Purpose – The aim is to provide a commentary on “Case studies and differentiated realities”, a paper by Sue Llewellyn, published in Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2007. Design/methodology/approach – Examines the ontological statements in Llewellyn's paper...

The debate on cost allocations in the management accounting literature has been dominated by a largely rationalistic perspective primarily informed by economic theories. However, there is growing evidence of institutional factors influencing cost allocation practices in organizations. This paper...

A growing number of studies of the issue of cost allocations based on different institutional theories have recently emerged in the management accounting literature. These provide an alternative to efficiency-centred explanations of the evolution of cost allocation practices and have...

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the relevance of management accounting. In doing so, we widen the definition of 'relevance' from the largely managerialist focus dominating this debate to examine how management accounting innovations get imbued with a broader range of societal...

This essay introduces the special issue of <italic>Accounting and Business Research</italic> exploring the societal relevance of management accounting and locates the individual contributions within this research agenda. In contrast to prevailing, managerialist conceptions of relevance, the discussion is guided...