Usability of Management Accounting Techniques in Crisis Circumstances

Abstract

Management accounting has a wide set of various techniques for the purpose of decision-making, planning, coordination, control and motivation through performance measurement, budgeting, responsibility centers, transfer pricing, costing and cost allocation. Over the past two decades, the need to explain the mechanisms of business decision-making by expanding the focus from the internal environment to factors of the external environment such as exchange rate fluctuations, inflation, slowing down of economic activity, volatility of the stock market and others has been clearly manifested.

The strategic aspect and non-financial information, as important aspects of decision-making in crisis conditions, influenced the development of new and improvement of existing management accounting techniques. In the post-corona era, the central focus of management accounting tools and techniques becomes sustainability and accelerated technology adoption, so management accounting practices must be adapted accordingly. The intention of the work is twofold. First, the work tries to point out the environmental factors and influences that are the impetus for necessary changes and adaptability of the management accounting technique in the crisis circumstances. Second, the aim of the paper is a critical review of the current literature on the issue of the use of management accounting techniques in conditions of crisis and unpredictability in various types of entities and industry sectors. Finally, the aim of the paper is to consider whether new and proactive management accounting techniques are applied in crisis conditions or whether the management's focus is on the short-term realization of income and profit.