This study examines the relationship between strategic choices and the use of strategic management accounting (SMA) techniques in large manufacturing companies and investigates whether external factors such as environmental uncertainty and competitive forces afect the SMA system. The survey results show that SMA usage does not depend on strategy type and only marginally depends on geographic orientation. These fndings have been integrated using qualitative data collected in seven large companies through interviews. Although signifcant progress has been made over the last two decades in describing SMA practices in Europe, the contribution of this study to the accounting (SMA) literature involves both the research content and design. Having identifed gaps in previous SMA research, we design a study focused on large manufacturing frms that considers diferent hypotheses and adopts a mixed method approach.

Introduction

This study examines the relationship between strategic choices and the use of strategic management accounting (SMA) techniques in large manufacturing companies and investigates whether external factors such as environmental uncertainty and competitive forces afect the SMA system. It provides feld-based evidence by employing a mixed-method approach that combines survey and exploratory interviews of a subset of respondents in corporate fnancial and accounting departments. To respond to the challenges of global competition, companies express strategic purposes and identify their strategy. The complexity of business strategy presents challenges for managers tasked with evaluating strategic activities, which is crucial to defning competitive scope and competitive advantage. Many scholars argue that conventional (or traditional) management accounting (MA) does not provide enough information to support strategic decisions (Lord 2007). Whereas strategic processes consider plans and the possible actions of competitors, management accounting supports strategic decisions by providing managers with internal fnancial and non-fnancial information and with fnancial and non-fnancial information on the environment and on a frm’s competitors. As suggested by Johnson et al. (2014: 445), “Structure is a key ingredient of organising for success. But structures can only work if they are supported by formal and informal organizational systems”. SMA, as a type of organizational system, provides information that aids strategic decision-making processes. The focus of a strategic perspective on management accounting (SMA) is to align accounting and strategy. In contrast with traditional MA, SMA techniques embody an outward-looking and forward-looking orientation. They tend to comprise multiple periods and are proactive in all stages of strategic decisions (see Wilson 1995). The motivation for the present research is to provide a broad assessment of the current usage of SMA techniques to support strategic choices, such as strategy type and geographic orientation, through a survey. Through qualitative interviews, the study also aims to interpret corporate accountants’ perception of strategic costing and competitor accounting as primary SMA technique categories to support strategic choices in seven large companies.