The Changing Role of the Management Accountant

The term, ‘bean counter,’ has been used to describe the traditional role of the
MA (De Loo et al. 2011; Pierce, 2001; Feeney and Pierce, 2007). Feeney and
Pierce (2007) characterize this role as one which concentrates on two areas;
supporting management decision making and monitoring and controlling. It has
been suggested, however, that this traditional role of the MA is threatened by the
rolling out of more, ‘advanced management accounting techniques,’ and
facing competition from other managers who are performing such roles (Burns
and Vaivio, 2003; Pierce, 2001). Pierce’s article (2001) which examined the
changing role of MAs stated that, ‘much of the work traditionally carried out my
management accountants could just as easily have been done by other
professionals,’ (Pierce, 2001, p.12). In order to fully understand the changing role
of the MA, it is necessary to examine the nature and drivers of such change.

Burns and Scapens (2000), state that the environment in which MAs practice
appears to have changed. Certainly with the advent of, ‘new,’ accounting
systems, corporate restructurings, changes in regulation and legislation, a
strengthening competitive market and advancements in information technology
systems; one cannot argue that the environment has not changed. Such
changes are considered the drivers in the change of the role of the MA, and as
Burns and Vaivio (2003, p. 389) noted, ‘such broad change implies a need for
management accounting to change also.’ Advanced information technology
systems, such as ERP for example, are becoming widely used in many
organisations. Such systems are said to innovate the collection, measurement,
analysis and communication of information within the organisation (Burns and
Vaivio, 2003). Scapens and Jazayeri (2003) conducted a study based on the
impact of ERP on the work of MAs. They prescribed four key areas of change,
namely the;

Elimination of routine jobs, Line managers with accounting knowledge, more

forward looking information, and, a wider role for the management accountants.
(Scapens and Jazayeri, 2003, p. 201)

These contentions would agree with those of Caglio (2003), whom also identified
that ERP systems fundamentally changed the role of the MA. Such advances in
information technology systems have also made it possible for routine accounting
tasks to be undertaken by business managers (Burns and Vaivio, 2003), referring
back to the point made by Pierce (2001) which suggested that managers were
becoming the new MAs.
The revolution of IT systems certainly played a key position in management
accounting change; referred to in the literature as a, ‘hybridization,’ of their roles
(Feeney and Pierce, 2003; Caglio, 2003; De Loo et al. 2011). The aspect of
hybridization refers to the contemporary role of the MA; one whom plays an
integral role in management decision making and is more strategically aware but
still involved in, ‘bean counting,’ aspects (De Loo et al. 2011). These so-called,
‘hybrid,’ MAs differ in terms of their skills, attributes and competencies (Feeney
and Pierce, 2007). The computerization of routine accounting tasks has enabled
MAs to have more time to provide support to the business managers, and as a
result it’s not uncommon to see them engaging in activities which were unheard
of ten years ago (Burns and Vaivio, 2003).
A number or studies have been undertaken to provide evidence of such a role
change and to establish where the contemporary, ‘hybrid,’ MA fits within the
organisation. De Loo et al. (2011) examined the change in the role of the MA
between 2004 and 2007 in The Netherlands. The authors concluded that although
much traditional work is still conducted by MAs, The Netherlands may be,
‘witnessing a process of hybridization,’ (De Loo et al. 2011, p. 302). Pierce’s (2001)
article showed that MAs spent most of their time as business analysts and internal
consultants. Furthermore, the results agreed with those found by Yazdifar and
Tsamenyi (2005), which illustrated that analytical and interpretative skills were
perceived by MAs to be the most important skill for the future. Burns et al. (2004)
study referred to Manchester-based research, which indicated that MAs are now
expected to participate in the development of strategic plans and to proactively
collaborate in cross-functional management groups, among other roles. Further
evidence can also be found within the professional accountancy bodies, for
example, CIMA in the UK have reconstructed their examination policy to include
subjects such as strategy, in order to keep in line with the new role of the MA (Burns
and Vaivio, 2003).
One cannot argue that a change in the role of the management account has
occurred. These new hybrid accountants are seen to occupy the role as the,
‘business partner.’ However in order to fulfil this role, the management account
must overcome considerable challenges (Feeney and O’Dea, 2007), with the
greatest of these challenges being the gap between manager and accountant
expectations. Pierce and O’Dea (2003) examined this perceptions gap, and
identified differences regarding the type of information that managers need.
Further research by Byrne and Pierce (2007) into this gap noted that such a
transition into the position of, ’business partner,’ may not be as straightforward as
anticipated.
Byrne and Pierce’s Concerns

Byrne and Pierce’s study set out to build a more complete picture of the
traditional roles of management accountants, to fuse the conflicting views in the
literature regarding the role of management accountants and to integrate the
theoretical frameworks of management control, contingency theory and role
theory as a means to enhance our understanding of the data collected. Three
objectives of their study are outlined; to investigate the characteristics,
antecedents and consequences associated with the roles of MAs (Byrne and
Pierce, 2007). The results from their findings indicated the MA is indeed
experiencing a broadening of their role, this so called transformation into the
business partner role was evident, however it lacked, ‘a common understanding
between [management accountants] and [operational managers]’ (Byrne and
Pierce, 2007, p.493).

The findings indicated that although interaction between MAs and operational
managers was viewed in a positive light, a number of conflicts occurred due to
the gap in understanding between accountants and managers regarding the
contemporary role of the management accountant. Firstly, Byrne and Pierce
(2007) indicated that MAs were seen to have difficulty in interpreting
management expectations, and may experience difficulty in adapting to
differential styles in order to be more involved in the management process. A
potential role conflict was seen to arise over the MAs desire to be more involved
in the business and its processes within circumstances where the managers may
not wish for them to be involved (Byrne and Pierce, 2007). However, the lack of
clarity between the accountants’ and managers’ perception of the role of the
MA within the organisation could be linked with this conflict. The MA would
sometimes perceive themselves as a business partner on the management team
(Burns and Pierce, 2007). On the other hand, the operational managers
considered them to be involved in a role which involved making suggestions
rather than decisions, which indicated confusion surrounding the concept of
what a business partner actually does.

The authors claim to introduce new themes into the literature based upon the
consequences associated with the role of the MA (Byrne and Pierce, 2007). These
new findings indicated that both the financial and operational managers,
‘recognized the potential for conflict where MAs occupied roles combining the
need for objectivity and integrity coupled with business involvement,’ (Byrne and
Pierce, 2007, p. 491).

In one particular organisation, the operational manager noted that MAs was seen
to exhibit a lack of relevant business knowledge by asking, ‘silly questions,’ which
wouldn’t have been asked if the MA fully understood the process. Such tensions
were seen to give rise to additional role conflicts for the MAs around business
involvement (Burns and Pierce, 2007).

Reference;
The Changing Role of the Management Accountant – Pierce and Byrne's ...
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 “The Changing World and Expanding Role of Management Accountant”

The role of management accountants around the world have been

changing over the past decades, and these professionals are slowly learning to
embrace the increased responsibilities that their career demands and believing
that the impact of the global economic crisis contributed to this shift as there is a
need for corporations to bring more professionals who understand risk and
finance into high-level strategic conversations. Management accountants have a
new role here in determining the costs and profitability of satisfying the specific consumer
preferences. They will need to cost the product attributes developed with, or by,
consumers as well as analyze plausible revenue propositions that may be dissociated
from the consumer created products. To do this, they will need to understand the
technology underlying the organisation and learn to cope without at least some of the
conventional formal management control structures or systems.

Management accounting literature is abundant with discussions and

commentaries on the changing roles of management accountants. And it has
certainly turned the attention of many practitioners and academic towards,
“more advanced management accounting systems” and has sparked the
debate on the roles of management accountants within the organisation. It has
been argued by many researchers that the management accountant is moving
from their traditional role in the organisation as the controller and scorekeeper
into a more strategic, internal consultancy role (Burns and Vaivio, 2003; Scapens
and Jazayeri, 2003; Pierce, 2001). The objective of this paper is to examine the
changing role of the management accountant as presented in the literature and
to assess whether or not such an adoption of the role of the “business partner” is
as straightforward as the literature would suggest.

In conclusion to the arguments in over the last three decades, the role of
the management accountant has experience radical changes. Traditionally
viewed as a, ‘bean counter,’ the traditional role of management accountant,
the management accountant is now considered a fully-fledged, ‘business
partner,’ whom participates in a wider range of activities which would have been
unheard of ten years ago. However, as Byrne and Pierce (2007) have highlighted,
such a transition is not as straightforward as anticipated and in order to fulfil this
role, the management accountant must overcome considerable challenges and
conflicts. Because year by year our society have been changing through the new
information technology system and other data that don’t have in a traditional
approaches. As the world rapidly changing, there are also changes in which
management accountant have to resolve through the new approach, they have
to face those challenges for their roles as management accountants also
expand.