Open AccessImpact of uncertainty and decentralization on activity-based costing use
Author(s) -
Azzouz Elhamma,
Hanen Moalla
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of accounting and economics studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2309-4508
DOI - 10.14419/ijaes.v3i2.4817
Subject(s) - decentralization , activity based costing , economics , public economics , natural resource economics , biology , accounting , market economy
The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of environmental and organizational factors on activity-based costing (ABC) use. These variables are studied respectively through the perceived environmental uncertainty, and the organizational structure represented by both horizontal and vertical decentralization. Data were collected from 62 Moroccan firms, operating in different sectors, via a questionnaire survey. The findings indicated that ABC use is not associated with perceived environmental uncertainty and horizontal decentralization. However, firms with a high degree of vertical decentralization use more ABC than those with a centralized vertical structure (p<10%). This research adds to general knowledge and offers insights into management accounting since the study is conducted in a developing country that has specific environmental and organizational characteristics. Previous research has studied perceived environmental uncertainty in other contexts of innovations. In our paper, we investigate the case of ABC and we.analyse decentralization with both horizontal and vertical dimensions.