To examine whether the expansion in the number of
articles has also led to an expansion of ideas in terms
of topics studied, methods applied, and/or source disciplines
relied on, we categorize all 916 management
accounting articles along three dimensions: topics,methods, and source disciplines. For each of these
dimensions, we again chart the field for the entire
20-year period and by decade. We also analyze topic,
method, and discipline coverage by journal, and
cross-tabulate topics, methods, and source disciplines.
Our data show that about 70% of the management
accounting articles focus on control, 20% on cost,
and 10% on a range of other topics. The most recent
decade exhibited a slight change from control to cost
topics, particularly those addressing cost allocation
issues. The biggest changes, however, took place
within the control area, with a shift in topics from
budgeting and organizational control to performance
measurement and evaluation. Our data also suggest
that analytical, survey, and experimental methods
are the dominant research methods, with about 18%,
16%, and 13% of the management accounting studies
employing these methods, respectively. Frameworks
that provide perspectives on management
accounting issues also are published frequently, with
about 20% of the management accounting studies
taking this approach. As a percentage, we observe a
decline in the use of frameworks and experiments in
the most recent decade, and an increase in archival,
case, and field research methods, with each of these
three methods being used by about 10% of the studies.
Finally, we find that economics is the dominant
source discipline in management accounting research
(43%), followed by sociology (40%) and psychology
(15%). The reliance on psychology decreased in the
most recent decade with a shift toward economics
and sociology.