Managers and accounting:

Learning experiences, organizational development and personal competence building

Paper in progress. Draft version.

Please do not quote without permission of the author

ABSTRACT

This paper´s intention is to examine management accounting from its most important user´s perspective: practicing managers´. The research is motivated by perpetual and essential urge to understand the essence of accounting in the context of managerial work. The article takes a three-folded approach. First, a deeper understanding to the issue is sought based on learning experiences and reflections of practicing managers. Second view is built around practicing managers´ views and visions about organizational development. Third perspective addresses managers’ objectives on a personal competence building level.

The empirical foundations of this research are in the experiences, opinions, reflections and visions of practicing managers, described by themselves in qualitative narrative texts. Contribution of this article emerges by conceptualizing the working executive´s managerial mindsets and understandings about accounting. The results of this research form a framework about practicing manager´s understanding of accounting that emphasizes the multidimensional nature of managerial work, especially as a practical science about value creation in organizations.

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Bringing managers back into management accounting research ................................................. 3

1.2 Managerial work ........................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Perspectives of this paper ............................................................................................................. 9

2 RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA ....................................................................................................... 11

2.1 Research methodology ............................................................................................................... 11

2.2 Research data .............................................................................................................................. 14

2.3 Data analysis ............................................................................................................................... 16

3 RESULTS .............................................................................................................................................. 19

3.1 Learning experiences .................................................................................................................. 19

3.2 Organizational development ...................................................................................................... 22

3.3 Personal competence building.................................................................................................... 23

3.4 Managers and accounting, elaborating a framework ................................................................. 25

4 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................ 30

References ............................................................................................................................................ 33

”What is the true accounting competence of a manager? I think the answer is

crowdsourcing. Leader can only succeed together with others, with

cooperation. This culture of working together allows questions, uncertainty and

success. (Director)

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Bringing managers back into management accounting research

If we consider management accounting being concerned about the provisions and use of

accounting information by managers within organizations, it should be an essential urge for

us to continually build an in-depth understanding about accounting in the very context of

managerial work. How do the practicing managers perceive the essence of accounting

embedded in their mindsets and managerial actions? What does such production and usage of

accounting information look like that leads to actions which have effects on the ways in

which organizations and individuals work? What is the role and functioning of management

accounting in practice in managerial work like when organizations are trying to succeed in

the global economy? This paper is written in the context of questions like these, as it

recognizes the lack of knowledge around these issues and seeks to illustrate new perspectives

by placing managers and managerial work in focus.

Looking at it from the managerial work point of view, management accounting is a practical

science about value creation in organizations. Accounting is an integral vehicle in attention

direction as well as problem solving, providing managers with the basis to make informed

business decisions. Nevertheless, management accounting is often approached from the

perspective of accounting professionals and doctrines. Even when discussing about strategic

management accounting, big emphasis can be on the management accounting profession, its

tools and systems, challenges, changing roles related to the management of the organizations

etc. This research takes a different approach. Intention is to explore accounting as part of

managerial work from practicing managers’ perspective, not from accounting professionals´.

As the paper´s title puts it, the focus is on managers and accounting.

The previously described assertion about managerial work´s importance corresponds with

several existing recognized voices in the field of management accounting research. There

have been a number of discussions and demands to support this kind of perspective in

management accounting research. Jönsson (1998) wrote about management accounting

research being out of focus and lacking empirical input from managerial work. More recently

Matthew Hall (2010) argued that despite Jönsson´s (1998) opening of the debate, research has

generated few studies that seek to really understand how managers engage with accounting

information in their work. Moreover, Hall (2010) states that research emphasis on decision

making in well-defined contexts is restrictive as it limits consideration of other ways of using

accounting information in managerial work. He calls for further research to examine how and

why managers use accounting information.

It has also been argued that management research in general should have more effect on

actual practice in organizations (Pfeffer 2007) and in order to do so to adopt methodologies

and theories that can be related to organizational reality (Seal 2012). Furthermore, some

researchers have stated that management accounting is perhaps too inward facing (Birnberg

2009) and accounting researchers sometimes choose to stay on the “safe side”, only trying to

understand practice instead of making suggestions on how to improve it (ter Bogt and van

Helden 2012).

Scapens (2006) draws together the changes which have taken place in management

accounting research since 1970s. He concludes that accounting research on the other hand has

during the decades provided clearer understanding about management accounting practices

but also that research has merely followed practice. The challenge according to Scapens is

still how accounting research can produce relevant insight for practitioners and to have more

of an impact on practice, instead of just following it. Also Hopwood (2007) has expressed his

concern regarding the lack of innovativeness in accounting research. One of the questions he

raises is that perhaps accounting could be seen and researched in its full diversity and

complexity if the research community would strengthen its links to the practitioners?

Hopwood also states that that accounting has become less isolated phenomenon in

organizations and it is more widely used by also many others than accounting professionals

(Hopwood 2007). This paper partly responds to these challenges by exploring the

understandings and needs of the practicing managers, “the customers of management

accounting”.

The aim of this research is to take a quite broad perspective to the issue of accounting and

managerial work. The focus of this research is not to concentrate solely on the use of

accounting information but to explore more comprehensively the relationship between

accounting issues, profitability and managerial work. A characterization from Wai Fong

Chua (2007) describes this paper´s research orientation quite conveniently. She states that

accounting is a practical activity. Yet we often choose to study it from a distance, through

surveys, mathematical formulae etc. She argues that one route to greater knowledge is to

rediscover accounting as contingent, a lived verb rather than abstract noun. This paper tries to

look at management accounting very closely through the working reality of practicing

managers. The contribution of this research is grounded in the qualitative narrative texts

written by practicing managers. The results frame a three-folded view into managers and

accounting, conceptualizing practicing managers´ experiences, views on organizational

development and personal competence building related to accounting. The results are

consistent with the view that management accounting research should bring the practical

reality of management more closely into focus, since the results indicate that it is not the

production and usage of numbers as such that the managers mainly reflect upon, but instead

the essence of accounting mindset and actions as part of managerial work.

On the other hand one has to recognize that there have already been shifts in focus in

management accounting research. Noteworthy is research that has been focusing on practice

(Ahrens and Chapman 2007, Skaelbaek and Tryggestad 2010, Wittington 2011) in such a

way that we can even talk about “a practice turn” in organizational studies, at least into some

extent. Management accounting researchers have also been adviced to take a more

participative role in organizational problem solving for example through constructive

research (Kasanen, Lukka and Siitonen 1993, Labro and Tuomela 2003 ) not to mention case

studies and action research approaches emphasizing the nature of the living reality in

organizations. When writing about practice theorizing Ahrens and Chapman (2007) state that

it is the possibilities of management control systems as a potential for action that should be in

focus, not only resistance and control.

Nevertheless, much is still to be researched and learned about managers and accounting.

Even if there is a recognizable drift towards a practice-based approach in management

accounting research, this drift will in any case only explain the dynamic relationship between

managers and accounting to a limited extent. Very few recent studies have taken the

practicing managers into focus more broadly. These papers have for example examined

managers´ perceptions of management accounting practices with a survey (Tayles, Pike and

Sofian 2007), illuminated manager´s attitudes towards the incompleteness of performance

indicators via a longitudinal field study (Jordan and Messner 2012) and analyzed a survey

about managers´ responses to the application of the controllability principle (Burkert, Fischer

and Schäffer 2011). In addition to these few studies there appears to be only case-based

research approaching the essence of accounting in context of managerial work. And in case-

research there is s usually more focused phenomenon or change process that is under

examination. These seem to be a worrying lack of research really pursuing in-depth

understanding about management accounting from the perspective of managers.

Empirical orientation of contemporary published accounting studies is one way of examining

the practice-focus of academic accounting thinking. Also theory plays a crucial role in

designing practice-oriented management accounting research. Malmi and Granlund (2009)

argue that current accounting theories and the role of those theories fail to provide valid

support for practitioners. And also according to Malmi and Granlund (2009) sometimes the

pre-adopted theory defines what is considered to be interesting in a research project. The

underlining concern is that accounting research has not succeeded in making contributions

relevant for the larger audience, especially for practitioners (Malmi and Granlund 2009,

Malmi 2005). This paper tries to avoid the risk of speaking only to other accounting

researchers. Instead of specific already well-established theoretical settings, the main

emphasis of this research is on the qualitative data collected from practitioners who are

experienced executives. That probably helps to avoid drifting far from the interest of

practitioners. However, we should recognize that practical relevance should be seen as a quite

broad concept, meaning more than merely the design, implementation and usage of

accounting and control technologies. In addition to this “instrumental relevance” concerning

the impact of selection and control of the chosen course of action, it can also be “conceptual

relevance” which has an impact on framing the decision making situation, or “legitimative

relevance” impacting the legitimizing and enforcing decisions (Van Der Meer-Kooistra and

Vosselman 2012). And overall, this paper aims not to argue that we should completely

replace less practice-relevant research; there is also room for research contributing mainly to

theory as argued by Pihlanto (2006).

Considering these respected voices (Ahrens and Chapman 2007, Jönsson 1998, Scapens

2006, Chua 2007, Hopwood 2007, Hall 2009, Malmi and Granlund 2009, Malmi 2005, Van

Der Meer-Kooistra and Vosselman 2012) in the management accounting research

community, the starting point of this paper seems well grounded. We need to enrich the

understanding about accounting from the perspective of managerial work. The starting point

of raising management accounting research relevance in the eyes of practitioners is to

develop more in-depth understanding about managers and accounting. As an accounting

researcher, it is also worth keeping in mind that accounting is only one of many activities in

an organization and is often considered only as a support function. Like Jorgensen and

Messner (2010) suggested, studying accounting where it intersects with other activities might

be likely to increase the interest of other disciplines in accounting research. In this paper,

such other type of activity is managerial work. This research seeks a more complete

understanding about management accounting from the perspective of managerial work.

1.2 Managerial work

When we pursue relevance in accounting research related to managerial work, involving only

the accounting professionals is insufficient. When choosing to research accounting from a

managerial work perspective managerial work itself becomes very interesting concept for us.

What is managerial work all about?

One of the most classic pieces of research about managerial work was done by Henry

Mintzberg. His groundbreaking work was based on observing what managers actually do in

their work. Instead of planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling, he found that

managers’ activities seemed to be characterized by brevity, variety and discontinuity.

(Mintzberg 1973, 1975). Also another significant piece of pioneering research about

managerial work by John P. Kotter (1982) who emphazised the incredible complexity of

executive roles. Kotter studied 15 successful general managers with multifunctional

responsibilities. According to Kotter managers constantly confront information uncertainty

and must rely on others in order to get things done. Both of these classic studies (Mintzberg

1973, Kotter 1982) about managerial work form an image where managerial work is seen as

an ongoing series of very complex interactional activities rich with verbal expressions and

meanings. The assumption about managerial work as being independent and filled with

information certainty through adequate management accounting information seems

questionable. So despite their evident role in modern management formal tools should not be

overemphasized either in management accounting context nor should human relationships be

seen too simplistically.

Since Mintzberg´s (1973) and Kotter´s (1982) classic studies a lot has changed in

management discourse. For example, more emphasis has been placed on leadership instead of

management. Also the evolution of the business environment (globalization, new technology

etc) has raised questions about whether it is necessary to update our understanding of

managerial work. Tengblad (2006) conducted a comparative study of top executives work in

order to reveal potential differencies to Mintzberg´s classic work. He found differences like

increase in workload, more interaction in groups, less administrative work and more

emphasis on giving information. On the other hand, many of the Mintzberg´s propositions

regarding management work still remained valid. Also Holmberg and Tyrstrup (2010) have

studied managerial work more recently. They underline as one key point that management is

far from knowing everything before doing anything. In their research involving 62 managers

they found that the major difficulty in handling manager´s everyday context was that “you

have to draw the map while orienteering”.

Overall, the scarce systematic empirical research about management practices offers a

motivational starting point for this research. It is noteworthy that existing research forms a

picture where management work is quite far from clear formalistic decision making and

controlling, and more characterized by a complex continuum of interactions. So it seems

fruitful to further investigate the nature of accounting as part of managerial work. Mintzberg

(1973), Kotter (1982), Tengblad (2006) and Tyrstrup (2010) plugged into essence of

managerial work. For management accounting researchers it is interesting and important to

explore the role and place of accounting issues in this context. Especially when it seems

reasonable to say based on our understanding about managerial work that management

accounting should play a quite diverse and multidimensional role. The skill and act of

managerial work should be seen as a systemic and continuous flow of actions that involve

interaction with various stakeholders, based on information from many sources, including

management accounting. This research seeks to shed a light on how practicing managers

perceive accounting. To deepen our understanding about the essence of accounting in the

context of managerial work, innovative and practice-oriented theoretical frameworks and

methodological approaches are needed. The following presents this paper´s research setting

and building blocks for gaining such insight.

1.3 Perspectives of this paper

This research approaches the topic of managers and accounting from three perspectives. First,

a deeper understanding to the issue is sought based on learning experiences of practicing

managers. In order to understand the relationship that practicing managers have with

accounting it is fruitful to explore via subjective reflections how that relationship has been

evolved. In the field of management accounting research there is a growing recognition of the

importance of understanding the living practice of management accounting (Jönsson 1998,

Hall 2010, Chua 2007, Malmi and Granlund 2009, Malmi 2005, Hopwood 2007) and

moreover, making an impact on it (Birnberg 2009, Bogt and Van Helden 2012, Scapens

2006, Van Der Meer-Kooistra and Vosselman 2012). The first perspective of this article

begins by examining what are the highlights from learning perspective when managers think

about accounting as a part of their work and professional practices? What are the situations

and contexts which experienced managers would like to emphasize when they are asked

describe moments of learning they have experienced related to management accounting

during their career?

The second perspective of this article is built around organizational development. This way

the research is geared towards understanding better what practicing managers expect and

need from management accounting in the context of their living organizational reality and

managerial work. With the organizational development dimension, this research seeks to

include an approach that can be firmly related to organizational reality (Pfeffer 2007,

Birnberg 2009). What the organizational development needs in the field of accounting, as

identified by practicing managers, tell us about the management accounting in its living

organizational context? The multi-dimensional nature of managerial work and organizational

reality described by various researchers (Mintzberg (1973), Kotter (1982), Tengblad (2006)

and Tyrstrup (2010) offer a starting point for this second perspective. This present research is

inspired by such contributions and the aim is to elaborate how management accounting could

be more connected to this managerial reality and have an effect to it.

This paper´s third perspective of managers and accounting addresses practicing managers’

personal competence building. Through insight in this area the aim is to better understand

accounting and its key areas from practicing managers’ point of view. What kind of things

the practicing managers see as their key development goals, not when it comes down to

reflecting upon their past or their organization´s needs, but thinking about themselves from

now on, as learners and acting individuals? What are the essential themes and areas of

accounting competence development for practicing managers?

These three approaches form a structure for guiding the data collection and analysis. They

can be considered as this research’s locales of interest, building blocks for further insight

about managers and accounting:

1. Learning experiences reflect how the relationship and understanding about

management accounting has evolved during managers´ careers

2. Organizational development paints a picture about present managerial needs for

accounting development

3. Personal competence building frames the essential competence development areas for

the future

This research is interested in managers understanding of the nature accounting as distinct

from accountants understanding of accounting. In spite of some recent published papers with

practicing managers in focus (Tayles, Pike and Sofian 2007, Jordan and Messner 2012,

Burkert, Fischer and Schäffer 2011) there seems to remain a worrying lack of knowledge of

managers and accounting. This paper seeks to partly fill this gap by constructing a more

comprehensive insight about managers and accounting, springing from the experiences and

visions of practicing managers themselves.

2 RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA

2.1 Research methodology

The insight and conclusions of this research are built in an inductive way. Rather than

beginning with a set of specific hypotheses, research is built on rich empirical data. This

methodological choice of operating almost in reverse fashion compared to traditional social

research is grounded on the interest of the research. The aim is to understand the objectives

and problems that managers face in their work related to management accounting, and how

they are trying and wish to solve these problems in their work. This field of practices,

symbolic structures, themes and patterns is broader than merely a traditional set of

management decision making situations. The idea of this research is not to isolate the “truth”,

but instead conceptualize at what is practicing managers´ understanding about accounting

practices and competencies like, how management accounting is used and formed in

organizational settings in practice. More than concentrating on the functionalist and practical

use of accounting tools, which Vaivio (2008) calls the “textbook view of accounting”, this

research is more concerned about the meanings and intentions of managerial actions

regarding accounting. This research can be characterized as an interpretative accounting

research since it seeks to understand the everyday practice of accounting by looking at the

actors´ (practicing managers) perceptions and definitions of the situation (Chua 1986). This

will be done by collecting qualitative data and looking it systematically. The data is described

in more detail in section 2.2 and the process of data analysis on section 2.3.

The methodological setting of this research is largely inspired by a grounded theory approach

(Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Grounded theory itself is not the most conventional methodology

in management accounting research, but it has been used (e.g. Tillman and Goddard 2008,

Goddard 2004, Norris 2002, Parker 2001) and furthermore, it is specifically suggested as a

methodology for management accounting research. Parker and Roffey (1997) see its potential

as contributing particularly to the interpretive research tradition and Elharidy, Nicholson and

Scapens (2008) have described the use of grounded theory in interpretative management

accounting research even further, providing practical guidelines for making quality grounded

theory research. One of this research’s starting points is the focus on managerial work and

practice. Since practice is also the basis for grounded theory it has the potential of reducing

the perceived gap between theories and practice (Lye, Perera and Rahman 2006). Another

premise of this research is the scarcity of existing research about accounting in the context of

managerial work. In the case of very few existing studies it is plausible to develop theoretical

constructs inductively from data. Thirdly, grounded theory as a methodology itself has most

potential regarding subjects with a strong human dimension (Goulding 1999), such as

managerial work. In its pursuit to gain insight in to the complexity of meanings, emerging the

experiences and visions of practitioners, this research draws many of its inspiration from

grounded theory. The aim is to let the conclusions emerge from empirical data rather than

from pre-existing theory.

Since the original publication The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967)

the way in which the methodology should be allied has diverged into Glaserian and

Straussian paradigms and more recently, also into constructivist grounded (Bryant and

Charmaz 2007) According to Elharidy et al (2008) accounting researchers have preferred the

Straus and Corbin´s (1990) version of the method even though von Alberti-Alhtaybat and Al-

Htaybat (2010) have argued for the Glaserian approach in interpretative accounting research.

Glaser´s approach to grounded theory is more open and general both in terms of defining the

research issue and area of study as well as the data analysis. Straus and Gorbin allow the

researcher to predefine research question and on the other hand opt for more structured steps

in analyzing data. The third school of grounded theory, the constructivist approach, orientates

more into Straus and Corbin view by starting with a more specific research question in mind,

getting into the literature earlier and “constructing” the theory from data instead of

“discovering” it (Evans 2013). Also some concerns have been raised about using the

grounded theory approach in management accounting research. Gurd (2008) who based on

his analytical review on research literature, states that sufficient justification to label research

as grounded theory research is sometimes missing. And even when the research itself fits into

grounded theory category, there are things related to the research design that can weaken the

credibility of the whole research. According to Parker and Roffey (2007) one of such pitfalls

is that grounded theory research should avoid prior commitment to any particular theory.

Because of this rather diverse variety of views on how to appropriately use grounded theory

or even design studies that draw some inspiration from grounded theory methodology, it is

essential to describe the research setting and process explicitly.

This research can be characterized as an interpretative qualitative research that has been using

data analysis developed in grounded theory. It is evident that no qualitative research project

starts out as “tabula rasa”, completely without any mental meanings based on the previous

experience of the researcher. Making these more or less evident conceptual starting points of

the research transparent is important for two purposes. First of all it helps to produce quality

research by making these assumptions clearer to the researcher himself. This is done in order

to avoid being ignorant and unreflective regarding philosophical, methodological and

theoretical underpinnings (Lukka 2010), especially when the research probably does not fall

into a mainstream accounting research category. Secondly being knowledgeable about the

implicitly adopted assumptions and values helps to assess the quality of the research. In

qualitative research the researcher`s own a priori assumptions and motivations may shape the

data collection and analysis. In the following, starting points of this kind related to this

research are identified and described.

One essential starting point and mental prior commitment of this research is the desire to

bring more empirical input from managerial work into the field management accounting

research. This “call to action” presented by previous researchers (For example Jönsson 1998,

Hall 2009, Malmi & Granlund 2009) has acted as a motivational starting point for this

research. Second inspirational starting point for the research project design is a preliminary

assumption that management work is much more complex and multidimensional than often

assumed. Also in the context of management accounting we need to step a bit away from the

traditional decision making emphasis into exploring the relevance of management accounting

practices from more dynamic perspective. It could mean for example that instead of just

being more informed with better numbers, management needs more comprehensive set of

methods and insight for to co-create the management accounting mindset and profitability

consciousness in the organization. Third starting point of this research is the researcher´s

background related to the research topic and empirical data. The researcher has professional

background in academic executive education, managing open enrollment Executive MBA

programs as well as tailored company-specific executive development projects. The design of

this research project has followed a suggestion for the researcher to self-reflect and define an

insightful research from his own personal interests (Chua 2011). In qualitative research an

ideal situation could be a researcher without too much preconceptions and ambitions, even

without any pre-knowledge about the theme of the research. Glaser has even argued that the

future of grounded theory is in the hands of a novice researcher who are still open to

“whatever” (Glaser 2009). In practice researchers always have some kind of prior knowledge.

So in this paper´s case, the researcher approaches the domain of the research not with an

empty head, but instead like Kelle (2005) quite appropriately phrases it, with an open mind.

The three-folded research setting presented in section 1.3 separates this research from the

purest form of grounded theory research. However, the tree-folded structure is selected to

operate as a lens into a world of managers and accounting, not to limit the emerging

conclusions. No conclusive theoretical framework has been chosen in advance in order to

fully explain the findings that the data generates. Since this research is not based on a single

case, but instead stems from experiences from tens of organizations, an a priori framework is

needed as a conceptual tool to guide the data collection in order to capture the essential view

about practicing managers and accounting issues. The research problem is quite general by

nature, defined as to explore accounting in the context of managerial work. What and why of

the research purpose is quite broadly defined by the researcher, but after that the data is

allowed to speak for itself.

2.2 Research data

The data consists of reflective narrative texts written by practicing managers. The aim is to

explore accounting in the context of managerial work, as described by these managers in their

writings. Due to this orientation, the discussion tends to orientate towards management

accounting. Even though other aspects of accounting (e.g. financial accounting) are not

explicitly excluded, the emphasis of the data is on management accounting perspectives, on

the provisions and use of accounting information within organizations, in the work of general

managers.

The respondents were students of the Executive MBA programme of the University of

Jyväskylä, Finland. MBA is a career development generalist degree for those with significant

relevant work experience that contributes to learning and in a case of an Executive MBA, this

is being even more pronounced. This is essential from this research’s perspective since the

rich previous experience of the respondents as well as their current managerial roles forms a

foundation for providing views about accounting in a living organisational context as part of

managerial work.

The group represented a very diverse collection of organizations. The 48 respondents came

from 40 different organizations. Some respondents worked in the same larger organization

but for example in different subsidiaries or units of the corporation, often located in different

sites geographically. If the number of organizations is counted including only totally distinct

organizations, without interpreting same corporation´s different subsidiaries or divisions as

different organizations, the amount of organizations represented is 35. The respondents

represent wide array of organizations, different sizes and from different field of industries

including also public sector. From research data point of view it has to also be noted that the

essays include experiences and views based on the respondents earlier working experience.

So the foundation of opinions and interpretations of this research are built based on many

organizational realities, exceeding the amount of different organizations that the respondents

were currently working for. The average age of the respondents was 42 years. They had

working experience from managerial positions on average 14 years. Almost everyone (46 out

of 48 respondents) had a term “director” or “manager” in their official working title. So the

respondents represent a group of people with significant relevant work experience and current

responsibilities in the field of management.

Table 1. Respondents

Amount of respondents 48

Male 34

Female 14

Age (average) 42 years

Managerial experience (average) 14 years

The briefing for the assignment to the respondents was two-fold. In the first stage the

researcher explained the background and motivation for the research to the respondents with

a presentation. The aim was to clarify the need for information of this research and emphasize

the assignment as an ambitious effort in order to understand better the multi-dimensional

relationship between accounting and managerial work. Respondents were informed also

about the pursuit to apply the essays in the University’s research activities by the researcher.

They were also given the opportunity to deny such further use of their writings. Nobody used

that option.

The respondents were given a template document including the basic briefing for the

assignment and an advice that the optimal length for the essay would be 3-6 pages of written

text. Most importantly the template included the following three-folded structure and

assignment for the essay.

1. Learning experiences

(Write about three top learning moments in your working history regarding

managerial work and accounting)

2. Organizational development

(Write about three ways on how to develop accounting in your organization from

managerial work perspective)

3. Personal competence building

(Write about three accounting competence development areas that would be

important for you personally from managerial work perspective)

The respondents wrote the 48 essays during their EMBA studies during the fall 2012. In order

to gain such amount of data, the essays were collected from two different EMBA student

cohorts. The other module´s students were quite in the beginning of their EMBA studies (27

essays) and the other group were roughly half way of their Executive MBA studies (21

essays). All the 48 essays were written by different people. The material combined was 214

pages of written text (4,5 pages per essay on average).

2.3 Data analysis

The data from two groups of respondents (27 and 21 essays) was first analyzed and

interpreted separately. Both sets of essays were analyzed through three phases. First the

essays were read without an attempt to identify themes or make conclusions. The idea was to

form the big picture about the data and only to make preliminary markings to the texts

pinpointing the highlights in the respondents’ stories.

In the second phase the essays were read again and observations were picked from the

individual essay texts and listed into three columns, each representing one of the key

perspectives of the research. At this point of data analysis all the findings from the essays (3

findings per perspective per essay as instructed in the essay briefing) were listed as code lists,

again without an effort to form themes or to leave anything out. In some essays the asked

three things in each perspective were clearly explicit and unambiguously marked even as

subtitles in the essays. In some texts the respondents described incidents or their plans more

broadly in a narrative format which left the researcher the task of carefully come up with an

interpretation and to attach appropriate labels into these stories.

There were certain things that made this second, “open coding” -phase of the analysis where

key concepts were identified from the data, a bit easier. First of all, the given structure for the

texts to highlight three issues made it easier to code the themes from the texts. The shifts in

content formed natural markers for themes since the essays were structured like that. These

“transitions” as Ryan and Bernard (2003) describe, were naturally used in order to identify

expressions. Also the fact that the respondents had time to reflect upon their experiences,

compared for example to an interview situation where they would have had a limited amount

of time to express themselves and to come up with the conclusions, produced quite refined

material. The texts were written in both the researcher´s and respondents’ native language

(finnish) and naturally that made it possible interpret also metaphors and subtle nuances from

the data.

In the third stage the data was very carefully looked in order to identify themes. What kind of

common denominators could be identified among the codes lists of three perspectives?

Versatile “cutting and sorting” (Ryan and Bernard 2003) technique used in this phase

involved arranging expressions into groups of things that went together. Eventually, a

preliminary classification started to emerge. The aim also this far was not to verify any given

theory, but instead allowing relevant theoretical constructs to emerge. The purpose of this

iterative process was to form an explanatory theoretical framework to illustrate each of the

three chosen perspectives of the research. The data analysis process was also iterative in a

sense that the essay sets were collected at different times during fall 2012. This enabled to

take some distance to the data before collecting and coding the next set.

After the first round of forming the themes from the code lists, the themes were quite

numerous. In each 3 perspectives there were 5-10 subcategories of themes. Those themes

were then refined and combined in order to illustrate 3-4 key themes in each category. The

preliminary results were then presented and discussed with the respondents in order to

understand the world of the respondents. Both sets of essays were analyzed first separately.

Then the data of the both sets of essays was combined in order to form one joint analysis that

would reflect all of the data as a whole. Though no significant differences were found in the

data between these two data sets, the data gathering in two sets increased flexibility and

iterativity into the data analysis. What started out as a practical thing (2 separate cohorts of

people was needed to form 48 respondents), turned out to be an important characteristic of

the research process. Proceeding in two phases made it possible to deepen the understanding

and meaning of the data also in two phases. Most importantly it forced to take some distance

in the data and doubled the analysis phases during the way towards final conclusions. Before

combining the data sets into final analysis, the preliminary formed themes from each data set

were also presented to the respondents also in order to pursuit consensual validation (Patton

2003) of the results. This is especially appropriate since one of the goals of the research

project was to identify themes that are recognized and used by the people whom are studied.

And more importantly, discussions with the respondents facilitated by the researchers after

presenting the results provided further insight and perspective into the data. That formed

good basis to combine the data sets and to enter the phase of forming the final results. With

both sets of essays also other researchers were involved in the analysis process. Opening up

the raw data (the original essays), formed code lists and preliminary interpretations of the

data to them was made in order to get additional views and insights to the process well before

entering the stage of combining the datasets and making the final analysis.

The last stage of the data analysis was to form the final analysis. This was done through

combining the code lists from both data sets and forming the themes all over again, but this

time based on the coding from both sets of essays. The codes were categorized into themes in

each three perspectives (learning experiences, organizational development, competence

building). And after that also the final summarizing theoretical conceptualization (outlined in

section 3.4.) about managers and accounting was made.

The literature review of this research was done in a way that tried to avoid the early closure

of the direction of the research. Before and during the data collection the literature was

reviewed only in order to motivate and position the research (see sections 1.1 and 1.2). The

vast majority of reading was done after collecting the data, at a point when emerging

theoretical interpretation of the data were already sufficiently developed. It can be said that

the data guided the literature review. The existing literature was used not to guide the

analysis, but instead in order to challenge and support the formed interpretations and to locate

the findings in the field of existing research.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Learning experiences

The first perspective of the data was to make the essence of accounting in everyday

managerial work explicit by reflecting upon the managers´ learning experiences. The data

was eventually categorized into following themes.

Picture 1

Themes of the learning experiences

An essential perspective that came apparent in the experiences of the respondents, was an

issue titled here as the “big picture”. Many respondents highlighted a period of time or

incident where they had really came to understand the big context of accounting and

management in their work. Quite often this related to realizing the overall operating frame of

their work in terms of money and value creation, really understanding the business model of

their organization at some point of their career. Or it was about being able to see the essential

parts of the organization through a “money mindset”, i.e. being able to place monetary values

on some crucial organizational activities. From a learning experience point of view, this

awakening to see the big picture of one’s own organization was a substantial thing.

However, this insight and personal understanding here called the “big picture” was

sometimes realized also through smaller projects. Many of the respondents raised smaller

things and incidents as important accounting learning highlights during their career. These

1

BIG

PICTURE

2

ACTIONS AND

EXPERIENCES

3

LIVING

PRACTISES

smaller projects meant for example being a project manager with a financial responsibility

regarding a specific project. Some of these “small project” experiences came even outside the

context of their main professional activities. For instance, an experience of acting in a leisure

organization in a role with financial responsibility had worked as a significant learning

experience resulting to become one of the highlights regarding accounting and managerial

work. Nonetheless, also these so called smaller projects can however be interpreted as

reflections about the same “big picture” phenomena. Many managers and executives work in

big complex organizations with complicated organizational structures and operating models.

When it comes to learning about management accounting, and especially realizing the cause

and effect of organizational functions in terms of money, smaller things are the ones that you

can more easily observe and realize. So without being an entrepreneur or being in charge of a

coherent organizational unit, learning about management accounting in action can come from

small projects where the living reality of management accounting is observable, from end to

end.

One of the most important highlight moments during my career regarding

management accounting was when I realized that accounting from management

point of view is like a decathlon. It is not enough to pay attention to one single

thing, but instead you have to understand that it is about the sum of all moving

parts” (Manager)

The second big theme based on the learning experience highlights is titled “actions and

experiences”. Whereas the “big picture” was about realizing the organizational context from

management accounting perspective, this other theme was about more concrete actions and

incidents. Whereas the “big picture” was about learning through seeing and realizing,

“Actions and experiences” stories were based on managerial interventions or initiatives

related to accounting and managerial work.

This theme of “actions and experiences” consisted of two kinds of stories, different from each

other. The first sub-category of this theme can be labeled as cost management. They were

descriptions about active and justified cost management, for example targeting unnecessary

costs in organization, finding out the optimal and most cost efficient way to do business etc.

Also demanding and challenging times occurred in these narratives. This is understandable in

a way that challenging times raise the importance of management accounting and especially

cost management in the general manager´s agenda. These were the moments where

management accounting and cost management actions were prioritized to be a bigger part of

practicing managers´ work.

However, “actions and experiences” stories weren´t only about hard times and cost

management. In fact, another angle rose from the data at least as clearly as cost management.

These stories are here to be called “investing for success” and they portray an important

image regarding practicing managers and accounting. The practicing managers´ views

concentrated on costs but also on building the capacity for making the future revenue. Stories

of practicing managers identify both flips of this coin of management accounting. Cost

management stories category in this paper´s analysis was more about single concrete actions

done on a shorter term, whereas investing on success experiences had more future-oriented,

longer term perspective.

“In personal life monthly income is almost fixed, so you quite rarely can increase

revenues or cut costs by making investments. This leads into thinking where most

economical way to deal different situations is to minimize costs. When I was

working in R&D I realized at some point that this is not the case in the context of

my professional work. Saving money from purchases and resources is often the

biggest waste of money”(Manager)

The third theme of learning experiences is titled as “living practices”. This wasn´t really

about numbers as such, but instead the interaction around them. These stories were about

communication and interaction, the ways in which accounting is made alive in organizations.

That is why the word “living” is especially meaningful in the category´s title. The practices

aspect on the other hand describes the as descriptions about continuing ways of dealing with

management accounting information. The “big picture” was more about sense making,

whereas living practices related more on sense giving, making numbers and accounting

insight become alive in organizations. Narratives regarding this dealt with themes like

creating a common language about accounting issues in the organization, good practices on

financial communication inside the company, ways in which management accounting

information was dealt in management team meetings etc

“Good management accounting is constant attention on financial issues. One-

time cost cutting campaigns are effective as such, but it tends to go like with the

weight-loss diets. Once the diet period is over, the kilos start crawling back.

(Director)

3.2 Organizational development

Whereas the previous perspective was about the learning experiences, the second approach

was after the insight that the managers had regarding their current organization and work.

The respondents’ views on how to develop accounting in theirs organizations can be

described through the following themes.

Picture 2

Themes of the organizational development

Essential potential in organizational development was seen through raising the “financial

consciousness” of the organization. There was an explicit need to increase the interaction

around financial information. Moreover, many narratives reflected a need to produce a more

profound understanding about profitability issues in an organization. On one hand many of

the respondents were after more transparent and unambiguous financial communication

inside the company. This would mean sharing more management accounting information

with the personnel and putting financial issues more firmly on the agenda on different

meetings. On the other hand, many of the suggested initiatives on “financial consciousness”

had more profound goals. Instead of just distributing already established information, there

was also a need of building more comprehensive financial mindset for managers, experts and

other personnel in the organization.

1

FINANCIAL

CONSCIOUSNESS

2

MANAGING WITH

A PROFITABILITY

MINDSET

3

GOOD

NUMBERS

4

CONTROLLER-

SHIP AND

ACCOUNTING

SYSTEMS

“My goal is that all the persons in my unit understand how their actions affect

our revenues and costs. I want to teach them financial thinking, because after

they learn that they are able to develop and guide their own actions by

themselves into a direction that affects our bottom line. (Director)

The second theme was “managing with a profitability mindset”. Whereas the previous theme

was a pursuit to increase the profit consciousness in the whole organization, “managing with

a profitability mindset” placed managerial actions into focus. This involved suggestions and

initiatives on how to intensify the profitability aspect in managerial work. The means related

to this were very diverse covering issues around focusing on the right things, designing

compensation systems and incentives, investing on certain activities, cutting unnecessary

costs etc. However it was noteworthy that largely these managing with profitability mindset

issues were future oriented and strategic by nature. There were some cost management

initiatives and aspects involved, but the main focus was on looking forward.

“Personally, I get the feeling of success when I can show that the implemented

actions, aimed to help us to reach our budget goals, are really effecting in

practice” (Director)

The third theme of organizational development was “good numbers”. There was a variety of

needs of producing relevant management accounting information in a form of different

analysis as well as different living practices on reporting and performance measurement. The

fourth theme was “controllership and accounting systems” which related to dealing with

accounting function within the organization. These development suggestions were connected

to both personal interaction (controllers) as well as the accounting systems. This fourth theme

wasn´t that pronounced but yet identifiable as a distinct theme in the data and quite practical

by nature.

3.3 Personal competence building

The third perspective of the essays was aimed to explore the key competencies of accounting

from managerial work point of view. It is intriguing to examine how practicing managers,

based on the real life career experience and managerial working positions they have, define

their most essential goals in management accounting learning. Picture 3 summarizes the

respondents views about the most relevant and actionable areas of competence development.

Picture 3

Themes of the Personal competence building

The first theme, sensemaking, was described in the data as the continuing need to see the big

financial picture of one´s organization’s operations. This demand to understand the

organizational logic through accounting was perhaps a bit surprisingly, very pronounced

regardless of the relatively long managerial experience (14 years on average) of the

respondents. There was a continuous pursuit to see the one’s own managerial context,

responsibilities and actions through financial lenses. And in this context, learning was

primarily seen as improving an individual’s thinking skills, as well as his/her personal and

organisational capabilities in becoming more astute in proceeding from plans to action.

”I see that manager´s accounting competence is a about overall understanding

about financial issues from botton up and from the top down. You should understand

which streams generate the business’s revenues and costs and how you can affect

those. Respectively, a manager should have an overall understanding about the

components of profitability of operations.” (Manager)

Where the sensemaking was mainly concentrated on looking at own organization and its

actions very closely, the second theme was one with a wider focus. This was more about the

ability to proactively understand the essential changes and effects relevant to one’s own

business. This theme is titled as “strategic financial foresight”. It was about reading macro-

economic trends and their potential impact, strategic agility and resilience, goal setting and

performance monitoring. Seeing what´s next is naturally a persistent desire for executives,

but in any case this “financial foresight” at strategic level was seen as an essential

competence development area.

1

SENSEMAKING

2

STRATEGIC

FINANCIAL

FORESIGHT

3

ACCOUNTING

KNOWLEDGE

4

SENSEGIVING

“What I hate the most are surprises. Surprises on your birthday or the pranks

made by kids are nice, but this business is our work that should be predictable”

Country (Manager)

The third theme of personal competence building was about “accounting knowledge”. This

finding is quite presumable, but nonetheless an important one. There was a need to learn

more about very basic fundamental accounting knowledge (interpretation of financial

statements etc) and also problem solving calculations (related for example to pricing,

customer profitability, comparison of different alternatives). The fourth theme of personal

competence development was “sensegiving”. These stories concentrated on how to bring

accounting and financial issues as part of working reality. How to present financial

information in a clear, inspiring and efficient way? There was also another crucial aspect

regarding sensegiving and competence building. How to get passionate about financial issues

personally? Strong positive feelings guide actions and strengthen the cognitive processes. If

you are really interested about something, you learn and actually perceive a richer image of

the issue.

“Based on my experience the increase in staff´s accounting competence lowers

the threshold between management and personnel when discussing about

financial issues. Working becomes more professional and you don´t have to make

financial decision only in a small group (for example management team).

Especially when the markets are low implementing cost cutting it is easier when

the personnel has learnt to read the financial signals the same way as the

management. The challenge about raising the competence level of the staff is in

the competence level of the manager himself. If you are uncertain about your own

knowhow on accounting, the threshold to teach others is too high. (Manager)

3.4 Managers and accounting, elaborating a framework

This paper´s aim is to seek more complete understanding about management accounting from

the perspective of managerial work. The following presents a framework summarizing the

practicing manager´s view on accounting. It pulls together the themes formed from the essay

texts and presents the “accounting word-view of a practicing manager” in four dimensions.

Picture 4 Managers and accounting

Big picture

It was the big picture that the respondents were after. The data indicates that in the minds of

practicing managers, this should be seen as an ongoing and even discursive process of

constructing and interpreting the organizations actions. is interesting from the perspective of

management accounting and organisations. It is not about taking for granted that

organisations work and things get forward as such, and then numbers are produced. In this

kind of simpler setting a manager would be merely reacting to the present reality, trying to

cope in different situations and trying to make sense of the numbers. However, what was

emphasized in this research´s data was also the continuing need to frame the big picture, to

see one self’s managerial area of responsibility and it´s development in terms of money.

The globalization of businesses and the accelerating pace of coming changes of the business

environment have increased the significance of competencies and practices related to this

field. This is noteworthy from the point of view of management accounting, which has

KNOWLEDGE BASE

ACCOUNTING

KNOWLEDGE

GOOD

NUMBERS

CONTROLLER-

SHIP AND

ACCOUNTING

SYSTEMS

BIG PICTURE

SENSE-

MAKING

STRATEGIC

FINANCIAL

FORESIGHT

BIG

PICTURE

ACTIONS

MANAGING WITH

A PROFITABILITY

MINDSET

ACTIONS AND

EXPERIENCES

MINDSET

SENSE-

GIVING

FINANCIAL

CONSCIOUSNESS

LIVING

PRACTISES

traditionally been mainly concentrated of producing relevant analysis based on the things

already happened. This research points to a way that practicing executive´s understanding of

this big picture includes not only dynamically reacting to present challenges presented in

terms of accounting information, but in addition to that calls for an accounting supported

approach with an anticipatory foresight. These results point to the way in which Neely and Al

Najjar (2006) and Hall (2011) emphasize in the context of performance measurement when

they talk about learning and mental model development in designing management accounting

practices. Such a need seems to exist in executive´s thinking.

Mindset

Another essential area was the pursuit to make management accounting alive in

organizations. Whereas the big picture was about manager´s own understanding about the

whole context of managing, organization and accounting, the dimension of “mindset” is

related to the whole organization´s understanding and practices of accounting. This need to

build financial consciousness and living practices can be also examined as an organizational

development and leadership initiative. There needs be a reason why experienced managers

see the potential in this. Building financial consciousness into the organization often means

quite big commitment in terms of time and effort. So why should you allocate resources into

this kind of activity? One reason seems to be founded on the tendency towards leadership

instead of management. More flexible and lower hierarchical organizations of today are

managed more through shared values, meanings and mindsets co-created in interaction

instead of rules and routines. Organizations are not only top-down, but instead there exists

more interactional need to jointly build the comprehension about the key aspect´s connected

to the organization’s financial performance.

Järvenpää (2007) writes that there is a challenge for management accounting to promote

strategic intent and commitment and organizational profit consciousness. This corresponds

with the findings of this paper. Many respondents’ narratives were around the question of

how could strategic management accounting be seen as a learning device? Not just giving the

right numerical answers but to build a profitability kind of strategic mindset at place. From

practicing manager´s point of view, the main challenge is not only on producing the right

numbers, but instead on how to incorporate the accounting information with organizational

activities and managerial practices in a most productive way.

This aspect of building the “organizational mindset” is also connected to the proposition

presented by Hall (2010) in which he claims that the relevance of accounting information is

determined by how managers use the information in verbal discussions. Jørgensen and

Messner (2010) also observed studying management accounting and strategizing that not

only the content of strategic ideas but the ways in which it is mobilized determines the

usefulness of management accounting information. Another study by Skærbæk (2010) also

emphasizes the role of accounting devices in a strategic setting. This sensegiving seems to be

wider issue rather than presenting the accounting knowledge as fixed and pre-determined.

Also the motivational aspect was mentioned in the essays, how to present the financial

information in an engaging way? Rowe, Shields and Birnberg (2012) call the social process

of making accounting information more persuasive “hardening soft accounting information”.

They approach the issue as games for planning an organizational change, but the issue is very

relevant also from this paper´s perspective. Sensegiving rose as an essential goal from the

managers to develop themselves to be more astute and convincing in financial

communications.

This really comes back to the issue presented by Jönsson (1998) about aligning management

accounting research to managerial work. He points out that one consequence of this kind of

research orientation would be focusing more on communication and assuming that

management accounting information comes to be used in various communicative contexts,

not directly in decision making models. Communication is more complex issue than sending

and receiving information as such, but instead it plays a crucial role in constructing social

practices. Management accounting information and how it is delivered and processed is at the

same time shaping and forming the organizational reality. Also Bryer´s (2011) concept which

sees accounting as learnt social practices through which individuals shape their

understandings connects to this discussion.

Knowledge base

I order to build and continually further develop the manager´s own understanding about the

big picture and the organizational mindset, a solid foundation is needed. Appropriate

production of relevant accounting information, sufficient management accounting

competencies of a manager, and a fluent business-focused cooperation with organization´s

accounting professionals organization form the “knowledge base” of accounting for a

practicing manager. This area is probably the one in which management accounting research

and accounting professionals are the most ready to contribute.

Actions

What management finally comes pretty much down to are actions. Manager´s understanding

about the big picture, organizations shared proper mindset and good numbers form still an

incomplete set without the relevant aspect of actions in managerial work. Respondents´

descriptions about different actions and experiences as well as the theme of managing with a

profitability mindset close the circle regarding this research´s aim on how to strengthen the

essence of accounting in managerial work. A practicing manager sees accounting not as a

separate thing but instead optimally as a cohesive part of acting as a manager.

The previous point is connected to a noteworthy angle to the issue by Chua. Chua (2007)

states that accounting in action approach not only might help us to identify what approaches

work, but also in addition that what “working” in a situated activity indeed means? In

principle different kinds of accounting methods and frameworks can be seen more or less

suitable for different strategic settings. But what actually does it mean that they are working?

Is it that accounting methods are in place and the decision is at least officially argued,

supported and documented by these calculations? Are they really “working” if the decision

maker is not actively engaged with those frameworks in the very moment when he is

strategizing? Is legitimizing the decisions enough to consider management accounting as

“working”? This research indicates that developing management accounting practices to be

more heavily involved in managerial actions would strengthen the essence of accounting in

managerial work.

The results of this study are in overall not so much concentrated on numbers. Also the

“actions” aspect emphasizes the managerial actions itself, not actually the numbers that

would help to take action. However the use of accounting information and numbers in

leadership positions is far from being an insignificant thing. Management, leadership and

management accounting systems seem to be interrelated in many meaningful ways.

Abernethy (2004) states that formal authority of a manager has an impact on how he/she uses

the accounting information. Also leadership styles have been shown to affect the use of

management accounting systems (Abernethy, Bouwens, Van Lent 2010) and perhaps also the

information receivers´ reaction to management accounting change (Jansen 2010). Perhaps

most important point from this paper´s point of view is to realize that using numbers can be

considered as a privilege for management and moreover: “Collective expectations regarding

the use of numbers institutionalize and specify numbers as social resources” (Vollmer 2007).

Through the use of accounting information and numbers, situated activity (managerial

actions) gains significance through time.

4 DISCUSSION

The purpose of this research was to approach the topic of managers and accounting through

experiences, opinions, reflections and visions of practicing managers. The paper describes

manager´s understanding of accounting which was ultimately described in the form of four-

dimensional framework (picture 4). The findings and conclusions of this research are still

under development in order to seek their final form. However at this point it is evident that

this research contribution has implications to many aspects of management accounting. The

developed framework describing the accounting world of a practicing manager offers a

comprehensive view on accounting which challenges and offers potential for development in

many aspects of accounting. The following decribes the implications and meaning of this

research to some areas of accounting education, research and practice

Management education

The results have implications on management education. Quite often in the accounting

literature the educational approaches for practicing managers are emphasized less than

educating the accounting professionals. When educating accountants, the production of

numbers is one key emphasis. On the other hand, from management work perspective, it is

the other kind of things that would require more attention. The “knowledge base” was only

one of the four key areas in practicing managers´ view on accounting. Frameworks and

practices managers´ value and use come from somewhere and it makes a difference what you

mindset as a manager is related to accounting. People tend to “value what they own”,

meaning that managers who are for example committed to a particular cost management

system become overconfident and change resistant regarding the system (Jermias 2006). So it

really makes a difference what is to be learned, what mindsets and frameworks are adopted

etc. Management education is a crucial way in paving the way perhaps for career-lasting

choices in management frameworks and models. The results of this research may be used in

order to design a management accounting education curriculum better tailored to practicing

managers.

The results of this research shed some light into learned-centered approach in accounting

education for managers. The learners aim should be in understanding management

accounting techniques in their own organization’s context, not as general methods. Practical

management accounting education for executives should emphasize the practicality in a way

that is really rooted in their everyday work, not practical only in a way that the learners

simulate decision making situations in some other context than their own. A true management

accounting learning mindset for practicing manager is about building on a person’s previous

knowledge and experience. In fact, more than that, it is about challenging the manager’s own

thinking and mindset, reflecting on one’s own experiences against the backdrop of state-of-

the art management accounting frameworks and case examples.

Accounting profession

This paper holds important messages for management accounting profession. First of all it is

worth noticing that management accountants are more or less missing from the narratives.

Their presence is weak in learning experiences, organizational development and competence

building. The research setting has probably affected to this and sure accountants exist in the

background but is should be if not alarming, at least very much worth noticing that

accounting professional do not rise specifically into spotlight in these stories. Actually quite

contrary for example in organizational development the themes of profitability consciousness

and managing with an accounting mindset are more attached to management than accounting

activities and the need of good numbers does not explicitly underline that they should be

produced by management accountants. This research corresponds to claims presented by

Burns, Hopper and Yazdifar (2004) when they argued that longetivity of the role of

management accountant should not be taken for granted. Management accountants are facing

a challenge of making an impact in the world of a practicing manager. However, the potential

drift towards more business oriented, influential and active role for accounting professionals

is not unambiguous effort. Producing management accounting information that penetrates

into practice in a focused way can also be seen as provocative and intrusive by nature (Vaivio

2004).

From accounting profession point of view, it is also quite surprising that different initiatives

regarded as strategic management accounting -methods were not more pronounced than this.

One could expect for example that when managers are offered a possibility to present their

visions and views about how to develop management accounting, more suggestions would be

presented related to SMA practices. This research links to Langfield-Smith (2008) who has

presented concerns about the low level adoption and interest towards SMA. Nixon and Burns

(2012) continue the criticism by stating that there is a contradiction between the decline of

SMA and the growth in the number of concepts and frameworks in strategic management

domain. They argue that SMA literature has neglected and has not addressed several

developments in strategic management literature. This research at hand connects to this

discussion by bringing forward that managerial mindset on management accounting is not

merely a collection of ways for counting euros, but instead a more multi-dimensional way of

looking at organizations, about people´s actions and interaction.

“Good management accounting is about taking care of the company´s competitive

advantage” (Director)

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