Strategic management accounting techniques examined in the literature
| SMA practice | Strategic orientation |
|---|---|
| Activity-based techniques (ABT) | The strategic focus of these techniques is to support the management of activities, enabling the identification of actions that can achieve a competitive advantage |
| Benchmarking (BHM) | Benchmarking emphasizes a strategic orientation that is externally focused, particularly toward understanding and assessing best practices to achieve continuous improvement |
| Brand valuation (brand) | This technique includes the financial valuation of a brand through the assessment of several factors |
| Competitor cost assessment (CCA) | Regularly giving updated estimates of a competitor’s cost structure and unit cost based on different external sources |
| Competitor performance appraisal (CPA) | The quantitative evaluation of a competitor’s publicly available financial reports to identify their primary sources of competitive advantage |
| Competitive position monitoring (CPM) | The analysis of competitor positions within the industry by assessing and monitoring information encompassing aspects such as sales, market share and both volume and unit costs |
| Customer analysis (CA) | It involves a range of practices focused on assessing profits, sales or costs linked to distinct customers or segments to understand and improve customer profitability |
| Accounting to customers (A2C) | Approach where companies report directly to customers, treating them as key stakeholders and providing relevant information |
| Environmental cost management (ECM) | Centers on the impact of the firm on the environment and the costs associated with it |
| Human resource management (HRM) techniques | Aligning HRM processes with business strategies for a sustainable competitive advantage involves scanning both internal and external environments |
| Integrated performance measurement (IPM) | The consideration of both financial and nonfinancial measures defines an integrated performance measurement system |
| Interorganizational (IOR) SMA techniques | Techniques that allow to capture both the direct effects of a company’s decisions on itself and its relationships, as well as the indirect benefits for third parties |
| Life cycle costing (LCC) | Considers the entire product lifecycle, including postsale, indicating a long-term strategic approach |
| Quality costing (QC) | Addresses the implications of quality on customers and emphasizes the prevention of quality issues |
| Target costing (TC) | Focuses on aligning product pricing based on market willingness to pay |
| Value chain analysis (VCA) | Aims to understand the value creation process from product design to customer delivery |
| Value-based and residual income Measures (e.g. EVA®) | Encourages management to make decisions that avoid short-term profits at the expense of capital efficiency, reflecting a long-term perspective |
| SMA practice | Strategic orientation |
|---|---|
| Activity-based techniques (ABT) | The strategic focus of these techniques is to support the management of activities, enabling the identification of actions that can achieve a competitive advantage |
| Benchmarking (BHM) | Benchmarking emphasizes a strategic orientation that is externally focused, particularly toward understanding and assessing best practices to achieve continuous improvement |
| Brand valuation (brand) | This technique includes the financial valuation of a brand through the assessment of several factors |
| Competitor cost assessment (CCA) | Regularly giving updated estimates of a competitor’s cost structure and unit cost based on different external sources |
| Competitor performance appraisal (CPA) | The quantitative evaluation of a competitor’s publicly available financial reports to identify their primary sources of competitive advantage |
| Competitive position monitoring (CPM) | The analysis of competitor positions within the industry by assessing and monitoring information encompassing aspects such as sales, market share and both volume and unit costs |
| Customer analysis (CA) | It involves a range of practices focused on assessing profits, sales or costs linked to distinct customers or segments to understand and improve customer profitability |
| Accounting to customers (A2C) | Approach where companies report directly to customers, treating them as key stakeholders and providing relevant information |
| Environmental cost management (ECM) | Centers on the impact of the firm on the environment and the costs associated with it |
| Human resource management (HRM) techniques | Aligning HRM processes with business strategies for a sustainable competitive advantage involves scanning both internal and external environments |
| Integrated performance measurement (IPM) | The consideration of both financial and nonfinancial measures defines an integrated performance measurement system |
| Interorganizational (IOR) SMA techniques | Techniques that allow to capture both the direct effects of a company’s decisions on itself and its relationships, as well as the indirect benefits for third parties |
| Life cycle costing (LCC) | Considers the entire product lifecycle, including postsale, indicating a long-term strategic approach |
| Quality costing (QC) | Addresses the implications of quality on customers and emphasizes the prevention of quality issues |
| Target costing (TC) | Focuses on aligning product pricing based on market willingness to pay |
| Value chain analysis (VCA) | Aims to understand the value creation process from product design to customer delivery |
| Value-based and residual income | Encourages management to make decisions that avoid short-term profits at the expense of capital efficiency, reflecting a long-term perspective |
Notes:
The selection and explanation of strategic orientation of SMA techniques are based on: Ananthram et al. (2013), Cadez and Guilding (2008), Carlsson-Wall et al. (2015), Cescon et al. (2019), Cinquini and Tenucci (2010), Cravens and Guilding (2001), Guilding et al. (2000), Hadid and Al-Sayed (2021), Pasch (2019), Pavlatos and Kostakis (2018), Vedd and Kouhy (2001), Roslender et al. (2024)
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