Traditional management accountants are not dead. Activities and characteristics of Italian controllers working in SMEs

Abstract

The role of the management accountant or controller in small and medium-sized companies is a topic under researched. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyze his/her role in Italian small and medium-sized companies through a quantitative study. A questionnaire was distributed in order to understand if controllers are more similar to the traditional bean counter profile or the business partner role. The considered variables are: 1.) activities or management accounting practices performed, 2.) main recipients of the produced information, 3.) the controllers’ organizational position, 4.) personal characteristics, 5) professional skills and 6) educational qualification. Moreover, the study analyzes the influence of situational variables, such as company size, tension for growth and the presence of structured advanced control systems.