Purpose – This study investigates the interplay between strategic performance measurement and management accounting to gain a deeper understanding of how strategic measures of performance evolve with the managerial accounting practices. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study explored the performance measures used at a bank focused on the development and sustainability initiatives in Africa. Thirty-two semistructured interviews were conducted with directors, managers, and analysts from nine different categories of job families. Findings – Analysis shows that managers assimilate a comprehensive, multifaceted measurement system to understand the creation and delivery of sustainable value. The results show that the managerial accounting practices adapt to incorporate an integrated set of performance measures that afford sustainable value to the stakeholders. The findings provide rich insights into how the managers adapt their information assimilation practices to the changing demands of the different stakeholders and adopt practices which innovate measures of performance that are aligned to the strategic goals. Finally, the findings illustrate that the interplay between strategic performance and managerial accounting practices has the potential to improve or inhibit sustainable development. Originality/Value – Little is known about how performance measures evolve, and how they interplay with the managerial accounting practices within organizations. This study reveals that the interplay of strategic performance measurement and managerial accounting can only be understood in the confluence of organizational change and sustainability. While acknowledging the need to embrace change and sustainability simultaneously, the study offers insights into the dynamics of change – the duality of emergent managerial accounting practices and the evolution of strategic performance measurement systems.

INTRODUCTION

The role of managerial accountants as organizational actors in the creation and dissemination of information for the long-term, strategic planning is widely acknowledged in research and practice. While information generated from the recording of financial transactions are primarily used for reporting financial information to the stakeholders and regulators, data gathered from an organization’s operations, processes, and activities are compiled in the creation of analytical information for operational and process effectiveness. Growing use of such analytical information for planning and control in organizations led to the adoption of strategic cost management information for strategic performance management (Brands & Holtzblatt, 2015; Shank & Govindarajan, 1993). Despite the growing popularity of analytical data for strategic performance management in organizations, widespread adoption of a comprehensive performance management framework remains tentative. The interplay between strategic performance measurement and managerial accounting has been evolving not only with the managerial accounting practices but also with the dynamic organizational contexts within which these practices are situated (Greenley, 1994). Researchers have long argued that the use of managerial accounting information for the strategic management of performance is influenced by a combination of organizational, contextual, political, and environmental variables (Dent, 1991; Ezzamel, Lilley, & Willmott, 1997; Zenita, Sari, Anugerah, & Said, 2015). Some studies (e.g., Aranda & Arellano, 2010) claim that financial systems impede strategic performance that they do not provide information to improve competitiveness of firms in a globally connected world. However, Johnson (1989) argued that in order for a firm to understand profitability, it must understand the sources of its sustainable competitive advantage, such as quality, reliability, and flexibility. In essence, researchers conclude that more the alignment between management accounting practices adopted by an organization and its strategic objectives, the greater the organization’s business performance (e.g., Abdel Al & McLellan, 2013). As most measures of strategic performance are traditionally outside the domain of accounting practice, Shank (2006) argued that strategic management accounting (SMA) practices had to evolve in conjunction with the strategic priorities of an organization for sustainable competitive advantage. To further understand how the management accounting practices adapt in this strategic context, this study explores how strategic measures of performance evolve with the practices of managerial accounting within organizations.