It is a Small World of Management Accounting Practices

Abstract

We argue that there currently is a global tendency for management accounting system designs and general ideas to converge. After offering examples of such homogenization, the drivers of this development are distinguished and analyzed. For this end a framework was developed including both economic and institutional perspectives. The basic explanation for the claimed tendency to converge appears to be that the drivers of convergence have started to dominate those of divergence. It also is argued that firms probably do not intend to gain unique competitive advantage through their management accounting systems, but instead intend to use them to improve their operational, not strategic, effectiveness.

JEL Classification: M40, M46