ABSTRACT
Now is an opportune time to appraise the state of management accounting research. Some important aspects of the technical practice of the subject are in the process of being re-examined by practitioners and, for somewhat different reasons, research perspectives are also starting to be questioned and slowly changed. A body of knowledge that until recently seemed adequate is now entering into a period of flux. The taken-for-granted is starting to be seen as more problematic; organizational assumptions, linkages and consequences that for long have remained implicit in the design and functioning of management accounting systems are now being made explicit; and, as a result, a very different array of questions are being asked of both management accounting concepts and practice.
