Relevance lost and found: critical perspectives on the promise of management accounting

Two major development programmes have been evident in management accounting in recent times. A range of new techniques, generic approaches and frameworks for accounting for strategic positioning have emerged in response to doubts raised about the relevance of cost and management accounting. In parallel, many of the most significant advances in the critical accounting project have taken place in the context of accounting to management. Where the two programmes have intersected, the outcome has been to raise a series of reservations about the promise of the new management accounting. This paper offers a critical perspective on the reception afforded recent developments in management accounting, and attempts to identify evidence of positive opportunities where others have discerned only further threats.