Improving SME performance through Management Accounting Education | 2 Management Accounting Practices of UK Small-Medium-Sized Enterprises

• The emphasis on management accounting in SMEs tends to be on control information rather than aiding decision-making; there is a tendency to make decisions without adequate, or indeed any, financial information or analysis; • In smaller enterprises, the management accounting is often undertaken by the owner-manager/entrepreneur, resulting in significant opportunity costs. Where more structured use of management accounting techniques could add value, it might be appropriate to employ a management accountant ‘business partner’ to address this problem; • There is considerable variation in the amount and type of management accounting undertaken, seemingly conditioned by a number of factors: i. size (larger organisations do more management accounting than smaller ones); ii. financial constraint in terms of profitability, cash flow and credit availability (severely constrained organisations do more management accounting than less constrained ones); iii. external stakeholder requirements; iv. background and experience of senior management team (senior managers with non-financial backgrounds being less likely to employ management accounting); v. nature of the operations and the environment in which the enterprise is operating