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The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the origins of strategic management accounting and to assess the extent of adoption and “success” of strategic management accounting (SMA).

Empirical papers which have directly researched SMA and prior review papers of the adoption and implementation of SMA or SMA techniques are reviewed. As well as assessing the extent of adoption of SMA and the reasons underlying an apparent low adoption rate, the role of accountants in adopting and implementing SMA is considered. Finally, the success or otherwise of SMA is discussed.

SMA or SMA techniques have not been adopted widely, nor is the term SMA widely understood or used. However, aspects of SMA have had an impact, influencing the thinking and language of business, and the way in which we undertake various business processes. These issues cut across the wider domain of management, and are not just the province of management accountants.

There is limited value in conducting future surveys of the adoption and implementation of SMA or SMA techniques. Rather, the focus should be on how SMA‐inspired techniques and processes diffuse into general practice within organizations.

Twenty‐five years after the term strategic management accounting was first introduced in the literature, this paper brings together disparate literature and provides a broad assessment of the “state‐of‐the‐art” of strategic management accounting to inform researchers and practitioners.

The Brunswik Lens Model is presented as a framework in which to analyse the property appraisal function. Relationships between observable characteristics of real estate, valuer‐predicted appraisals and actual sales price are explored. Attention focuses through the Lens on the development of computer‐assisted valuation models of residential property. It is shown that statistical deftness must be combined with an appreciation of cognitive processes in order to develop an efficient environmentally‐based valuation model.

This editorial seeks to reflect on seven contributions to this AAAJ special issue and on the interdisciplinary accounting, auditing and accountability movement and its future directions. The seven papers were invited plenary contributions to the APIRA 2007 conference, which in part served to celebrate 20 years of AAAJ. The important role of academic researchers is highlighted in not simply observing, but also in engaging in and constructing an enabling accounting. The contribution of scholarly research to knowledgeable debates about an enabling accounting for society and the sustainability of the planet is discussed.

The paper employs a literature‐based analysis and critique. The paper is primarily a discussion paper.

This editorial draws together the themes of papers in this AAAJ special issue, which point to the need for researchers to reflect on their motivation, use of theory and values to ensure that academic work is making a genuine contribution.

The practical and research issues explored in this, and the other papers, in this special theme section, it is hoped, will invoke more critical perspectives on accountancy, assist scholars in theory development and application, and influence growth in reflective academic studies in this area.

This editorial discusses the contributions to this AAAJ special issue.

The purpose of this paper is to report the level of adoption and benefit obtained from a range of management accounting practices (MAPs) in Thai organizations and analyze to these by reference to various strategic typologies.

Contingency theory, proposing a fit between MAPs and a comprehensive set of strategic typologies is used. Factor analysis, cluster analysis, and Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA is applied to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.

It was observed that firms pursuing differentiation/prospector/entrepreneurial/build strategies significantly report higher benefit from contemporary MAPs. Firms with a cost leadership strategy were, as expected, found to obtain higher benefit from traditional MAPs. Contrary to expectations, entrepreneurial firms reported higher benefit from traditional MAPs than conservative firms.

Like all survey work this relies on questionnaire responses of individual organization members. A selection approach was adopted so no direct relationship with organization performance was investigated.

Although use of the full range of MAPs is reported there is still reliance on traditional MAPs. Hence further exposure of businesses and practitioners to contemporary techniques is recommended in training, professional development, and interactions with international partners.

The paper provides insight into MAPs in Thailand, an emerging economy and one with limited published academic research in management accounting. It incorporates four strategic typologies which previously have been mainly used individually in MA research.

The purpose of this study is to utilize a configuration approach to examine the relationships between multiple contingent variables and management control systems (MCS) in service organizations from various industries. The contingent variables include service process type, cost leadership and differentiation strategies, environmental unpredictability, change and complexity and organizational life cycle stage.

Questionnaires were administered to the financial controllers of service organizations operating in Australia. Cluster analysis is utilized to reveal the MCSs fit.

The data reveals that high-performing service organizations are those firms that place high emphasis on a differentiation strategy. The lower performers, on the other hand, are firms with a lack of emphasis on both cost leadership and differentiation strategies. Overall, the data demonstrates that strategic orientation plays an important role in high-performing organizations and the ability to incorporate various contingent situations determines the effectiveness of an organization.

The potentially broad framework offered in this study allows managers from various service industries to relate the variations in the combination of situations to those of their firms. The service managers’ experience with certain type of combinations can assist them to identify the strategic position of their respective organizations. Consequently, service managers can estimate the prospect for further development to enhance the firm performance.

This study offers a holistic view of the multiple and simultaneous relationships between contingent factors and MCS design in service organizations using a configuration approach. This paper contributes to the literature on organizational configurations in particular by studying the systematic nature of effective MCSs in service organizations when adapting to the contextual settings of the organizations.

This paper compares and contrasts practice-based perceptions of the research–practice gap in the United States (US) with those in Australia.

The current study extends the work of Tucker and Lowe (2014) by comparing and contrasting their Australian-based findings with evidence from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with senior representatives of 18 US state and national professional accounting associations.

The extent to which academic research informs practice is perceived to be limited, despite the potential for academic research findings to make a significant contribution to management accounting practice. We find similarities as well as differences in the major obstacles to closer engagement in the US and Australia. This comparison, however, leads us to offer a more fundamental explanation of the divide between academic research and practice framed in terms of the relative benefits and costs of academics engaging with practice.

Rather than following conventional approaches to ‘bridging the gap’ by identifying barriers to the adoption of research, we suggest that only after academics have adequate incentives to speak to practice can barriers to a more effective diffusion of their research findings be surmounted.

This study makes three novel contributions to the “relevance literature” in management accounting. First, it adopts a distinct theoretical vantage point to organize, analyze, and interpret empirical evidence. Second, it captures practice-based views about the nature and extent of the divide between research and practice. Third, it provides a foundational assessment of the generalizability of the gap by examining perceptions of it across two different geographic contexts.

This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP) managers.

This investigation is based on data collected from semi-structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs.

Although performance has a considerable influence on the subsequent use of control, the findings point to a broad conceptualisation of performance as it is perceived to apply within a NFP context. Moreover, the roles of formal management control systems and informal control are quite distinct, with the latter predominating in responding to prior performance.

Despite recognition in the management accounting literature of the likely influence of organizational performance in previous periods on control, empirical studies investigating organizational performance as an antecedent to the use of control have been surprisingly limited. The current study directly responds to this gap in our knowledge, and also, to prior calls for the need for more management control research into the NFP sector. This contribution is important in view of the considerable economic and social impact of this sector in most Western economies, coupled with the increasing recognition of the importance of both performance and control within this sector.

This editorial seeks to argue for intellectual pluralism and adventurous enquiry in an era of status badging of publication venues and institutions and to review AAAJ's role, strategies and international recognition in this context.

The paper is an editorial review and argument.

The paper acknowledges pressures towards a North American inspired unitary neo‐classical economic view of the accounting world and related badging of higher education institutions and research publications globally. It identifies the community of accounting scholars including AAAJ with wider and more pluralist philosophies and research agendas.

The paper offers scope and associated recognition for researchers prepared to take up and address a wide array of theoretical perspectives and research issues of global significance.

The paper provides important empirical data and research network information to scholars in the interdisciplinary accounting field of research.