Representation of knowledge on some management accounting techniques in textbooks

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the coverage of management accounting techniques in several popular management accounting texts, assessing each technique’s claimed position within practice, its benefits and limitations, and the information sources substantiating these claims. Employing the notion of research genres, the study reveals that textbooks in their discussion of techniques are essentially representing the consulting genre, characterized by its technical interest of knowledge and a prescriptive style of argumentation. Textbooks are found to be unrepresentative of the critical genre, concerned with emancipatory interest of knowledge and an increased awareness of ideologies predominant in current accounting practices. This study suggests that popular management accounting texts lack the representation of the basic genre oriented towards practical and theoretical interests of knowledge and an argumentation that possesses scientific rigour. If accounting educators have the ambition to offer broader perspectives on accounting in their teachings, they should be more considerate in their selection of textbooks.

KEYWORDS:

• Textbooks
• education
• management accounting

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the associate editor, Carol Sargent, and the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. We are also very grateful to Trond Bjørnenak and Rafael Heinzelmann for their contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.