Management Accounting Practices in Spain

Abstract

Until the 1980’s Management Accounting, M.A., has had a limited importance in the management of the Spanish companies. One of the more accepted explanations in the research communities for the expansion has been the contingency theory. The aim of the study is to highlight that the new importance of M.A. in Spain is not only a consequence of a growing competitive environment, but rather is closely connected to the characteristics of the social and organizational contexts of the Spanish enterprises and, particularly, to the changes experienced during the last decades. In order to accomplish the mentioned purpose, the study unites a subjective with an intersubjective approach, conducting interviews and observation in addition to a questionnaire. In this respect the study contrasts the findings from the case study with the data derived from several secondary sources. M.A. is a vast area, in order to study its elements this study had to depict and carefully interpret its denotations. The study finds out an increasing openness tendency of M.A. in Spain to the influences coming from the social and organizational contexts.