The Influence of Modern Management Accounting Techniques in Saudi Firms

براءة اختراع

2011

Alamri, Ahmad Mohammed . 2011

This research focuses on the influence of modern management accounting techniques in Saudi firms. The primary aim of this study is to provide a clear understanding of the current trend in management accounting techniques in Saudi Arabian firms, how these techniques are utilised and the pros and cons of adopting these techniques. The interpretive research paradigm has been adopted for this study, to describe, translate and analyse the meaning of the phenomena. This dissertation has used primary data collected during in-depth face-to-face interviews with six accounting and finance managers selected from two Saudi firms, Tabuk Cement Company and Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company, listed on the Saudi stock market. The results from this study highlight the fact that Saudi firms have started to change their management accounting techniques by using modern techniques to provide all of the necessary information for decision-making, planning and control purposes. However, there are still different kinds of traditional management accounting techniques being used, such as direct costing and standard costing. Also the Saudi firms are influenced by different internal and external factors, which have led to changes in the management accounting techniques used. The external factors include environmental factors (country’s regulatory environment and stage of economic development) and competition. The internal factors are decision-making purposes, size of company and technology. The use of modern techniques has led to advantages in the way the Saudi firms operate including improvement in management and productivity. These improvements led the firms to achieve competitive advantages and improve company operations overall. However, there are disadvantages of using these techniques in that they require a lot of time and money.