Adoption of Strategic Management Accounting Techniques in Czech and Slovak Companies

The purpose of this paper is to classify strategic management accounting (SMA) techniques. More specifically, two objectives were stated: (1) to derive a classification of SMA theoretically and then (2) to verify such classification empirically. To achieve these objectives, our study deploys literature review and empirical survey. Convenience sample of 99 profit-seeking companies domiciled in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and principal component analysis. The latter method identified three broader categories of SMA techniques: Internally focused; Competitor focused; Stakeholder focused SMA techniques. Such findings only partly correspond to the theoretically derived classification that enumerates five broader categories, which were identified in SMA literature: product accounting; process accounting; customer accounting; competitor accounting; and performance measurement. The comparison of both classifications reveals that respondents perceived internally focused groups of SMA techniques similarly and did not differentiate among them. Further detailed analysis also shows influence of some control variables such as industry, size of the respondent’s company or differences between independent enterprises and subsidiaries/parent companies.