Critically discuss this statement. Provide examples of what techniques Essay

Critically discuss this statement. Provide examples of what techniques or approaches might be part of the province of Strategic Management Accounting, citing relevant research for their inclusion - Essay Example The information about the position of the competitor is, then, used to position the business in the best way to beat its competitors in the industry. Although Managers try to use strategic management accounting to advise their businesses on the competitive issues, there have been claims that the strategic management techniques that they are using, might already be in use in management accounting. This puts no use to the strategic management elements and techniques that the Strategic Management Accountants are busy applying in as far as competitive aspect of the business is concerned since these elements can as well be applied by the management accountants. Some of the authors and researchers who have questioned the use of strategic management accounting on advising businesses on issues of gaining competitive advantage include Beverly R. Lord (1996) and John K. Shank (1989) among others. This essay will majorly be based upon the claims of these two authors: Lord (1996) and Shank (1989), to unravel the clear position of the situation. The main born of contention here is to unravel the truth in their claims and either qualify or disqualify them. To be able to handle this issue, we will evaluate some of the strategic management accounting issues that the management accountants apply in their practice. The research will encompass the background information on the development of Management Accounting from traditional to modern practice. With these, we will then evaluate, using the existing literature, whether these elements and techniques applied by strategic management accountants for competitive advantage reasons already exist in the business operation through management accounting or not, and their relevance in decision making both in the short-term and long term basis. We will then conclude by giving support to a well-established