Strategic Choices, Environmental Uncertainty and SBU Performance: A Note on the Intervening Role of Management Accounting Systems

Abstract

This paper examines the role of management accounting systems (MAS) design on the relationship between: (1) strategic business unit (SBU) strategy and SBU performance and (2) perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) on SBU performance. MAS design was defined in terms of the extent to which managers use broad scope MAS information for managerial decision making. The responses of 62 SBU managers, drawn from a crosssection of manufacturing companies in Western Australia, to a questionnaire survey were analysed by using a path analysis. The results suggest that SBU strategy and PEU are important antecedents of MAS design, and that broad scope MAS information is an important antecedent of SBU performance.

Contingency Factors of Management Accounting Practices in Thailand: A Selection Approach

“…In line with expectations, firms operating in higher PEU obtain higher benefit from contemporary MAPs (strategic management accounting and contemporary performance measures) than those operating in lower PEU. This is in line with the findings from previous research of Chenhall & Morris (1986), Gul & Chia (1994), Chong & Chong (1997), Agbejule (2005), and Abdel-Kader & Luther Table 6 Results of Kruskal-Wallis One-way ANOVA (Industry) Values in cells of pairwise comparisons are absolute actual differences while the values in parenthesis are critical differences.…”

“…Many researchers examined the effect of PEU on the design of management accounting systems, and found that PEU has been associated with the usefulness of broad scope information. More specifically, additional information should be provided for managers facing high uncertainty in order to improve their decisions and firms' performance (Chenhall & Morris, 1986;Chong & Chong, 1997;Gordon & Narayanon, 1984;Gul & Chia, 1994). In other research, the moderator effect of PEU on the relationship between the use of management accounting system and managerial performance has been explored.…”

Management control systems in innovation companies: a literature based framework

“…Environmental uncertainty is acknowledged to be one of the key contingency factors in MCS research (Chapman 1997;Chenhall 2003). For example, as Chong and Chong (1997) In order to operationalize environmental uncertainty, the measure of Govindarajan (1984) has been selected; containing one question for the respondent's perceived environmental uncertainty concerning eight different environmental influences. The measure is chosen due to its respondent-friendly structure and compactness compared to other measures such as in Miles and Snow (1978, p. 200) and Khandwalla (1972Khandwalla ( , 1977.…”

La incertidumbre percibida del entorno y el apoyo de la alta dirección en la implementación del Cuadro de Mando Integral

“…incertidumbre percibida del entorno y sugieren técnicas e instrumentos contables más apropiados cuando el entorno competitivo es incierto (Duncan, 1972;Hofer, 1975;Hayes, 1977;Gordon & Narayanan, 1984;Govindarajan, 1984;Chenhall & Morris, 1986;Gul, 1991;Gul & Chia, 1994;Fisher, 1995;Chong, 1996;Chong & Chong, 1997;Chapman, 1997;Kasurinen, 2002;Chenhall, 2003;Fuentes, 2003;Wenisch, 2004;Banker et al, 2004;Hoque, 2004Hoque, , 2005Agbejule, 2005;Jusoh, 2008;Hendricks et al, 2012;Jacomossi & Silva, 2016).…”