Management accounting tools in large norwegian entities : a quantitative study of how management accounting tools are used and their effect on profitability

Abstract

In the last years, there has been a growing interest in the topic of management account tools. Although, research today is mainly argumentative, or focus on specific industries. Thereby, there is a need to conduct a detailed mapping regarding the use and utility of management accounting tools (MATs) for Norwegian entities. This thesis aims to contribute to this field of research by answering the two following questions • What are the use and utility of management accounting tools in large Norwegian entities today? • How are specific management accounting tools associated with profitability in large Norwegian entities? In answering these questions, we perform a quantitative study. Our primary data is collecting data by surveying 500 of the largest Norwegian entities - collecting data on each entity’s use and utility of Management accounting tools. This data is further analyzed using accounting data proved by SNF, which enable us to examine which tools that display an association with profitability. We find a discrepancy between the popularity and their corresponding use and utility. We also uncover MATs that display a significant positive correlated with profitability. Although, entities seem to use MATs regardless of this association. In both cases, the adoption of such these may help entities obtain a competitive edge. Furthermore, we find that some tools are significantly correlated with entity size for both use and utility,while themajority do not have this relation. Although entity size explains the number of tools used.