The aim of this research project is to describe Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) techniques, to explore the relationship between Business Strategy (BS) and SMA techniques and to integrate the survey through interviews for assessing some relevant assertions related to SMA practices to support strategic processes. The paper presents the empirical results of a field-based investigation on SMA practices employed in large companies in Italy. The questionnaire results show that large companies use, to differing degrees, several SMA techniques to support strategic activities. Value chain, target and quality costing are prevalent strategic costing techniques used. In regards to strategic competitor information, there is a strong preference for competitor position monitoring. The adoption of balanced scorecard and risk management as frameworks for measuring organizational performance in evaluating strategies show the highest rate of use in large companies. The interview results suggest that analyses of SMA information tend to be formal and structured. Further, in large companies the importance of strategic cost and competitor information analyses for strategic development and implementation activities is influenced by competitive strategies but could also be a function of specific organizational contexts.
Key-Words: Sistemi di pianificazione e programmazione, Business Environment, Strategy, Strategic Management Accounting, Survey, Interviews
Table 1 – Information on large companies involved in the interviews
Table 2 – Type of business strategies
Table 3 – Differences in the use of the various SMA techniques
Table 4 – A comparison of SMA techniques used by the three groups of companies
Table 5 – Responses on formal and structured analysis in SMA practices
Table 7 – Strategic approaches employed in the 7 companies involved in the interviews
