ABC, Balanced Scorecard, EVAâ„¢: an empirical study on the adoption of innovative management accounting techniques

This paper reports on the findings of a survey on management accounting systems in 289 Italian organisations. The research studied the adoption of three specific techniques: ABC/ABM, Balanced Scorecard and EVAâ„¢, analysing the key success factors of companies which claimed to adopt them, their objectives and the effects on the control system's performances. The analysis indicates that innovative techniques have been increasingly adopted by many companies, which further showed a higher attention to new competitive dimensions. The study also highlighted positive benefits in using accounting techniques; new practices have a significant impact on the control system and respondents associate their use with cost reduction, make or buy decisions, attribution of specific responsibility and budgeting.