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Question: Discuss about the Management Accounting Research. Answer: Introduction Theaccounting professionals are nowadays emphasising more on conducting researches related to management accounting for introducing some new concepts into the field. In this context, the present essay emphasizes on the current themes developed in themanagement accounting research that are leading to the future growth and development of the field. Management Accounting Research Management accounting is the vast topic and it is surrounded by the various issues that managers have to face while working in business environment. The business environment is changing very frequently due to change in the customer demand, brand image, customer perception, customer values and manner of consumption. Managers have now have to think far beyond the expectations of the customers in order to reach somewhere to their demand. It is the main reason why the contemporary issues have now been major part of the management accounting in this modern era. Managers have to frequently adapt themselves to these changes so to take the business at another level as compare to other competitors (Baldvinsdottir, Mitchell and Nrreklit, 2010). Competition is regarded as major issues for every organization as there are manifold players in each and every industry. To survive and grow in the modern environment enterprises have to be cost conscious and their need to be take better decision as com pare to the other entities. So it can be said that for making the better decisions there is need to make adequate and timely information. The information is generated in the business process but there is need to put cost techniques in order to collect the information. There are many cost techniques that support the managers to make proper decisions such as activity based costing, kaizen costing, just in time costing, and life cycle costing etc. Technique is something that needs to be adopted at the perfect time and make use of it to change in operation process so that better qualitative products can be delivered (Parker, 2012). The managementaccounting field involves the process of identifying, interpreting and communicating the financial results obtained to the different departments of a business entity. Thus, it involves providing timely information to the managers reading the financial condition of a business entity to support their strategic-decision making process. However, with the recent development in the field of management accounting now it does communicate both financial and non-financial performance of an entity (Shields, 2015). The business entities are developing and preparing their sustainable reports for communicating the non-financial information such as social, economic and environmental to its different stakeholders. This is done for improving the transparency in business operations by promoting its sustainable image in the mind of its different stakeholders such as society and government. This is causing the need for the management accounting professionals to develop and implement the us e of both financial and non-financial performance measurements techniques for effective decision-making process. The management accounting researchers as such are presently focusing on gathering knowledge regarding the need of including non-financial performance measurement technique in management accounting to meet both operational and strategic objectives of an entity (Sunarni, 2013). The business managers incorporate the use of managerial accounting for making strategic decisions driving long-term growth and development of their organizations. The managerial accounting information helps to a large extent to the management for identifying the areas where the investment needs to be done for achieving better outcomes such as improving marketing tactics. However, the accuracy of the information received from the managerial accounting practices depends on the calculative methods used for measuring the costs associated with operational activities of businesses (Shields, 2015). The accounting managers are largely integrating the use of innovative information technology and devices for processing of accounting information. The management accounting was used in past decades by the business managers only for assessing the operational costs and making decisions related to sales. The increasing complexity in business environment is causing the organizations to achieve a comp etitive advantage in the market place. As such, the businesses need rapid process of accounting information for making critical decisions relating to their sustainable growth and development (Modell, 2010). The increasing globalization and complexity in the business world is causing the development of new management accounting techniques for meeting the needs and demands of changing market economy. The development of latest computer technology and devices that supports the decision-making process of organizations has significantly influenced the managerial accounting practices. As such, the professional accountants are required to possess new skill and capabilities in order to cope up with the current themes developed in management accounting. This is essential to appropriately use the current technological devices for adequate processing of managerial accounting information. The accuracy and reliability of managerial accounting information is required for reducing the labor costs, improving the production process, minimizing the operational costs and thus improving the business profitability (Goddard, 2010). Thus, field of management accounting is undergoing rapid changes due to techno logical advances that need to be encountered by the business appropriately. In addition to this, the introduction of practices such as budgeting, performance measurement systems and strategic cost management have also brought large-scale change sin the management accounting field. The most important strategic cost management method evolved is activity-based costing that is used by the managers in business organizations for identifying and assessing indirect costs such as overhead. The researchers in the accounting field should emphasize on the role of ABC costing in managerial accounting practices for identifying and measuring the indirect costs related with business operations. The use of such costing method is proving to be largely helpful for the managers for making strategic decisions reading the expenses to be incurred in developing its products and services (Lukka and Modell, 2010). The strategic role of management accounting has been evolved with the introduction of new concepts in the accounting field. For example, the accounting system adopted by Russia has undergone a major transformation with the introduction of tax accounting system. As such, the financial facts and figures presented in the tax accounting system should not integrate with the financial statements. Thus, there has been an increasing need for managerial accounting practices to shift its focus to strategic support from its basic reporting rule (Lebedev, 2014). The changing focus of managerial accounting practices from its traditional reporting role to a strategic role can be described through the use of contract theory. The contract theory has been largely used by the accounting researchers for developing an insight into the role of managerial accounting systems. The contract theory argues that business entities have a contract with all of its stakeholders and the field of accounting plays lar ge role in implementing and enforcing this contract. The accounting department of an organization should hold the responsibility of monitoring and controlling the financial information required by the end-users. Thus, it fulfill the contract of all the stakeholders by meeting their needs and requirements through developing and providing them the necessary financial information. The contract model of accounting has played a central role in evolving the economical role of management accounting through satisfying the various needs and demands of various participants of a market economy (Bhimani, 2006). The need of management accounting arises in a business organizations for adequately communicate its financial performance to the internal users. The information recued through the use of managerial accounting practices helped in aligning the operational cots with the operational processes. Thus, it plays an important role in developing budgets, costs and profitability of various internal departments of an organization. Therefore, there has been large-scale development in the field of management accounting for adequately addressing the different challenges of contemporary business world (Breur and Manciu, 2013). In addition to this, the contemporary business issues such as developing competitiveness in the market is causing the need of making effective strategic decision regarding the sustainable growth and development. The management accounting professionals therefore need to interpret effectively the wide range of information before providing recommendations to the management in dev eloping a strategic action plan for the pursuit of corporate goals and objectives. The various accounting theories such as agency, stakeholder and stewardship theory can largely help in developing the field of management accounting research (Ahid and Augustine 2012). Conclusion It can be inferred from the overall discussion held in the easy that the field of management accounting is undergoing huge growth with the development of contemporary business issues. The management accounting professionals need to incorporate the new business themes in the respective field so that it effectively meets the business needs and demands. The changing business environment is causing the need for accounting professional to research and develop new managerial accounting practices that fits well in the present complex business environment. References Ahid, M. and Augustine, A. 2012. The Roles and Responsibilities of Management Accountants in the Era of Globalization. Global Journal of Management and Business Research 12(15). Baldvinsdottir, G., Mitchell, F. and Nrreklit, H. 2010. Issues in the relationship between theory and practice in management accounting. Management Accounting Research21, 79-82. Bhimani, A. 2006. Contemporary Issues in Management Accounting. Oxford University Press. Breur, A and Manciu, A. 2013. The Role of Management Accounting In the Decision Making Process: Case Study Cara? Severin County. Management Accounting research 15(2), 355-366. Goddard, A. 2010. Contemporary public sector accounting research An international comparison of journal papers. The British Accounting Review 42, 75-87. Lebedev, P. 2014. Evolution of management accounting concept in Russia: in a search of identity. Social and Behavioral Sciences 156, 580 584. Lukka, K. and Modell, S. 2010. Validation in interpretive management accounting research.Accounting, Organizations and Society35, 462-477. Modell, S. 2010. Bridging the paradigm divide in management accounting research: The role of mixed methods approaches.Management Accounting Research21, 124129. Parker, L.D. 2012. Qualitative management accounting research: Assessing deliverables and relevance.Critical Perspectives on Accounting23, 5470. Shields, M. D. 2015. Established management accounting knowledge. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 27(1), 123-132. Sunarni, C.W. 2013. Management Accounting Practices and the Role of Management Accountant: Evidence from Manufacturing Companies throughout Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Rev. Integr. Bus. Econ. Res. 2(2), 616-626.