Measuring Management Accounting Service Quality

Management accounting (MA) plays an important service role in most organizations. As a result, companies should include MA service quality as a key performance measure of the accounting function. While internal service functions such as information systems, sales, human resources, and customer service frequently conduct service quality assessments, the lack of quality research related to accounting service suggests that the same typically does not occur for management accounting. This may be because those outside of the accounting field do not understand management accounting as well or because of its low cost relative to other organizational activities. Regardless, accounting departments should examine how they can increase their service quality to improve user decision making and productivity of organizations. In particular, as management accountants seek to add value by serving as strategic business partners and improving business performance management, an analysis of accounting service quality could provide useful metrics that accounting management can track to monitor user satisfaction. This article discusses the results of a study of MA service quality.