The dimensions of, and factors giving rise to, variations in national management accounting approaches

During the 1990s studies of management accounting practices in Europe and in Latin America have given us data on 23 countries. In this paper we use these data to identify five distinct aspects of national management accounting culture: the influence of regulations on official recommendations; the source of management accountants; influence from one country to another; variations in use of specific techniques; and variations in the objectives of the management accounting system. We then identify nine factors which account for national variations in the management accounting environment, being: taxation, price controls, protection and competition, academics, ownership of the firm, bonus schemes, inflation, the extent of manipulation, and ideology.