Management Accounting Relevance: Practice, Variance and Current Research Agenda

This paper aims to discuss the relevance of management accounting by considering the practice variance and current research agenda. It also aims to review the relevant literature on management accounting and its alternative perspectives. It provides a comprehensive basis for the research of management accounting change conducted in terms of theories used, influential factors, systems applied, dynamics and aspects of change. This paper helps to understand the concerns of current mainstream in management accounting literature and the importance of this subject. It introduces a comprehensive view about the relevance of institutional theory in the management accounting literature. By reviewing a subset of the accounting literature published during the period 1980 - 2015, this paper updates accounting literature with a focus on management accounting research. The study contributes to the existing accounting literature by presenting the discussions of management accounting change and alternative perspectives. It also explains the possible application of different theoretical perspectives in the management accounting.