The Role of the Management Accountant: Local Variations and Global Influences

There is considerable national variation in the professionalization and status of the management accountant. Although researchers from different countries have contributed to our knowledge about tasks and roles, we have limited insights into the development, education, and socio-cultural influences in different countries and surprisingly little is known about the local and national contexts in which these roles are learned and performed.

This book bridges this research gap using two complementary perspectives. The first part explores management accountants in a range of different national contexts, providing information about country-specific historical developments and educational standards as well as specific roles and tasks. The second part focusses on important global developments that will increasingly impact management accountants in the future, such as sustainability, the financial crisis, technology and changing roles. By combining local context with a global overview, this insightful volume provides an agenda for future research which will be of great interest to scholars and advanced students in management accounting throughout the world.

Lukas Goretzki is currently an Assistant Professor of management control at the University of Innsbruck. His main research interests and publications (e.g. in European Accounting Review, Management Accounting Research or Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management) are on management accountants’ roles, budgeting, and performance evaluation.

Erik Strauss is a Professor of management accounting and control at the Witten/Herdecke University. His main research interests and publications are on the roles of management control systems, management accounting change, influence of technology on management accounting and management accountants.