MARKETING MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: A NOTE

The end of the 1980's has seen the effects of the active marketing of some “new products” which have resulted from management accounting research. This note examines issues raised by this innovation process and the implications for academics, practitioners and users of management accounting. One product of managerial accounting research will be examined in particular — activity based accounting (ABC). ABC is controversial and has been the subject of many academic, practitioner, management and newspaper publications in recent years (for example: Johnson and Kaplan (1987), Brimson (1986), Porter and Akers (1987)). To set the background to this note some of the main features of the innovation process will be outlined.