Management Accounting Research in the Wake of the Crisis: Some Reflections

• Published in: The European accounting review 2011-12, Vol.20 (4), p.605-623
• Main Author: Van der Stede, Wim A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Disclosure; Economic crisis; Management accounting; Regulatory reform
• ISSN: 0963-8180; 1468-4497
• DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2011.627678

This article offers some reflections on opportunities and challenges for management accounting research in the wake of the recent financial crisis, and especially the regulatory reforms and augmented disclosures the crisis has spawned. While challenging for the organizations facing them, I argue that especially the enhanced disclosures are likely to turn management accounting 'inside out' to a greater extent than has been the case before, which could be a boon for researchers studying hitherto mostly internal management accounting practices. As an undercurrent to the opportunities for research, however, I emphasize the importance of considering organizational design, comprised of both structure and culture, in understanding the inevitably intertwined effects of distorted incentives and information failings, among other problems that seem to all have contributed in some way to the crisis. In respect of the opportunities for management accounting research, I mainly discuss a continuing need to study incentives; a motivation to study risk management; an opportunity to reinvigorate budgeting research; and an invitation to study financial companies and the challenges of disclosures.