Societal Role Expectations of Management Accounting Professionals: An Australian Study

This paper seeks to advance the understanding of the relevance of management accounting (MA) as a profession by examining societal role expectations of MA professionals in Australia.

The study presented in this paper is based on a questionnaire survey.

Findings of the study show that Australian MA professionals are expected to have skills in cost management, corporate social responsibility, carbon accounting, risk management, business analysis, corporate governance, and asset valuations. The demand of MA professionals exceeded the pool of MA talents in Australia. The role expectations of MA professionals from different stakeholder groups are fairly consistent.

The study adds to the immigration institution discussion by demonstrating that there are inadequate professionals in Australia with the skills and experience in MA to meet the projected demand. Australia has very little option but to fill the supply-side shortfall in the short-term with overseas MA professionals.

The study adds to the literature of the societal relevance of MA by providing evidence of an increasing demand for MA skills in Australia.