They are in steps 5 and 6 in Figure 1.
Before getting to the trends,
let’s look at the role of management accounting. Contrary to beliefs that the
only purpose of management accounting is
to collect, transform,
and report data, its
primary purpose is
first and foremost to
influence behavior at
all levels, from the desk
of the CEO down to
each employee. It should
do this by supporting decisions. A secondary purpose is
to stimulate investigation and discovery by signaling relevant information (and, consequently, bringing focus) and
by generating questions.