Investigating the Expectation Gap Between the Education and Pracice of Management Accounting

Subject Areas : Business Management

RamazanAli Royaye ¹ , Heydar Mohammadzadeh Salteh ²

1 - Assistant Professor of Accounting, Science and Research Unit, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Accounting, Marand brabch, Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran.

Received: 2007-06-05 Accepted : 2007-11-28 Published : 2008-02-20

Keywords: Management Accounting Education, Expectation Gap, Management Accounting Practice,

Abstract :

The management accounting curriculum is a noteworthy topic that has been the focus of dispute over   the recent decades on how a common body of knowledge (CBK) for management accounting education should form and whether a gap exists between the theory and practice.   This paper aims, firstly,to identify if a gap exists between management accounting education and practice by evaluating the perceptions of academics and practitioners as to what is important in management accounting courses,and secondly,to cancass the skills that practitioners and academics consider important to bridge the gap. Thus,150 manufacturing companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange were randomly selected and finally 69 of them answered the  questionnaires.In addition, 25 questionnaires were sent to academics,  23 of whom answered the questionnaires.   The results show that practitioners placed an emphasis on traditional management accounting techniques,while academics placed an emphasis on contemporary techniques.Both groups were in agreement on the skills and characteristics required of recent graduates.Non-adoption of management accounting techniques does not mean that the modern techniques are irrelevant and inoperable.Academics who research barriers to the adoption of newer techniques should find forums for their results in practitioners'  journals or databases to share their findings with the practitioners.Co-operation between practitioners and academics would enable both groups.to co-ordinate and better understand why the “gap” exists,and ultimately to bridge the gap.

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