The Evolution of Management Accounting

A History of Ideas

David Dugdale

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781032966465
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040663868
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Accounting
• Index: Business

The Evolution of Management Accounting traces the history of management accounting from the Industrial Revolution to the twenty-first century, with a particular focus on developments in the UK and the US.

In this book, the author identifies the main forces that shape accounting, as well as themes recurring throughout its history, including:

• The limitations of actual costs;
• The dangers of variance analysis;
• The tension between variable and full absorption costs;
• The search for performance measures that are both effective and easily understood.

By highlighting the importance of historical context for a rounded understanding of each topic, this text positively informs readers' decision-making in practice. The book offers a thorough analysis of sometimes neglected topics, especially the contribution of management accounting to pricing, the Beyond Budgeting movement, the impact of technology and the emerging environmental, social, and governance agenda.

This book constitutes an accessible resource to any cost and management accounting courses adopting a historical approach. Alongside students and educators, the book will also be valuable to practitioners, thanks to its in-depth coverage of real-life examples.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Costing in the industrial revolution
• 3 The costing renaissance
• 4 Relevant costs and direct costing
• 5 Budgets and structure
• 6 Investment decision-making
• 7 Divisional performance and transfer pricing
• 8 The emergence of management accounting
• 9 Professor Kaplan and “Relevance Lost”
• 10 Activity-based costing
• 11 Theory of constraints
• 12 The balanced scorecard
• 13 Economic value added and other financial metrics
• 14 Beyond budgeting
• 15 Management control systems: Theory and lessons from practice
• 16 Pricing
• 17 The triple bottom line
• 18 The impact of technology
• 19 The future of finance
• 20 Conclusion
• Index