Comparing Professions in UK and German-Speaking Management Accounting

Abstract

This paper studies professional education in management accounting and the ways in which management accounting professions establish jurisdictional claims about management accounting work in the UK and German-speaking countries, respectively. We adopt a comparative approach drawing on the framework of systems of professions and the distinction between public, legal and workplace jurisdiction [Abbott, A. (1988). The system of professions: An essay on the division of expert labor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press]. Our findings highlight some notable differences between the UK and German-speaking countries with respect to professional management accounting education, the jurisdictional claims that the professions make as well as the establishment and history of professional institutes for management accounting. Based on this analysis, the paper identifies a dilemma or at least a challenge for policy-makers with respect to balancing the need for a context-dependent model of professional education with a need for comparability and convergence.

Keywords:

• professional education in management accounting
• German-speaking countries
• UK
• comparative research in management accounting
• systems of professions
• Abbott (1988)

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all interviewees. I am grateful to Martin Messner for offering instructive comments and support on earlier drafts of this paper. I also wish to thank the participants of the CPA Conference, 2014 in Toronto.

ORCID

Rafael Heinzelmann http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1947-3708

Notes

1 The Austrian Controller Institute was rebranded in 2013. Previously, it was known as Österreichisches Controlling-Institut (ÖCI).

2 Please see: Messner et al. (2008) for an overview on the development of ‘Controlling' which is the Germanic version of management accounting.

3 Please see: Becker and Heinzelmann (2013) for analysis for a comparative account on the share top management executives having an accounting background in the UK and German-speaking countries.

4 Notwithstanding the fact that the Bologna reform led to the implementation of bachelor and master programs in Business Administration, a significant number of bachelor and master programs are still very broad and not as focused as in the UK. However, the programs that universities offer have become increasingly varied.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Austrian National Bank [Grant no. 12446].