Pathways to Consolidate Corporate Governance by Incorporating Gaps in Management Accounting Practices: An Integrative Literature Review Research Approach

Abstract

Corporate governance receives considerable attention from various stakeholders due to the search for potential agents that cause threats to sound corporate management practices. The fall of Enron and Arthur Anderson was an eye opener toward the journey of long years of corporate scandals and corruption. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which includes various codes and guidelines, evolved as an immediate solution to the problem. Traditionally, accounting has become an integral part of managing corporate governance as it is central to generating financial information for various stakeholders. However, research attention, so far, centers around public accountants due to their universal legitimacy in performing public account attestation services. Management accountants can also play important roles in strengthening corporate governance by instilling sound management accounting practices in various corporate affairs where governance is under threat. This dimension is grossly ignored in the existing literature, narrowing the role of accounting in a broader spectrum of governance. Applying the integrative literature review method as an epistemological paradigm, this study undertakes a theoretical attempt to highlight the roles that management accountants can play in strengthening the governance of firms from both external and internal perspectives. The incremental contribution of the article is to enlarge the remit of corporate governance by aligning the functionalities of management accountants with the mainstream study of corporate governance. It opens further research agendas for academics, practitioners, regulators, and other stakeholders.