Arab management accounting systems under the influence of their culture
Creators: name: Dik, Roula
Publisher: name: Technische Universität Dortmund
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Comparative management accounting
subject: Arab world
subject: Culture
subject: Qualitative field study
subject: Decision-making
subject: Anglo-American countries
subject: 330
subject: Arabische Staaten / Kultur / Management Accounting

description: Due to globalization, business opportunities can be established in new countries more than ever before. The Arab countries are gaining more attention as emerging markets in global business. Applying managerial accounting on a global basis requires an understanding of the cultural aspects of the countries. Arabic culture has a long history on the one hand and contradicts the Western cultures sharply on the other hand. Research on comparative management accounting (CMA) emerged in the early 1990s. Recently, research on transitional economies is focusing on management accounting practice in these emerging markets, but only a small proportion of this research deal with some aspects of Arab management accounting and control systems. Thus, the relative lack of attention paid to Arab culture in relation to management accounting is quite significant. The research explores the characteristics of management accounting systems in the Arab World. Thus, this research explores the role of management accounting in Arab companies in decision-making, strategic planning, control, and performance measurement. In addition, this research examines the impact of Arab culture on their MASs specifically. Furthermore, the Anglo-American countries have a particular importance and significant influences on the Arab World. Hence, this research compares some aspects of Arab MASs with Anglo-American MASs. A qualitative field study is an essential part of the research methodology in order to identify the scope of management accounting and generate evidence from the field. The data will be gathered primarily through open-ended, face-to-face interviews from three different Arab countries. In addition, an in-depth case study is conducted on a Sharia-compliant company, which represents a special kind of Arab companies. Furthermore, the cross-sectional data analyses are based on different dimensions derived from the theoretical framework. The results reveal that the finance department in Arab companies carries out financial and managerial accounting tasks. Arab companies can be also characterized by short-term budgeting. In addition, Arab companies use traditional instruments in management accounting and performance evaluation. The empirical results show the limited role of management accounting in Arab companies, especially in terms of strategic decisions. The findings affirm that culture is an ultimate factor influencing Arab MASs. Furthermore, the findings indicate that Arab management accounting practice is influenced by the Anglo-American MA knowledge and institutions. The study also points to the importance of organizational culture on MASs in Arab companies. Importing international knowledge and improving the education and training in field of MA will help Arab companies in developing their MASs.