Managing management accounting change: performance measurement implementation in a bookstore

Abstract

Management accounting supports a company’s decision-making in the short-term and the long-term by providing financial and statistical information about the organization. Changes in the organization’s operational environment can necessitate and trigger management accounting change. The management accounting change is perceived to be a complex process in which management and execution to achieve the desired outcome can be difficult. This matter is acknowledged in the literature of management accounting. Previous studies have addressed a need for a deeper review of management accounting change from a human perspective instead of a technical perspective which provides a fruitful path to expand the research of the field.

This thesis utilizes a case study method to explore the bookstore with the aim of examining how leadership efforts are driving management accounting change. The study uses a management accounting change model as the theoretical framework for mapping leadership efforts that drive management accounting change. To ensure diverse data collection the case study was conducted by interviewing several employees from different levels of the organization. In addition to interviews, the researcher used observation during the empirical data collection to support interviews and to better interpret the big picture.

The findings provide three leadership efforts that can drive management accounting change and its implementation. The three efforts are transparency, trust, and tolerance. Additionally, it seems that the efforts interrelate with each other what makes the studied phenomenon more complex. As conclusions, the study expands the used theoretical framework by adding the study’s findings to the model providing new content to the research of management accounting change and opens a path for more in-depth studies in the future.