Use of Management Accounting Techniques in Croatian Manufacturing Companies

Companies today operate in a dynamic and competitive environment. Production technology is changing significantly, customers are becoming more demanding, competition is growing stronger, and product life cycle is getting shorter. In order to face a competition and to succeed in modern business environment, companies require the application of the new costing methods and efficient cost management. The aim of this paper is to investigate the structure of product costs and the management accounting techniques that are used for cost calculation, inventory valuation, and cost management in Croatian manufacturing companies. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Research sample consists of 700 Croatian manufacturing companies. Collected data were analyzed by using methods of descriptive statistics and methods of inferential statistics. Research results showed that direct product costs dominate in total product costs in many Croatian manufacturing companies, while a share of indirect product costs is relatively low. Furthermore, the research results showed that Croatian manufacturing companies mostly apply traditional management accounting techniques for cost management and traditional costing methods. Modern management accounting techniques for strategic cost management are applied in a small number of Croatian manufacturing companies, usually in those where the level of digitalization is very high and where automated manufacturing technology is used.