Management Accounting Education: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Abstract

For the past 35 years I have been teaching management accounting to undergraduate students, graduate students, and M.B.A. students. My approach to the topic has evolved over the years as my understanding of management accounting and of management decision making has expanded. The real world of business has always fascinated me, and I take every opportunity I can to visit companies to view their operations and to talk with managers about the problems and issues they face. Management accountants at companies like Caterpillar, Inc., Nortel, Dresser (now a division of Halliburton Co.), and numerous other companies have helped me to learn about the ways that management accounting works in organizations. The more I learn about the practice of management accounting the more dissatisfied I become with what I teach in my courses, so my class material is constantly evolving to accommodate my everchanging understanding of management accounting. As my knowledge of management accounting deepens I find myself discussing fewer techniques and procedures and more policy issues. This paper allows me to share with the readers of Issues in Accounting Education some of the things I have learned, and I appreciate the opportunity the editor, David Stout, has provided me to expose my ideas to the readers of this journal. The views I offer on the past, the present, and the future of management accounting may annoy some, delight others, and bore several, but hopefully they will cause the readers to think about how we will train the next generation of management accountants.