Management accounting innovations in a time of economic crisis

Abstract

Although there have been several callings, research in Management Accounting has given very few or even no guidelines as regards the way enterprises can handle the economic crisis in their everyday operations (e.g. Hopwood, 2009). Zawawi and Hoque (2010) argue that the new economic environment forces enterprises to adopt Management Accounting Innovations- MAIs. The purpose of this study is to cover the gap in the literature about the effect of the economic crisis on the adoption and the extent of use of ΜΑΙs. For this reason, a quantitative research with the use of questionnaires was carried out. Data analysis showed that those business units that have been most affected by the economic crisis tend to adopt more and use MAIs more extensively than those companies that have been less affected by it. Management Accounting Innovations provide broader and better information to handle the uncertainty that the economic crisis has created.