Management Accounting in the Modern Production Environment: Is it Good Enough?

British industry is dominated by accountants of one kind or another. However, it is argued, the writing is on the wall. The gradual erosion of the efficacy of management accounting systems has largely been a result of the blurring of an initially, historically clear demarcation between control and stewardship accounting. This decline is charted and ways of overcoming the barriers presented by the dominant “Financial Culture” within many organisations are proposed. It is claimed that cost systems serving multiple purposes are now possible and desirable so that finance managers can adopt the new technology to the rapidly changing requirements of the new manufacturing and distribution environments.