Towards Agile Management Accounting: A Research Note on Accounting Agility

The purpose of this commentary is to initiate discussion on potential, which lies in capturing the transformation of accounting towards a more agile phenomenon in various dimensions and ways, particularly in management accounting research. By conceptualizing agile accounting in relation to enterprise agility and accounting change and by shedding light on digitalization, as well as contemporary technological advancements, combined with the contemporary paradigmatic trend of business agility in this respect, it is argued that these factors and drivers are reshaping the nature of management accounting, which is increasingly characterized by distinctive attributes associated with agility. On one hand, management accounting involved in planning, decision-making, and control supports corporate processes aiming at sensing environmental change and responding to the change, hence playing a crucial role in enterprise agility. On the other hand, the trend towards agility in business strategies and operations sets new agility-based requirements for management accounting, which can act as a driver for management accounting change. Drawing on cross-disciplinary academic literature combined with reflections from the recent developments in the practice, the drivers and the manifestations of accounting agility are discussed in this paper with certain illustrative examples representing elements from different levels and dimensions of management accounting. Furthermore, it is claimed that the management accounting change research, in particular, should acknowledge the various aspects of accounting agility, in order to explain and understand better both management accounting change and the dynamics of management control systems, in the future.

Key Words: Management Accounting Change, Information Technology, Agility