Current Developments in Management Accounting - ACCA Advanced Performance Management (APM)

In this chapter we will look at a few modern ideas in management accounting. Some of them you will have seen before in your studies for Paper F5, but others are here for the first time.

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The changing role of the management accountant

The traditional role of the management accountant has been to exercise control, and for this reason they have been largely independent of the operational managers.
More recently management accounting has focussed more on business support. According to Burns and Scapens, there are three main reasons for the change in the management accountants role:

• Changes in technology
• Changes in management structure
• Changes in the level of competition

In addition, the following will have influenced the role of the management accountant:

• Increasing internationalisation and globalisation
• Deregulation and privatisation of industries
• New business processes eg just in time
• A need for more rapid responses
• The increasing importance of non-financial indicators