An Investigation into the Diffusion of Cost and Management Accounting Innovations in Australia

Abstract

Contemporary studies suggest that the take-up of most of recent management accounting innovations still lag behind those of traditional systems. However, except few (e.g. activity-based costing and balanced scorecard) other management accounting innovations relatively received less publicity in the literature. So, it is not very clear what the other main management accounting innovations of the past three decades (both from academic and practitioner perspectives) are. Performing a historical review of the development of cost and management accounting innovations, this paper addresses the major developments of management accounting innovations in the literature and then examines the extent of the introduction, the diffusion and the levels of organisational satisfaction with management accounting techniques in Australia over the past decades. The historical review of the development of cost and management accounting innovation in this study confirms the existence of an ongoing challenge for management accounting techniques over time in terms of coping with the requirements of other developments/innovations such as technological changes and innovations in manufacturing systems and information systems in organisations. According to the findings, despite the introduction of a considerable number of management accounting innovations during the past three decades, the majority of organisations in Australia (more than 50%) are reluctant to implement new management accounting techniques and at the same time are unhappy with their implemented management accounting techniques. However, according to the findings, there has been a positive development (from 2003 to 2007) in terms of the extent of organisations’ satisfactions with their implemented management accounting innovations.