Impact of environmental conditions on cost management information systems in Egyptian organisations.

The Egyptian government pursued a privatisation policy that resulted in an increased role for the private sector in the national economy. Environment competition and unpredictability have affected the organisations and increased the requirement for them to work more effectively and creatively. Johnson and Kaplan (1987), Johnson (1992), Bromwich and Bhimani (1989), Ezzamel (1994), Dent (1990) and Scapens (1984) all recognised the gap between the theory and the practice of cost management practices, which has led to many of the approaches outlined in accounting literature not been widely used in practice according to many surveys (e.g. Drury et al., 1993; Ezzamel & Willmott, 1992). Scapens (1994), Kaplan (1998) and others encouraged researchers to focus on organisations' practices and this provided the motivation for this research. The research explains the practices of cost management information system (CMIS) through three hypotheses: linear, non-linear and existence of intervening variables (managers' education, level, location of authority, kinds of consultants, and size of organization) for the relationship between the practices of CMIS and managers' perceptions of competition intensity and unpredictability. Furthermore, the research considers four moderating variables (business sector, ownership category, transformation characteristic and strategic postures) in this relationship. The theoretical framework chosen is neo-contingency theory as it deals with the limitation of contingency theory. In order to test the hypotheses, inquires based on cross sectional data were carried out. Data was collected from twenty nine organisations in Egypt using an interview guide, structured questionnaire and documentary evidence. A variety of statistical tests (using SPSS) were used to test the hypotheses and to explain the major relationships. The thesis contributes to knowledge by providing empirical evidence of cost management information system, in terms of policies and practices, in twenty nine Egyptian organisations in different sectors. It also supports the relevance of neocontingency theory as a theoretical framework for undertaking such studies. Through the testing hypotheses, it is one of the few studies to have considered moderating and intervening variables in the cost management area.