Outcomes of interaction between organizational characteristics and management accounting practice on corporate sustainability: the global management accounting principles (GMAP) approach

This study examined the outcomes of interaction between organizational characteristics and robustness of management accounting practice on corporate sustainability from the standpoint of the Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAP). The GMAP framework, developed and endorsed by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) in 2014, reflects the paradigm shift in the roles of management accountants in recent times from traditional management accountants to strategic partners aware of business imperatives. Using a structured-questionnaire, the views of senior accounting/finance officers from 131 firms based in Nigeria were gathered and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools (One-way MANCOVA, OLS regression and moderated regression analysis). It was observed that although management accounting activities were generally performed frequently, certain activities requiring review and modification of already prepared cost and revenue estimates appear to be performed less-frequently. Further, organizational characteristics such as size, organization lifecycle, presence of specialist skills, affiliation to foreign entity and ownership structure significantly affect the robustness of management accounting practice. Whilst detecting that robust management accounting practice elevates corporate sustainability, organizational characteristics such as size, organization lifecycle and presence of specialist skills may determine the extent to which such benefit is realized. Seeing that the presence of specialist skills was the strongest moderator of the relationship between management accounting practice and corporate sustainability, the study advocates for the existence of a standalone management accounting unit/department to improve the realization of the benefits embedded in implementing contemporary management accounting practice.