The course consists of three parts, each representing an important stream of research in management accounting and control.
Part 1: Cost concepts, costing systems and controversies
This part of the course begins by exploring in detail definitions of several central cost concepts for decision making such as incremental cost, opportunity cost, and cross-subsidization. Furthermore, some controversies about definitions of these concepts are discussed. The cost concepts are then positioned in the larger setting of a sophisticated costing system. We examine resource granularity and how it may be applied to integrate opportunity cost into a costing system. Part 1 concludes with a review of the Marginalist controversy or Reality gap from a management accounting perspective.
Part 2: Management accounting innovations: technical aspects and diffusion
This part of the course starts with a revision of costing traditions and practices, conceptual modeling of costing systems, and the design and use of costing systems in different settings. It then proceeds by examining the important issue of diffusion of new management accounting techniques. How and why do management accounting techniques spread across organizations? We also address specific management accounting techniques, such as the use of non-financial measures in Balanced scorecards. Finally, recent developments in management accounting, including the criticism of budgets (Beyond budgeting) are discussed.
Part 3: Contingency theory, control packages, and corporate governance
In this part, management accounting and control is positioned in a broader context. Firstly, we address the field of corporate governance and its relationship to management control systems and models. Secondly, contingency studies are used to explain how external and internal factors in the environment impact on the design and use of management control systems. Such factors include for example size, industry, environmental uncertainty, technology and firm performance. We also examine a more recent development within contingency theory: control configurations. A firm consists of a variety of management control practices that are characterized by both complementarity and subsitutability. They form distinct control systems and control packages, which we are interested to examine further.