Analytical Review of the Current and Future Directions of Management Accounting and Control Systems

Management accounting and control system practices have changed dramatically throughout the last 200 years. All these changes were in response to rapid technological developments, environmental complexity, changes in organizational structures, managerial style, and many different changes that have emerged throughout the years. The main purpose of this paper is to synthesize the relevant literature to identify the current and future directions of management accounting and control systems practices. This was carried out by following an analytical approach, with the intention of reviewing the literature by emphasizing the developments of management accounting and control system practices throughout the twentieth and twenty- first centuries. Consequently, a conceptual framework that portray the current practices of management accounting was developed. As a result, insights for the future directions of this discipline were indicated. The findings of this study showed that the role and scope of management accounting has changed from cost determination, to creation of value to customers. Thus, the different modern techniques that have emerged in response to the needs of contemporary organizations are described. Furthermore, it articulated that today managerial accountants no longer use a historical view of strategy and operations, but look to predict what the market will do in the future. Consequently, it is anticipated that even the role, education, and practices of management accountants will continue to change in the future. Moving from scorekeeping, determining and allocating costs, to developing their predictive, prescriptive analytical skills. Therefore, it is recommended that more emphasis needs to be placed in developing their personal and technical skills, to obtain a better understanding of contemporary management accounting methods for better support of managerial decision- making.