Activity based management : A study of management accounting change.

This study has addressed the process of innovation in management accounting practice, with a particular focus on the implementation of Activity Based Management (ABM). It began with a review of prior organisational and management accounting literature, and identified three significant conceptual models which have been proposed as sense making devices in the examination of change processes. A further literature review examined ABM implementation literature and identified normative advice and empirical studies derived from that tradition. This literature review has been used to contextualise the current study, and to provide models against which to compare the grounded theory model developed in this study.The primary research, which is described following the literature review, was interpretive, using a qualitative method, grounded theory. The data was gathered from accounting practitioners' accounts of their implementation experiences. This data has been analysed to develop a grounded theory of the process of ABM implementation, which is presented and explained in Chapter 5. The grounded theory has then been compared to the models derived from the earlier literature review, and similarities and differences identified and discussed. Whilst the document recognises a number of limitations of the grounded theory model, it seems to offer insights into the process of management accounting change which extend and develop prior findings.