Management accounting: pathways to progress

This report examines the implications for management accounting of the changes which are taking place within British firms which are adopting different forms of advanced manufacturing techniques and managerial processes. It reviews information concerning changing managerial perceptions of information requirements, the use of new communication forms and channels, and the implications of changing organisational structures so as to help the management accounting profession to react to this new environment. The report supports its conclusions by exploring the findings of empirical investigations of the United Kingdom, North American and Japanese firms undertaken by various independent researchers and concentrates on documenting changes in management accounting processes in these countries. This study seeks to explain the implications for management accounting of recent changes in technology, and in organisational procedures in management.