شیوه های نظارتی و حسابداری مدیریت در محیط تولید ناب

A lean strategy is rapidly becoming the dominant paradigm in manufacturing. Kennedy and Widener (2008) use a case study to develop a theoretical framework of management accounting and control practices for firms following a lean manufacturing strategy. We build on Kennedy and Widener (2008) by examining a structural equation model that provides evidence on the extent to which a lean manufacturing implementation is related to five management accounting and control practices. Using survey data from 244 US companies with an interest in lean manufacturing, we find a direct positive relation between the extent of a lean manufacturing implementation and a simplified strategic reporting system, value stream costing, visual performance measurement information, and employee empowerment. We find a direct negative relation with inventory tracking; however, we find it is conditional on the extent of top management support for change in production strategies such that firms decrease reliance on inventory tracking in the presence of strong management support. We also conclude that the management accounting and control practices work together as a package in a lean manufacturing environment as evidenced by the many direct associations among the five management accounting and control practices.

Lean manufacturing is often regarded as the most important strategy for manufacturing firms desiring to achieve world-class performance (Rinehart, Huxley, & Robertson, 1997). As firms progress in their implementation of lean manufacturing, many are recognizing the need for a supportive management accounting and control system (see Statements on Management Accounting (SMA), 2006). Yet, accounting research (and education) has been slow to recognize the importance of aligning management accounting and control practices with a lean manufacturing strategy (Castellano and Burrows, 2011 and Haskin, 2010). This study addresses this limitation by investigating whether and how management accounting practices and controls are used in support of lean manufacturing. Manufacturing firms have responded to the highly competitive market of the past two decades by implementing such practices as quality circles, statistical process control, theory of constraints, just-in-time inventory management (JIT), total quality management (TQM), six sigma, and total preventive maintenance (TPM). More recently, these practices are recognized as elements of a lean manufacturing strategy. The essence of the lean manufacturing strategy is that “all business processes and functions integrate into a unified, coherent system whose single purpose is to continue to provide better value to customers…” (Grasso, 2005, p. 19). Consistent with this notion of integration is the idea that accounting and control systems are aligned with strategy (Langfield-Smith, 1997); however, there is little empirical evidence that sheds insights on the integration of management accounting and control practices with a lean manufacturing strategy. Using a qualitative case study, Kennedy and Widener (2008) conclude that management accounting and control practices change in support of a lean manufacturing strategy. The aim of this study is to build on the Kennedy and Widener (2008) study and provide a deeper empirical understanding of the management accounting and control practices used by a cross-section of manufacturing firms to support their lean manufacturing strategy. Specifically, our first purpose is to describe empirically the relations between a lean manufacturing strategy and five management accounting and control practices. Although several studies investigate various aspects of lean manufacturing practices, we know little about the use of management accounting and control practices in these environments. Therefore, we lack empirical understanding of such basic questions as whether firms alter their management accounting and control practices to support their lean manufacturing strategy. Our second purpose is to gain insight regarding how management accounting and control practices work together to support a lean manufacturing strategy. Although it is well-accepted that accounting and control practices are related and work as a “package” (Otley, 1980), information on what constitutes the package3 used to support a lean manufacturing strategy is lacking. Consistent with Kennedy and Widener (2008), we examine both management accounting and control practices. Management accounting practices refers to transaction processing that gathers and aggregates data in a meaningful manner. Drawing from Kennedy and Widener (2008), we examine the use of value stream costing (VSC), inventory tracking, and a simplified strategic reporting system. Most lean manufacturing firms will move from a functionally-oriented organization to one organized around value streams. “A value stream is the sequence of processes through which a product is transformed and delivered to the customer” (Haskin, 2010, p. 91). Value streams thus span functions from product design to sales to office support. VSC directly traces actual material and conversion (labor and overhead) costs to individual value streams. Inventory tracking is the monitoring and allocation of overhead and other inventoriable costs as raw materials move through production and are processed into final products. Finally, a simplified strategic reporting system is one that is efficient, minimizes transaction processing, and more generally supports the decision-making process of a lean manufacturing strategy. Management accounting controls monitor and direct behavior in order to achieve goal congruence. Again drawing on Kennedy and Widener (2008), we examine employee empowerment and visual performance measurement information. The visual performance measurement information provides goals, targets, and feedback in a simplified way, making the information more powerful and easy for shop-floor workers to process (Galsworth, 1997). Empowered employees are able to effectively participate in quick and timely decision-making, which facilitates the achievement of goals inherent to lean manufacturing (see e.g., Fullerton and McWatters, 2002 and Kennedy and Widener, 2008). Using data from 244 US companies with an interest in lean manufacturing,4 we test a structural equation model (SEM) that examines the relations between lean manufacturing and management accounting and control practices. We hypothesize and find that the extent of lean manufacturing implementation positively influences employee empowerment, visual performance measurement information, a simplified strategic reporting system, and VSC; and negatively influences inventory tracking. However, we find that the negative relation with inventory tracking is conditional on the level of top management support for change in production strategies. That is, top management support for change is necessary to reduce reliance on inventory tracking. These findings indicate that the form of four of the examined relationships are additive5; however, the form of the relationship between the extent of lean manufacturing implementation and inventory tracking is interactive, as it is a function of the level of top management support for change in production strategies. We then examine the set of management accounting and control practices. After controlling for the extent of lean manufacturing implementation, we find many significant associations, which indicates these practices work together as a package. This finding shows that the relations between the extent of lean manufacturing implementation and each of the management accounting and control practices are not only additive, but also intervening. Thus, we find that the total effect of the extent of lean manufacturing implementation on each of the management accounting practices is greater than only the direct (additive) effect. Finally, we further examine the association between inventory tracking and VSC and find that firms run dual accounting systems in the group of firms that has implemented lean to a low extent; it is only when the extent of lean manufacturing implementation is high that firms substitute VSC for inventory tracking. This indicates that the form of the relation between VSC and inventory tracking is interactive as it depends on the extent of lean manufacturing. This study contributes to the literature in four ways. It responds to calls (e.g., Li et al., 2012 and van der Merwe and Thomson, 2007) to provide empirical research that clarifies our understanding of whether or not firms implement specific management accounting and control practices to support a lean manufacturing strategy. Other researchers have suggested that for management accounting research to be relevant, it must examine the “role of novel management accounting practices within contemporary settings” (Chenhall, 2003, p. 130; see also Balakrishnan, 2010). Second, we show that the relation between lean manufacturing and inventory tracking is not “universal,” but rather conditional on top management support for change in production strategies (Luft & Shields, 2003, p. 185). Third, we document several associations among the management accounting and control practices, suggesting that they work as a package in support of a lean manufacturing strategy. We also hypothesize and find that the association between inventory tracking and VSC is a function of the extent of lean manufacturing implementation. This responds to Malmi and Brown’s (2008) request for more clarifying research on appropriate packages of management accounting practices for specific environments. They cite the Kennedy and Widener case study (2008) as a single example of providing an understanding of the configuration of management accounting controls for a lean environment. Finally, we use a database created by a strong survey response rate from an identified group of lean manufacturing users. This facilitates better measurement of the constructs, as there is common and clear understanding of the survey questions. Ultimately, this allows for more confidence in the reliability of the results. The next section discusses and clarifies our representations of lean manufacturing strategy and management accounting and control practices; it also develops the hypotheses. The following section outlines the research methods, and then we discuss the results. The last section provides a summary of the study, research limitations, and future research suggestions.

This research provides some of the first empirical evidence of the use of management accounting and control practices in a lean manufacturing environment. It appears that as the implementation of a lean manufacturing strategy intensifies, the organization simplifies its internal accounting reporting system, eliminates inventory tracking and overhead allocations, and increases its use of VSC. We also find that the presence of top management support for change in production strategies motivates firms to reduce their emphasis on inventory tracking as the extent of lean manufacturing increases. The results also show that all of the management accounting and control practices are either directly or indirectly related to one another. It is interesting to note that for some practices, the indirect effect of the lean manufacturing implementation rivals the direct effect, supporting the importance of the notion of a package of controls. In firms that have implemented a higher level of lean manufacturing, the package is comprised of all five management accounting and control practices bound together by six significant associations within the package, while in the low lean manufacturing group the package is comprised of only three of the accounting and control practices, which are bound together by three significant associations. Understanding the relations among the variables and how elements of the firm’s work, people, formal, and informal environment impact one another provides an important contribution to the existing literature. Congruence in the lean manufacturing environment takes on many forms. Congruence between “people” and “work” takes on an additive form. People who believe they have the necessary skills, knowledge, and authority to meet the demands of lean manufacturing are empowered. Congruence between the “formal” environment and “work” takes on an additive form, except for the association between “work” and the specific formal practice of inventory tracking, which is conditional on the “informal environment,” proxied for by top management support for change in production strategies. Congruence between “people” and the “formal environment” and within the “formal environment” is demonstrated through associations. Moreover, the association between inventory tracking and VSC is conditional on the extent of lean manufacturing implementation. Our results suggest that the respondent firms in this study are recognizing the need to change their management accounting and control practices to better support their lean manufacturing strategy and achieve congruence among their work, people, and formal and informal practices. In sum, our study contributes to the accounting literature by providing insights on the workings of the package of management accounting and control practices in a lean manufacturing environment, and what congruence in this environment looks like. These are important theory and practice insights that move our knowledge of management accounting forward and help keep our research relevant. Limitations of the research Our research sample is not random, which reduces the generalizability of the findings. It is difficult to find a sizable sample of firms that have adapted their management accounting practices to match their lean production, so we depended on a single venue for selecting our respondents. We assume that the respondents were interested in lean and particularly the principles of lean accounting by their attendance at Lean Accounting Summits. The sample respondents would also be more likely to have a better understanding of the survey questions and related issues than a random sample. This helps alleviate some of the usual concerns about data collection in survey research—that the respondents had sufficient knowledge to answer the items, and subsequently answered the questions conscientiously and objectively.