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Informed by upper echelons theory, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize the current knowledge on finance managers in family firms and to suggest valuable future research avenues.

The paper is organized as a theory-informed literature review. Based on a keyword search in electronic databases, 17 journal articles that deal with finance managers in family firms were identified. In light of upper echelons theory, the results of these articles were analyzed and future research needs were identified.

Overall, the current knowledge on finance managers in family firms is scant and fragmented. At the same time, this paper’s review findings indicate that finance managers can play decisive roles in family firms, which is why we need further research on their roles. Upper echelons theory is suggested in this paper as a theoretical framework that is well suited to guide such further research.

This is the first review of the academic literature on finance managers in family firms. Its main value lies in providing a theory-informed synthesis of current research on this topic and highlighting fruitful future research avenues.

This paper aims to identify specific challenges and opportunities when crafting literature reviews of qualitative accounting research. In addition, it offers potential remedies to frequent challenges when conducting such reviews.

This piece is based on recent methodological advice on conducting literature reviews and my own experience when conducting and publishing reviews that primarily cover qualitative accounting research.

The author chart three typical advantages and three typical use cases of literature reviews of qualitative accounting research, as well as the typical process steps and outputs of such reviews. Along with these process steps, The author identifies three overarching specific challenges when conducting such reviews and discusses potential remedies. Overall, this paper suggests that literature reviews of qualitative accounting research feature idiosyncratic challenges but offer specific opportunities at the same time.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to offer advice on the specific challenges and opportunities when conducting literature reviews of qualitative accounting research.

The enterprise risk management (ERM) approach promises to manage corporate risks holistically, as opposed to the silo perspective in traditional risk management frameworks. There is evidence that different economic and regulatory environments profoundly shape the implementation of ERM in different countries. To understand better the specific situation in Germany, this chapter presents an analysis on the current application, the regulatory environment, and the development over time of ERM in Germany. Finally, we highlight some important avenues for further research on ERM in Germany and beyond.

In recent years, numerous studies have investigated whether individual executives and their characteristics relate to financial reporting choices. In this article, we review archival, experimental and survey research on the influence of individual executives on corporate financial reporting and use upper echelons theory as our organizing framework. Our review of 60 studies shows that research consistently finds that top management executives exert significant influence on financial reporting decisions, particularly on disclosure quality. Empirical research has developed promising approaches to investigate executives' psychological attributes and character traits. The results of studies examining the influence of demographic characteristics of individual executives are, however, sometimes contradictory and ambiguous. Nevertheless, the overall empirical results we review are supportive of upper echelons predictions. Additional research in this field is needed to clarify the influence of unexamined upper echelon characteristics, important moderator variables, and adverse selection effects. We also suggest that future research more closely investigates the magnitudes of managerial influence and adopts a more holistic perspective on financial reporting outcomes.

Accountants are portrayed as important advisors of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, increasing numbers of SMEs now use software for their transactional and compliance-related accounting work. This latter work is considered to be the “entry ticket” for accountants serving in advisory roles. This study aims to examine whether the relevance of accountants as advisors to SMEs has been lost.

Drawing on the resource-based view and applying a qualitative cross-sectional field study, interviews with small businesses in the European craft brewing/distilling sector are the data source.

The study’s analysis paints a concerning picture of the use of external accountants by SMEs. While not suggesting that accountants are incapable of offering value-adding advice, the findings suggest that the involvement of potentially value-adding accountants by SMEs is rare. The interviewees note that they would not approach their accountants for advice due to the existence of more cost-attractive alternatives. The study finds that external accountants are not imperfectly imitable and can be substituted, particularly by social media and community groups.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the role of accountants in the craft brewing/distilling industry and one of the first to assess empirically the importance of accountants as advisors to SMEs with audit exemptions and to consider the increasing threat of substitution by software. The findings suggest that accountants have lost relevance as advisors to the businesses studied, or have never had much relevance.

This study aims to examine interactions between multiple management accounting routines in integrating a new management accounting routine into a routine cluster.

This study uses a theoretical framework based on routine clusters, including routine complementarities. The authors use an in-depth case study to explore interactions of a management accounting routine integrating into a routine cluster.

The findings show that complementarity between an existing and a new management accounting routine facilitates integration of the new routine into a routine cluster. They also suggest that when an ostensive understanding of a routine exists, the integration of the new management accounting routine is stronger, as the new and existing routines in the routine cluster are more closely intertwined.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to explore the role of intertwinedness of a new management accounting routine and existing organizational routines in integrating a new management accounting routine into a routine cluster. The findings imply that future management accounting research may need to distinguish between different forms of complementarity.

It is difficult to develop an overall picture of the practice of management accounting (MA) in farms and farm enterprises (FEs) because little research has been published on the topic, and these studies are mostly discrete and unconnected to the others. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the available research, develop an explanatory framework for MA practices in farming entities and identify some major avenues for future research on the topic.

This paper uses systematic literature review methods. After an extensive database search and an examination of references/citations, 41 empirical journal articles published between 1964 and 2016 are identified, described and analyzed in this research paper.

The findings reveal that the practice of MA in farms is subject to information problems and that the empirical research on this topic largely lacks a theoretical explanation. Therefore, the explanatory framework of MA practices in farming entities reveals that these practices are subject to influencing factors such as familism, government farm policies, market competition, technological changes, the seasons and the weather/climate.

The overall limited findings on the practice of MA in FEs indicate that caution should be taken when generalizing the current knowledge on the use of MA practices in other organizational forms to farming entities. Moreover, future research should draw on explicit theories to explain empirical results.

This paper is the first comprehensive literature review of studies on MA practices in farms and FEs.

Several conceptual works suggest that more digitalized information systems in management accounting have the potential to make this corporate function more effective. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the impact of information systems quality in management accounting on the effectiveness of management control systems. Additionally, this study examines the moderating effect of process automation.

A cross-sectional survey of 125 German Mittelstand firms and hierarchical regression analyses were used for data collection and analysis.

The findings confirm the assumed positive effect of information systems quality in management accounting on management control effectiveness. They also confirm the assumed moderating effect of process automation. The authors find that the relationship between information systems quality in management accounting and management control effectiveness is more pronounced if the firm features a higher degree of process automation.

Several earlier case studies and a few quantitative studies indicated the potentially positive effect of high-quality information systems in management accounting on management control effectiveness. To the best of the authors‘ knowledge, this study is among the first to deliver quantitative proof of this relationship in the context of German Mittelstand firms. Moreover, the authors add to this literature the moderating effect of process automation in the relationship between information systems quality in management accounting and management control effectiveness.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between characteristics of chief financial officers (CFOs) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adoption. Following upper echelons theory, the authors theorize that CFO age, education, tenure and recruitment influence ERP system adoption, and that this relationship is moderated by the CFO being responsible for firm-wide information technology (IT) functions.

The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 296 large and medium-sized Austrian firms. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between CFO characteristics and ERP system adoption.

The authors find that firms with externally recruited CFOs have adopted ERP systems significantly more often than firms with internally promoted CFOs. Surprisingly, the results indicate that firms with less educated CFOs more often adopted an ERP system, and that the relationship between CFO characteristics and ERP system adoption is not moderated by the CFO being responsible for IT.

This paper adds to the literature by corroborating case-based evidence that CFOs and their characteristics influence ERP system adoption. Extending previous research which indicates that CFO characteristics influence accounting practices, the authors show that CFO characteristics also influence technological innovation such as the adoption of ERP systems. Future research on technological innovation may therefore pay closer attention to the influence of CFOs.

This paper is the first to quantitatively test the influence of CFO characteristics on ERP system adoption.

Although the number of women working in management accounting has increased, the percentage of female executives in this area remains low. Previous studies examining the underrepresentation of women in accounting leadership positions have analyzed factors that hinder women from reaching these positions. The purpose of this paper, by contrast, is to identify factors that support the advancement of those female executives who have reached a leadership position. Further, this paper highlights the self-reported obstacles and difficulties faced by respondents in reaching their current positions.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with ten female executives in the management accounting departments of Austrian firms. The interview transcripts were analyzed by using the general inductive approach.

The results of the study show that most women classified their social skills and professional expertise as the key factors leading to their successful advancement; however, they also highlighted that ambition and luck played important roles. The authors found that support from both life partners and superiors was essential for these women in reaching their current positions and in handling difficulties when in a leadership position. Further difficulties include working time, work-life balance and motherhood.

As the findings are based on interviews conducted with female Austrian executives in large (more than 250 employees) manufacturing- or service-sector firms, they are not readily generalizable.

This study identifies factors that may help prospective female management accounting executives reach leadership positions. Furthermore, less senior female management accountants may learn from this paper that women who have already reached leadership positions in management accounting may have had to cope with problems similar to those that younger and less senior female management accountants currently experience.

This paper is among the first to address gender in the field of management accounting.