Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the top management team (TMT) characteristics and historical financial performance on strategic management accounting (SMA) usage.Design/methodology/approach: Objective data were extracted from annual financial statements, as well as data from questionnaires in a sample of 94 enterprises were used.Findings: Data analysis showed that one of the most important factors that influence the level of usage of SMA techniques is lagging historical performance of the enterprises. Those organizations that had low profitability in the past, due to the economic crisis, adopted and used innovative SMA tools more extensively, to improve their financial performance in the future. Based on Upper Echelons theory and Role theory, it was found that TMT characteristics (educational background, tenure, creativity) affect the adoption and the usage of SMA tools.Research limitations/implications: First, this research was performed on one sector. Second, only a few SMA techniques were included. Third, some TMT characteristics were measured with only one item. As a result, it was not possible to check for reliability and validity of the measurements.Practical implications: First, TMT characteristics influence the decision-making process and management control. This should be taken into account during the process of the selection of top managers. Moreover, SMA tools can be effectively used not only by CEOs and the managers of the accounting department, but from marketing managers as well. Consequently, a better communication between marketing and accounting managers is deemed essential to improve the performance of the company.Originality/value: Previous research has studied the effect of CEOs and CFOs characteristics in the design of Management Control Systems. The authors explored for the first time, the effect of the characteristics of one more member of Board of the TMT, that is, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), in the adoption and use of management accounting innovations (MAIs). Second, the authors studied one more characteristic of top level managers from Role theory, that is, creativity. Although many studies link creativity to the adoption of MAIs, this is the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that creativity is studied as an additional parameter that influences the adoption and use of SMA. Furthermore, this research provides additional knowledge about the effect of historical performance in MAIs usage. For the first time, it used objective data from annual financial statements, it calculated financial ratios, to measure historical financial performance. Moreover, this study provides knowledge about the effect of TMT characteristics in accounting choices in geographical areas, outside the USA.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the level of adoption and the benefits derived from traditional and contemporary management accounting practices in the Greek hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical survey via questionnaires was conducted on a sample of 85 leading hotels in Greece. Descriptive statistics on the adoption level, the relative benefits and future emphasis of individual practices provide the basis for discussion. Findings – The adoption rates for many recently developed practices were very satisfactory. Overall, traditional management accounting techniques (e.g. budgeting practices, profitability measures, product profitability analysis, customer profitability analysis absorption costing, and nonfinancial measures for performance evaluation) were found to be more widely adopted than recently developed tools. It is concluded that traditional management accounting is very much alive and well. Many hotels intended to place greater emphasis on more recently developed techniques in the future, particularly activity based costing techniques (activity based costing, activity based budgeting, and activity based management), balanced scorecard and benchmarking. Research limitations/implications – The study, examined a large array of items since, as with all surveys, it is possible that respondents may have misinterpreted some elements. Second, the findings of this study should be interpreted bearing in mind that the survey included the largest Greek hotels and not the general population of hotel enterprises. Finally, this research was limited to the Greek hotel sector. Originality/value – The survey provides a unique detailed examination of the management accounting practices and an indication of future trends.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between contextual factors, strategic management accounting (SMA) and historical performance in hotels. Design/methodology/approach: – An empirical survey was conducted on a sample of 106 leading hotels in Greece. Findings: – The analysis of the survey data indicates that seven contingent factors affect SMA usage in hotels: The seven factors are perceived environmental uncertainty, structure, quality of information system (IS) information, organizational life cycle stage, historical performance, strategy and size. The findings also indicate that lagging performance affects SMA and that this effect is moderated by the perceived environmental uncertainty. Research limitations/implications: – Some of the limitations are inherent to the survey method used, such as the use of perceptual measures and the potential of common method bias. Data were collected from the Greek hospitality industry, and consequently, the results may be generalizable only to that population. Practical implications: – The accounting professionals and hotel managers will also be benefited, as the study aims to identify the most relevant SMA tools adopted in the hotel industry, as well as the relationship between these tools and other external and organizational factors. Originality/value: – This research adds to the current knowledge in management accounting system design in hotels. This paper increases the understanding as to why hotels are more likely to implement SMA. The results provide the first empirical evidence of the relation between SMA usage, organizational factors, external factors and historical performance in hotels.