic analysis techniques at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market is not high. TABLE 6. Results of t-test for variables of degree of employing management accounting techniques at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market Hypothesis Variable Mean SD T-Value df Sig. Result of H 0 1 Costing System 3 Performance Evaluation 4 Decision Making 5 Strategic Analysis 1 /87 1 / /11 1 / /17 1 / /93 1 / 235-4/ / 99 Accept 1 / / 29 Accept 6 / / Reject - 3/ / 99 Accept 7.3. Hypothesis testing of the third group In table 13 the results of tests of hypothesis of the third group are presented which relates to relations among degree of importance and the degree of employing management accounting techniques (costing system, budgeting, performance evaluation, decision-making, & strategic analysis) at companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market. From among these 5 assumptions, 2 have been approved & 3 rejected. It can therefore be deducted that from view-point of managers of companies admitted into Tehran Stock Market there is a notable relation between the degree of importance & degree of employing budgeting, strategic analysis, and decision-making, while no grave relation between the degree of importance and degree of employing of costing system and performance evaluation. TABLE 13. Results of Pearson correlation for investigating the relation between the two variables of degree of importance & degree of employment Hypothesis Pearson correlation coefficient Sig. Result of H / / 382 Accept 26

11 2-1/ / 141 Reject 3 1 / / 413 Accept 4 1 / / 121 Reject 5-1/ / 12 Reject 8. Conclusion Based on results of hypothesis relating to various methods of management accounting, following conclusions were drawn. A) The degree of importance practices of costing system, performance evaluation, & strategic analysis was not high - on the contrary - degree of importance of budgeting practices was high, the probable reason for which may be the requirement of the "Stock Market Organization" demanding submission of annual budget plans from companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market. This finding is in-line with findings of the study of Abdel-kader & Luther (2006) stating that importance of budgeting is considered "important," & "very important" by 90% of individual - indeed interesting noting that this high percentage worked with fixed budget only. B) Degree of employment of non of the above/mentioned techniques was high -which is in-line with finding of Asquer (2003) - in which he explains that "much of artistic techniques such as "activity based costing & managerial systems employ wide spectrum of tools for operational effectiveness & reaching organizational objectives" - while many companies are far from accepting such innovations" (p.28). C) No relation exists between the degree of employment & the degree of importance of financing techniques & performance assessment, while others do. Findings of this research is in-line with findings of previous studies such Smith, Abdullah, & Abdul Razak (2008), which showed that in developing countries the traditional quantitative methods of management accounting are still employed more often than the modern methods. Degree of acceptance of innovations in management accounting is low as well. However, considering the degree of importance of innovative budgeting & decision-making tools demonstrated, in this research it can be deduced that view of managers toward this set of practices is positive. However, due to reasons such as lack of expert scientific & imperical human resources, and importance of short-term & periodical guidelines by government, they don't have much applicability by companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market. Findings of this research are in-line with study of Munther (2009), which reports that traditional management accounting methods are in wide-spread use in finance sector of Jordan, and modern methods are very rarely employed. In this regard, the results showed that in most companies the management accounting methods are used for determining costs & financial control, rather than management control & planning, and this is one of the reasons for limited usage of modern management accounting practices. 9. Limitations Data gathering tool for this research was questionnaires. Ambiguities of questionnaire are one of limitations imposed on this research. This research was performed within the domain of manufacturing companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market - hence its findings might not be extendable to all enterprises of the country. 27

12 In present study only companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market are investigated, therefore extending the findings of it to other companies ought to be done with proper cautions. In addition to this, findings are concluded based upon data gathered thru questionnaire - therefore validity & accuracy of findings would be a dependant of correctness of respondents' replies. Since the location of this research is Iran, caution must be taken in extending its findings to other countries due to differences in managerial capacities & infrastructures. 10. Recommendations Longitudinal studies on companies admitted into the Tehran Stock Market can make clear the trend of growth of employing each management accounting method in the context of Iran. Further research can be carried out regarding the effect of employing each method on the success of financial managers of companies. Employing other methods of data gathering, such as carrying out interviews with financial managers may cause enhancement of findings of future researches. References Abdel-Kader, M. and Luther, R. (777;), Management accounting practices in the British food and drinks industry. British Food Journal, Vol. 108(5), pp Adelegan, O.J., (7777), Management accounting practices in Nigerian companies. Working paper, University of Ibaden, Nigeria. Anderson, S. and Lanen, W. (6>>>), Economic transition, strategy and the evolution of management accounting practices: the case of India, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 79, pp. 8<> Asquer A. (7778), Implementing Innovation: Lessons in Introducing Modern Management Accounting Systems from an Italian Food Manufacturer, Financial Management, (March 76), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, pp Ashton, D., Hopper, T. and Scapens, R. (6>>:), The changing nature of issues in management accounting, in Ashton, D., Hopper, T. and Scapens, R. (Eds), Issues in Management Accounting, Prentice-Hall, Hemel Hempstead. Bhimani.A.(1994). Monitoring performance measures in U.K. firms. Management Accounting (uk). January..54, Bruggeman, W., Slagmulder, R. and Waeytens, D. (6>>;), Management accounting changes: the Belgian experience, in Bhimani, A. (Ed.), Management Accounting: European Perspectives, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp Carmona, S. (777;), The history of management accounting in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. In: Chapman, S. et al, eds, Handbooks of Management Accounting Research,. London: Elsevier,, pp Carmona, S. (777;), The history of management accounting in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. In: Chapman, S. et al, eds, Handbooks of Management Accounting Research,. London: Elsevier,, pp Chenhall, R. and Langfield-Smith, K. (6>>=b), The relationship between strategic priorities, management techniques and management accounting: an empirical investigation using a system approach, Accounting, Organization and Society, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp

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