Accounting for Managers: Interpreting accounting information for decision-making

Managerial Accounting Research:

theories.......................................... research: The contributions of organizational and sociological

and Sociological Theories

Mark A. Covaleski

University of Wisconsin – Madison

Mark W. Dirsmith

Pennsylvania State University

Sajay Samuel

Bucknell University

Abstract

Organizational and sociological theories explicitly recognize the centrality of issues

of social control and coordination in organizations, thus providing intellectual

approaches from which to study managerial accounting as important aspects of

the manner in which organizations and society function. This paper examines var-

ious organizational and sociological perspectives which have provided meaningful

contributions to our understanding of managerial accounting. The credibility of both

the theoretical and methodological traditions which typically underpin these alter-

native organizational and sociological perspectives is then discussed. Finally, this

paper considers the unique insights which organizational and sociological theories

offer in contrast to more traditional managerial accounting research perspectives

for understanding the multiple roles of management accounting in contemporary

organizations.

Managerial accounting research, which has adapted organizational or sociological
theories to examine the development, maintenance and change in managerial
accounting practices, explicitly recognizes the centrality of issues of social con-
trol and coordination in organizations, thus providing intellectual approaches
from which to study managerial accounting as problematic aspects of the orga-
nizational and social context. The purpose of our paper is to provide a critique

We wish to thank Anthony Hopwood (Oxford University), John Meyer (Stanford University), Mike
Shields (University of Memphis), and S. Mark Young (University of Southern California) for their many
useful suggestions.