Understanding Management Accounting Research from Laughlin’s (1985) Lens

As a closed neighboring discipline of accounting, should Management Accounting (MA) be viewed as social practice or merely as a technical knowledge or both? Such question has been greatly debated among academia and practitioners. There has been a great diverse ‘battle’ or disagreement among positivists, interpretivist and criticalist in terms of which is the most appropriate paradigm to be followed has been greatly debated from the perspectives of epistemology and ontology. By answering this question, it may contribute a greater insight to the theoretical and practical perspectives of Management Accounting research. This paper adopts Laughlin’s Middle Range perspective to harmonise the debate between different schools of thoughts in accounting research. This paper aims to explore the understanding of management accounting from a broader perspective which incorporates technical and social practices together. It also intends to offer an insight into mixed research approach which is adopted in accounting research. Lastly, this paper offers a view of the future challenges ahead of accounting researchers.