Study of published articles on management accounting in Brazil and Spain

Abstract

In recent decades, management accounting has undergone major changes with the inclusion of new topics and research methods, dedicated journals, and especially multidisciplinary studies. These changes have been detected in articles published in leading journals. In this context, the following research question arises: what is the profile of management accounting research in Spain and Brazil? Thus, the objective of this study is to identify and analyze the topics and research methods applied in management accounting studies in Spain and Brazil; to explain how these studies are important to further developing the field of management accounting; and to compare them with studies conducted by Hesford, Lee, Van Der Stede, and Young (2007) with respect to articles published in English-language journals. We first selected seven Spanish accounting journals listed in the IN-RECS database (Índice de Impacto de Revistas Españolas de Ciencias Sociales) [Impact Factor of Spanish Social Science Journals] and found 421 articles published between 2001 and 2010. Second, we found 321 articles by selecting 29 Brazilian accounting, administration, management, finance, and business journals evaluated by Brazilian Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçcoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior). The results show that management accounting studies have not figured prominently in the articles that were reviewed. Planning and control are among the most important subjects that emphasize performance measurement and evaluation. The existing studies are largely focused on case studies and surveys in Brazil as well as case studies and reviews in Spain.