مشکلات ویراستاری، چالش‌ها و فرصت‌ها: کسب‌وکارهای کوچک به‌عنوان زمینه‌ای برای تحقیقات حسابداری مدیریت

This special issue is devoted to management accounting in the small firm. It comprises five studies which address various aspects of this topic, which have been undertaken from different perspectives and which involve different research methodologies. The editorial below reviews the potential for and significance of research in this area and assess the contribution made by the five studies.

It is now widely recognized that small firms are not only numerous, but constitute a vital force in modern information-based economies. Small firms make up the vast majority of the business population within the U.K. (over 90 per cent) and contribute nearly two-thirds to national employment. Of these, a significant and stable minority (about 10 per cent) experience unusually high performance and growth. These dynamic and frequently innovative firms are sometimes described as ’gazelles’. Part of the reason for the reassertion of the importance of small firms is that their flexibility makes them well suited to the niche opportunities which are so characteristic of the ’new’ economy. A crucial attribute of the small firm, if it is to be successful, or even if it is to avert poor performance and failure, is proper management of information,especially as regards monitoring and control. It is in this quarter that management accounting assumes great importance, for small firms now have the capacity to operate and develop quite sophisticated monitoring and control systems based on contemporary management accounting practice. This special issue investigates the scope, variety, role and operation of contemporary management accounting practice in the small firm. It does so both in detailed individual small firm studies and with large samples of small firms. Of particular note is that the management accounting perspective is important, not only to the ’gazelles’, but also to the struggling small firms. In this sense, the management accounting approach to monitoring and control is ubiquitous.

Researching management accounting in the smaller firm has not been fashionable but, as outlined above, we can learn a great deal about the fundamentals of management accounting development from these firms. The studies contained in this special issue demonstrate this and exemplify the great potential that exists for management accounting research in this somewhat neglected area. The ideas which the papers in this issue contain and the questions which they raise can, hopefully therefore, act as a catalyst to stimulate the future management accounting research which the significance of the small business sector deserves.