Chartered Institute Of Management Accountants Research Articles

The Evolution of Management Accountants’ Digital Skills in Industry 4.0: A Qualitative Approach

The Fourth Industrial Revolution generated changes not only in the accounting and financial activities and processes but also in the set of digital competencies that management accountants must demonstrate. This paper aims to examine the impact of digitalisation in managerial accounting in terms of the changes generated in the set of digital skills. By wielding an inductive cross-sectional qualitative approach, we examined longitudinally and comparatively the evolution of the curricula in the last decade, defined by two widely recognised qualifications provided by the most important international professional bodies in managerial accounting – the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The research’s findings highlight that currently, the digital competencies management accountants should demonstrate are focused on both technologies already widely adopted by the business environment, such as cloud computing, big data, and data analytics, but also on emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and Internet of Things. Even though at the beginning of the analysed period, the set of digital competencies was relatively narrow, once most industries started navigating Industry 4.0, it extended, thus allowing management accountants to continue providing valuable information and embrace the new role of advisors. These results emphasise the changing role of the management accountant through the lens of digitalisation, providing valuable insights for practitioners and universities regarding the importance of an adequate set of competencies vital in a highly digitalised profession.

Key Factors and Perspectives in Cost Accounting with Real-Time Patterns

Cost accounting term describe by chartered institute of management accountants (CIMA). Cost accounting helpsthe company to calculate total cost details regarding the product so that according to total Cost Company can fix the sale price of the product including profit margin percentage. Cost accounting can be of type standard, marginal, lean, activity based. Cost is the monetary term of a product that is set up by measuring its various internal costs including labor, material, overheads, etc. Costing is the technique to calculate the cost of the product by calculating various factors. Cost accounting is next to costing which relates and analyzes the various costing data and interpretsit to the management which helpsto improve the efficiency of the business by controlling the various problems that occur in the business. Cost accountancy is the art and science of the cost accountant. The main objective of cost accounting is to help the managerial personnel to make decisions about the product sale price, control production cost, and maximize the profit ratio. Based upon the cost sheet cost accounting can decide the estimated cost or actual cost of the product. Cost sheets include different types of costs incurred during the product manufacturing process.

Organization of agricultural enterprise environmental accounting under transition to international fnancial reporting standards

The article considers environmental accounting under its transition to international fnancial reporting. Professional organizations such as the International Federation of Accountants (IFA), the Association of Chartered Certifed Accountants (ACCA), and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) are involved in the implementation of environmental accounting basics in practice. To become competitive on the world market, Ukrainian enterprises need to create environmental accounting and management systems. Legislation amendment is among the external causes and incentives for this process, which can signifcantly reduce the negative impact on the environment. Amending involves correspondinf to the institutional structure and consumer preferences in foreign countries, ecological labeling, the public opinion influence, environmental initiative within the business community, environmental audit and environmental standards, the practice dissemination of «supplier audit» and «ethical» investments. The study elaborates on the reasons for pointing out the peculiarities of emissions accounting and reporting concerning greenhouse gases in the enterprises. Environmental accounting can be organized for both the total amount of emissions and for separate different processes of greenhouse gases. The emission calculation method is generally applied the national inventory though there are no precise limits as well as assortment of sources and the preset base yea in the national inventory. International fnancial reporting standards do not consider the complex issue of accounting for greenhouse gas emission reduction certifcates. The value of these certifcates can be signifcant. International companies of countries with developed economies own and sell carbon dioxide emissions reduction certifcates obtained in accordance with the mechanism of clean development of the Kyoto Protocol. Accounting for the main areas of agricultural production greening can be carried out within the developed concept of accounting which focuses on the environment. It uses the theory, methodology and organization of environmental accounting of quota trade within the Kyoto Protocol in the context of modern methods in terms of globalization and integration of existing accounting models into a united international system. Key words: ecology, agricultural enterprise, ecological accounting, international fnancial reporting standards, accounting.

БАЗОВІ, СПЕЦИФІЧНІ, ГЛОБАЛЬНІ ПРИНЦИПИ УПРАВЛІНСЬКОГО ОБЛІКУ: СКЛАД І КІЛЬКІСТЬ

The principles create a certain structure, which is provided for in the organization, system setup, and management accounting. Therefore, compliance with the principles of management accounting is unquestionable in its establishment at the enterprise, and the study of their optimal composition is urgent. The purpose of the article is to study and analyze the composition and number of basic, specific, and global principles of management accounting in various literary sources. The research methodology was based on general scientific methods: systemic, logical, historical methods, method of analysis, induction, deduction, as well as using the methods of classification and grouping. According to the results of the study, it is found that there are basic, special, and global principles of management accounting. At present, there is no single conventional and generally accepted approach to the composition and quantity of basic and special principles. Regarding the global principles of management accounting developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), there are four principles (impact, relevance, value, trust). We have summarized 73 principles of management accounting, of which the vast majority (47 principles) are presented in only one literary source. Most literature sources reflect the following principles: evaluation of the performance of structural units of the enterprise; orientation of accounting to achieve strategic goals of the enterprise; effectiveness. The largest number of principles of management accounting, which are identified in the literature, is 20; the smallest number is 5; the vast majority of authors cite 7-8 principles. It is proved that the existing diversity of views of scientists on the principles of management accounting (in some cases, they are the same in name but different in content; in other cases, they are similar in content but different in the name; also, there is an artificial increase in their number when dissipating the content, etc.) leads to vagueness and confusion in their composition, quantity, and content. Although the global principles of management accounting are of a recommendatory nature nowadays, the obligation to use them seems to us relevant and appropriate. Prospects for further research are seen in the study of the content of the principles of management accounting, determining their optimal composition and quantity for the effective construction of management accounting in enterprises of various sectors of the economy, taking into account the peculiarities of their operation.

Strategy-related factors moderating the fit between management accounting practice sophistication and organisational effectiveness: the Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAP) perspective

ABSTRACT This study examined strategy-related factors (Business strategy, Information technology, Quality of management accounting skills, and Organisational culture) moderating the fit between management accounting practice (MAP) sophistication and organisational effectiveness from the perspective of the Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAP). The GMAP was jointly developed and endorsed by The American Institute of Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to support Chief Executives, Boards of Directors, Chief Finance Officers and Management Accounting Practitioners to benchmark and improve management accounting practices. The study focused on 131 firms across various industries in Nigeria. Analysis of data collected through questionnaire revealed that the two high-ranking factors responsible for the degree of MAP sophistication are business strategy and quality of information technology. It was observed that although business strategy and information technology significantly moderate the relationship between MAP sophistication and Organisational effectiveness, business strategy exerts greater influence. The finding that business strategy strongly moderates the relationship between MAP sophistication and organisational effectiveness connotes that forward-thinking business entities would leverage on the strategy-formulation and strategy-implementation capabilities of contemporary management accounting techniques to drive performance and achieve business imperatives.

Globalization of Management Accounting Principles

The importance of effective management decision-making is obvious in the volatile and unstructured information environment, thus stimulating to revisions of theoretical grounds, concepts and principles of accounting management. The historic evolution of perceptions and visions of management accounting in Ukraine, like in other post-soviet countries, has a difficult path to the ultimate acceptance and recognition due to the efforts of many domestic scientists and practical professionals. 
 The conceptual framework of management accounting needs to be created with due consideration to the processes occurring in the internal and external environment of business entities as management objects. 
 The system approach to building up the conceptual framework of management accounting and reporting enables to achieve a radically new level today due to the implementation of Global Principles of Management Accounting, elaborated by international organizations. These principles set the criteria which observance enables for growth of company’s value in the conditions of the sustainable economic development. 
 Global Principles of Management Accounting, developed by the collaborative effort of two global professional organizations, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (СІМА) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ІАСРА), are designed to help business entities in overcoming fragmentation and to stimulate integrated thinking, which will enhance the effectiveness of decision making. The document outlines four principles focused on achieving four central goals and closely related with them: (i) communication generates information with impact (where “communication” is the principle and impact is the goal); (ii) information is relevant, i. e. important (“relevance” is the principle, and the goal is to assure the relevance of data); (iii) analysis of the impact on the value (“analysis” is the principle, and the goal is to analyze the business model of an organization); (iv) the intelligent management builds the trust (“trust” is the principle, and the goal is the commitment of management accounting professionals to the appropriate behavioral norms).
 It can be argued that considering the global principles of management accounting, scientific discussions on the conceptual framework of accounting management need to focus on the growth in the business value and sustainable development of business entities, to enable for the sustainable development of the economy. To this end, management accounting needs to be the core of an organization and ensure structured effective decisions in the conditions of uncertainty and growing turbulence. The global principles of management accounting have to lay the basis for not only management accounting in the real sector of the economy, but for competence building in the process of professional training on management accounting in higher education institutions.

Graduates’ vocational skills for the management accountancy profession: exploring the accounting education expectation-performance gap

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on understanding the vocational skills required by graduates and assessing the competence of graduates for the management accountancy profession. It explores ‘expectation gaps’ by examining whether the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, practitioner employers and university educators have different expectations with regard to the important vocational skills for graduates. The research aim is to generate a greater understanding of the factors that create identified expectation gaps between the above stakeholders and to explore the implications of any gaps. The research was conducted by interviewing stakeholders and a survey of university accounting educators in UK and Ireland business schools. Expectation gaps between the stakeholders were identified. These expectation gaps appear to exist owing to conflicting views on the purpose of university education. The paper contributes to the growing debates about the general role of higher education in society and the role of university accounting educators in supplying graduate trainee accountants for the management accountancy profession.

Children, Childhood and Irish Society, 1500 to the Present by Maria Luddy , James M. Smith (review)

One of the criticisms levelled at this book is that it contains nothing new or original. That is perhaps to miss the point. What we have here is not a historical monograph. It is an attempt to grapple with, and critique, some major issues in the interpretation of modern Irish history. One of the less satisfactory aspects of the book is that it lacks a continuous narrative. One would have liked to see the theme of oppression more explicitly linked to the other chapters, especially those dealing with the period 1912-22. An béal bocht, ‘the poor mouth’, is a well-established Irish idiom, not unrelated to sentiments of victimhood and oppression, which has a habit of making its way into Irish discourse, political and otherwise. Communal self-deception is not entirely unknown in the Irish public square. It is good that our historians or other public intellectuals should occasionally publish serious challenges to Irish beliefs, prejudices and received wisdom. Professor Kennedy’s book is a welcome addition to that genre. Dr Tony White worked with the Higher Education Authority and NCEA and was Director in Ireland of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 1988-2007. His Investing in People: Higher Education in Ireland from 1960-2000 was published in 2001. Children, Childhood and Irish Society, 1500 to the Present, Maria Luddy and James M. Smith, (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014), 448 pages. Children are invisible. All the academics in all the towns in all the world can’t make it otherwise. The introduction to Children, Childhood and Irish Society says that ‘the last two decades alone witnessed the publication of dozens of Irish childhood memoirs and autobiographies, constituting a literary subgenre all of its own.’ Most were bestsellers – John McGahern, Nuala O’Faolain, Frank McCourt – and all gave penetrating insights into what it felt like to grow up in Ireland and how it shaped them as people. Alongside their contemporaneous accounts, the Ryan Report gave a different kind of insight. It described, in the sort of harrowing detail that is hard to read without deep gulps of breath, a culture, a set of relationships, that saw children as not just dispensable, but almost sub-human. It described cruelty beyond imagination, inflicted by the Church on behalf of, and with the connivance and blessing of the state. Spring 2017: Book Reviews 126 Studies • volume 106 • number 421 That can’t happen unless children are invisible. It can’t happen if childhood matters – but it did. When it was over, and we all found out about it, the Taoiseach of the day told the Dáil that there was only one possible response to the Ryan Report: ‘Everyone, including the general public,’ he said, ‘must reflect on what the report has stated about how vulnerable children were treated and resolve that, from this shame and evil, we will make Ireland a model of how to treat children’. The Leader of the Opposition at the time made a particularly powerful speech, one of his very best. Deputy Enda Kenny started by saying, ‘All I can do is speak as a citizen, the leader of my party and the father of a young family and try to imagine what those young boys and girls went through in the torture of their minds, given the extent of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Ireland cries silently with those survivors’. He told a story of a little boy in Letterfrack who … had his head shaved and was sent to Coventry for a period that was to end when his hair grew back. The child was isolated from his friends and companions, the only human contacts he could trust … The simplicity of his account of waiting to be let back into the human race is heartbreaking. He stated: ‘I do not know how long it was, but it felt like an awful long time’. I am sure that it did. As one who taught, and is a parent, I know, as do most Deputies, that children have an unformed notion of time. Any postponement is painful. Tomorrow seems forever away. The brother who shaved the child’s head and isolated him until the hair was long...

A gap in management accounting education: fact or fiction

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to gain insights into the gap that persists between management accounting education (MAE) and practice.Design/methodology/approachMAE is examined from four perspectives of the balanced scorecard (BSC), in terms of what is being taught at tertiary level: customer satisfaction, learning and growth, internal business and financial. A survey questionnaire was sent to management accountants selected randomly from a list of practicing management accountants identified by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in South Africa.FindingsThe study finds support for allegations that a gap exists between MAE and practice and indicates that to address this gap, a holistic focus using the four perspectives of the BSC would be useful to investigate the gap.Research limitations/implicationsPrevious studies in relation to the gap in management education have focused on the lack of skills provided by tertiary education. As one of the few studies to focus on the overall performance of MAE, this study identifies that the gap is not limited to the provision of adequate skills. The findings show that the gap is significant in terms of customer perspective but is not significant in relation to the internal business, learning and growth and financial perspectives of the BSC. The study provides deeper insights into the gap and will help tertiary education providers to improve their performance.Practical implicationsAs one of the few studies on gaps between MAE and practice, the study provides insights to the potential gaps. The findings serve as a basis for further empirical and theoretical enquiries.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the management accounting literature by focusing on the gap in MAE using a BSC approach. Rather than single out the lack of skills provided by MAE as a reason for the gap, this paper provides information on the four areas of the BSC as ways to identify the gap.

Gauging the Impact of Country-Specific Values on the Acceptability of Global Management Accounting Principles

JEL Classification: M40 1. Introduction In 2014, the AICPA and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) published a draft document entitled Global Management Accounting Principles, including the subtitle Effective management accounting: Improving decisions and building successful organisations (AICPA and CIMA, 2014a) The draft was accompanied by a shorter checklist (AICPA and CIMA, 2014b) and a document on essential tools of the Global Management Accountant (AICPA and CIMA, 2013). This publication represents the most significant step to date toward establishing and integrated set of international accounting standards regarding the objectives of management accounting professionals. (Borker D. R., Manuscript) The standards are closely tied to CIMA's professional certification program for the Chartered Global Management Accountant. It should be noted that, with regard to methodology, there is considerable overlap between the professional tools cited in this document and the best practices cited by the Institute of Management Accounts (IMA) in its professional handbooks and teaching materials for the certification Certified Management Accountant. What distinguishes the CIMA/AICPA document is that it develops a set of key concepts and principles that Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAP) in much the way the IASB established concepts and standards for external financial reporting. According to its authors, the purpose of the document is to support top executives and the Board of Directors in benchmarking and improving their management accounting systems, providing a reference for all management accountants to check that they are adding value for their internal and external customers, helping organizations to make better decisions, to respond appropriately to the risks they face and to protect the value they generate. (AICPA and CIMA, 2014a) An underlying theme throughout the document is the key role of management accounting and the management accountant in helping organizations to achieve sustainable success using appropriate and continually refined tools, techniques and diagnostics and people skills to help organizations assess the effectiveness of their management accounting functions and identify areas for improvement. The document describes four global management accounting principles and fourteen Practice Areas of Management Accounting to which principles are applied and for which related skills and tools are required on a comprehensively updated basis. Four Global Management Accounting Principles The four principles, which are noted to be "continuous" rather than "sequential" in nature, are cited below along with their connected subheadings: * Communication provides insight that is influential --strategy development and execution is a conversation --communication is tailored --communication facilitates better decisions * Information is relevant --information is the best available --information is reliable and accessible --information is contextual * Impact on value is analysed --simulations provide insight into options --actions are prioritised by their impact on outcomes * Stewardship builds trust --accountability and credibility --sustainability --integrity and ethics These broad principles, as described in the document, paint a picture of the management accountant as a capable and reliable key analyst, diagnostician and communicator within the organization who is influential in the creation of value for the organization and its many stakeholders. Fourteen Practice Areas 1. Cost transformation and management 2. External reporting 3. Financial strategy 4. Internal control 5. Investment appraisal 6. Management and budgetary control 7. …

Making entry-level accountants better communicators: A Singapore-based study of communication tasks, skills, and attributes

Prior research reports that entry-level accountants (ELAs) lack appropriate levels of communication skills, and to-date, there are still gaps in our understanding of communication tasks frequently performed by ELAs, skills needed to fulfill these tasks, and attributes of written and oral communication that are critical to communicating effectively in the accounting field. This study attempts to fill some of the gaps by first amalgamating extant research to develop more comprehensive inventories of communication tasks, skills, and attributes (TSA) that would be critical for ELAs. Next, 59 practitioners (who have supervised ELAs) of accounting firms (both Big-4 and local firms) and members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) based in Singapore responded to our pilot survey to rate the frequency of communication tasks performed by ELAs, the importance of the identified communication skills and attributes, and the ELAs' communication skills and performance. Findings on importance ratings and importance–performance gaps provide useful insights to accounting/business/communication educators and researchers, higher education institutions, accounting students, and accounting practitioners in Singapore to better understand the current communication needs and/or deficiencies of the accounting profession. Future research opportunities, including the need to extend this study to other geographical areas using larger sample sizes, are discussed.

The effects of perceived business uncertainty, external consultants and risk management on organisational outcomes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between perceived business uncertainty (PBU), use of external risk management (RM) consultants, formalisation of RM, magnitude of RM methods and perceived organisational outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a questionnaire survey of members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the UK. Using AMOS 17.0, the paper tests the strength of the direct and indirect effects among the variables and explores the fit of the overall path model.FindingsThe results indicate significant and positive associations exist between the extent of PBU and the level of RM formalisation, as well as between the level of RM formalisation and the magnitude of RM methods adopted. The use of external RM consultants is also found to have a significant and positive impact on the magnitude of RM methods adopted. Finally, both the extent of RM formalisation and the magnitude of RM methods adopted are seen to be significantly associated with overall improvement in organisational outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses perceptual measures of the level of business uncertainty, usage of RM and organisational outcomes. Further, the respondents are members of a management accounting professional body and the views of other managers, such as risk managers, who are also important to the governance process are not incorporated.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence on the impact of RM design and usage on improvements in organisational outcomes. It contributes to the RM literature where empirical research is needed in order to be comparable with the traditional management control system literature.

A New Look At Management Accounting

<h2 style="page-break-after: auto; text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; mso-themecolor: text1;">This paper presents a comparison of the traditional management accounting with the new approach of management accounting with the use of latest information technology and manufacturing technologies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The information and data of the research were gathered from various sources of secondary data. Many online articles and journals were available through these search engines such as Google, Infoseek, Lycos, Excites and Altavista. These articles were downloaded from Internet Websites including IFAC library, CPA online newsletters, Institute of Management Accountants, CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), Technical Bulletin and Institute of Commercial and Financial Accountants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The modern techniques used in Management Accounting are discussed. TQM (Total Quality Management), ABC (Activity Based Costing) and BSC (Balanced score card) are some of the tools that are introduced in management accounting to keep up with the latest technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This research highlights the emergence of new, more proactive management accounting that increasingly becomes part of the management team with the business process. The future roles and expectations of these accountants in the competitive global economy are discussed.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></span></h2>

The Balanced Scorecard Combined with an Alternative Costing System

This project investigated whether a strategy framework such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), linked to a Performance Management System (PMS), would, compared to a more standard model of strategic planning, improve focus and research output by botanic gardens worldwide. The focus of the project shifted as the opportunity arose to develop an objective costing system linked to the related PMS, which allowed the researchers to posit that the BSC framework could provide a more effective contribution to governance. The research output was based on an in-depth case study at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh employing documentary analysis and innovative action research techniques adopting a constructive approach. This paper has been adapted for Sibbaldia having previously been published by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Research Project R220 (Macnab et al., 2010).

Professional accounting media: accountants handing over control to the system

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between management accounting software and the management accountant, as (re)produced in adverts appearing in professional management accounting journals. The paper analyses how such adverts have shaped the management accountant and the social practice of management accounting; in particular, whether these adverts are producing an image of management accountants who are in control of their management accounting system or who are controlled by it. The paper also discusses whether these adverts reflect changes in broader social practices.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyses two software adverts that were published in Chartered Institute of Management Accountants' professional journal. It uses discourse analysis to understand both the image of management accountants and the nature of the management accounting software portrayed in these adverts, as well as to explore the relationship between management accountants and their control systems.FindingsIt is concluded that the software adverts project an image of management accountants who are effectively handing over control to their systems, and who are encouraged to place substantial trust in the software. The paper relates these changes to trends in contemporary social practices, and reflects in the light of recent events in the financial markets and global economy more generally.Originality/valueThis paper contributes by adding more insight to the diffusion of the images of the accountant as a more action oriented and hedonistic person (while the software system “does the work”), as well as considering the broader implications of such diffusion in the context of the recent financial crisis.

The image of accountants: from bean counters to extreme accountants

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which a profound change in the image of accountants can be seen in the discourse used in accounting software adverts that have appeared in the professional publications of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants over the last four decades.Design/methodology/approachMethodologically, the paper draws from Barthes' work on the rhetoric of images and Giddens' work on modernity. By looking at accounting software adverts, an attempt is made to investigate the image of the accountant produced by the discourse of the adverts, and whether the image produced reflects a wide social change in society.FindingsIt was found that in the 1970s and the 1980s the accountant was constructed as a responsible and rational person. In the 1990s, the accountant was presented as an instructed action man. However, in a recent advert the accountant appeared as a more hedonistic person. Overall, the changes observed reflect changes in wider social practice from modernity, through high modernity, to hyper‐modernity.Research limitations/implicationsThe image of the accountants has implications for the development of the accounting profession. In particular, the move towards hyper‐modernity, where empathy towards others and the virtues of self‐discipline and fairness are not at stake, has implications for the trustworthiness of the accounting profession.Originality/valueAlthough there has been some research into the image of accountants, particularly in the media and popular movies, extant works have mostly investigated how others perceive accountants and how accountants are generally portrayed. The paper however, places more stress on the construction of the image of the accountants when appealing to the accountants.

Apocalyptic Demography? Putting Longevity Risk in Perspective

'Apocalyptic demography? Putting longevity risk in perspective' which was published on 29 April 2008 has been funded by, and produced in association with, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business. This report and checklist allows finance directors to put longevity risk in perspective by focusing on issues such as current life expectancy, projected life expectancy and the types of longevity risk to which their organisation may be susceptible. It will also help them when discussing, with their actuary, the basis of mortality assumptions used in estimating their scheme liabilities.

Factors affecting Southern African students’ success in CIMA examinations

This study explores the factors affecting the results obtained by Southern African students in the professional qualification examinations of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Thirteen variables were identified and included in a questionnaire sent to CIMA students. It was found that three variables were significantly associated with examination success: age, tuition and study material. Younger candidates, candidates who attended part‐time tuition classes and candidates who used the textbooks published by BPP were more successful. Trends were also detected regarding gender, the number of papers written, and examination attempts: females tended to outperform males, candidates had a smaller chance of passing all the papers they sat if they took on more papers at a time, and first‐time candidates had a higher tendency to pass than repeat candidates. Opportunities for further research are discussed.

Strategic planning and design in the service sector

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a research project into strategic planning and design in the service sector sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and supported by the Design Council into Design for Accounting.Design/methodology/approachThe research used a mail survey questionnaire to gain information on design and strategic issues.FindingsThe findings are that the majority of medium‐sized service enterprises do not have a design function or use design. For those that do use design, the majority see design as very important: the benefits of design relate to the brand image of both the organisation and the services provided, closely followed by increased profits. Design has been used in the past to add value and improve quality, while innovation has been and will in the future be the main strategic area to concentrate on. Key strategic activities in the past have been adding new customers, whereas in the future the key strategic activities will be to understand customer needs.Originality/valueThe findings of the paper are important because they shed light on the importance of design and the benefits of design in the service sector, the service design strategies responsible for current performance, how the performance of service sector medium‐sized enterprises is assessed in terms of financial, market and service supply criteria, how service sector medium‐sized enterprises have reached their current status and how they intend to progress in the future, and the organisational, service supply and market factors employed in the past and how these might change in the future.

Adapting management accounting knowledge needs to functional and economic change

Changes in the function of the management accountant and in the economic environment, particularly the shift of economic activity away from manufacturing and the internationalisation of education, raise issues of the breadth and diversity of knowledge needs for management accounting. The impact of these issues is investigated using data on perceived topic importance from an international survey of over 1600 members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. The substantial importance attached to a range of topics from outside the management accounting discipline itself, and to more strategic topics from within it, is consistent with a developing function for the practitioner associated with a broadening set of knowledge needs, since these topics add to rather than supplant many traditional core management accounting topics. Variation in the importance of topics among economic sectors tends to be specific to certain topics, such as costing, although the public sector has distinctive priorities. Diversity in knowledge needs is also apparent internationally, particularly in terms of those working in developing economies, who attach greater importance to many topics in finance and financial accounting than others do.