IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v17y2024i8p366-d1458483.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Essential Factors When Designing a Cost Accounting System in Greek Manufacturing Entities

Author

Listed:
  • Sofia Alexopoulou

    (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens MBA, 10559 Athens, Greece)

  • Dimitris Balios

    (Department of Economics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10559 Athens, Greece)

  • Theodoros Kounadeas

    (Department of Business Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10559 Athens, Greece)

Abstract

We examine the extent to which basic factors, such as the structure, complexity, and usefulness of a cost system, affect the design of cost systems and the resulting satisfaction and help companies make the right decisions. Moreover, we examine the relationship between the structure and complexity of cost systems with (a) a company’s demographic data, such as the volume of its activities, the number of years it has been operating, its sector, its size, and the gender, age, level of training, and position of its employees; and (b) information concerning production and competition, such as the number of products that a company produces, the number of a company’s production lines, the level of competition, and the extent to which competition affects a company’s pricing policy. Empirical research was conducted via a questionnaire in which a sample of 114 industrial companies in Greece took part. The findings revealed that the structure and the usefulness of a cost system, but not its complexity, significantly affect the satisfaction users get from the system when they are called to make fast and correct decisions. The results point out a positive correlation between the satisfaction a user gets from a cost system and the range of information (R), the calculation of deviations (CS), the provision of accurate information (CS), the quality of information (CS), the number of cost pools (C), the number of allocation bases (C), and the cost information (U). Companies that produce more goods and have a complex production process have cost systems that not only have a more detailed structure and provide more detailed information with the calculation of deviations as well as accurate information but also have more cost pools and cost allocation bases. The more competition affects a company’s pricing policy, the more a company seeks systems that categorize costs based on behavior (structure) and more cost allocation bases (complexity). The larger a company is, with a long (>20 years) and international presence, the higher the probability a company will have a system with a more detailed cost information structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofia Alexopoulou & Dimitris Balios & Theodoros Kounadeas, 2024. "Essential Factors When Designing a Cost Accounting System in Greek Manufacturing Entities," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-33, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:8:p:366-:d:1458483
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/8/366/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/8/366/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Apostolos G. Christopoulos & Ioannis G. Dokas & Petros Kalantonis & Theodora Koukkou, 2019. "Investigation of financial distress with a dynamic logit based on the linkage between liquidity and profitability status of listed firms," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(10), pages 1817-1829, October.
    2. Gordon, Lawrence A. & Miller, Danny, 1976. "A contingency framework for the design of accounting information systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 59-69, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Evangelos Soras & Stella Zounta & Apostolos G. Christopoulos, 2025. "Auditors’ Contribution in Enhancing Non-Quantitative Information Quality," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-20, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zbysław Dobrowolski & Grzegorz Drozdowski & Mirela Panait & Arkadiusz Babczuk, 2022. "Can the Economic Value Added Be Used as the Universal Financial Metric?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Solabomi Omobola Ajibolade, Ph.D, FCA, FIMLS, ACTI, 2013. "Drivers of Choice of Management Accounting System Designs in Nigerian Manufacturing Companies," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 3(9), pages 45-57, July.
    3. Jagdish PATHAK & Abdulkadir HUSSEIN & Ram SRIRAM & S. Ejaz AHMED, 2010. "On Measuring the Criticality of Various Variables and Processes in Organization Information Systems: Proposed Methodological Procedure," Informatica Economica, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(2), pages 5-18.
    4. Reid, Gavin C. & Smith, Julia A., 2009. "A coevolutionary analysis of organisational systems and processes: Quantitative applications to information system dynamics in small entrepreneurial firms," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 762-781.
    5. Christophe Germain, 2003. "Le " Unbalanced Scorecard " Ou L'Analyse De La Differenciation Des Systemes De Mesure De La Performance," Post-Print halshs-00582778, HAL.
    6. Tarek Chanegrih, 2007. "Les changements en contrôle de gestion : une étude empirique," Post-Print halshs-00543241, HAL.
    7. Gelderman, M., 1995. "Factors affecting the success of management support systems: analysis and meta-analysis," Serie Research Memoranda 0020, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    8. Solabomi Ajibolade & Babajide Oyewo, 2017. "Firm Characteristics and Performance Disclosure in Annual Reports of Nigerian Banks using the Balanced Scorecard," EuroEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 1(36), pages 94-112, May.
    9. Carol A. Adams & Carlos Larrinaga‐González, 2007. "Engaging with organisations in pursuit of improved sustainability accounting and performance," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 333-355, June.
    10. Ittner, Christopher D. & Larcker, David F., 2001. "Assessing empirical research in managerial accounting: a value-based management perspective," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 349-410, December.
    11. Ionel Bostan & Aliona Bîrcă & Viorel Țurcanu & Christiana Brigitte Sandu, 2018. "Systemic Approach to Management Control through Determining Factors," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, October.
    12. Henri, Jean-Francois, 2006. "Organizational culture and performance measurement systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 77-103, January.
    13. Like Jiang & Paul André & Chrystelle Richard, 2018. "An international study of internal audit function quality," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 264-298, April.
    14. Bikramaditya Ghosh & Spyros Papathanasiou & Vandita Dar & Dimitrios Kenourgios, 2022. "Deconstruction of the Green Bubble during COVID-19 International Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    15. Solabomi Omobola Ajibolade, Ph.D, FCA, FIMLS, ACTI, 2013. "Drivers of Choice of Management Accounting System Designs in Nigerian Manufacturing Companies," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 3(9), pages 45-57, September.
    16. Müller-Stewens, Benedikt & Widener, Sally K. & Möller, Klaus & Steinmann, Jan-Christoph, 2020. "The role of diagnostic and interactive control uses in innovation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Bouwens, Jan & Abernethy, Margaret A., 2000. "The consequences of customization on management accounting system design," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 221-241, April.
    18. Marco Gatti & Maria Serena Chiucchi, 2017. "Context matters - Il ruolo del contesto negli studi di controllo di gestione," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(3), pages 5-10.
    19. Yosra Nouir & Sami Mensi, 2013. "Accounting Information System of Tunisian SMEs: Complexity, Determinants and Impact on Financial Performance," Working Papers 766, Economic Research Forum, revised Sep 2013.
    20. Estelle NOUDOHOUENOU & Karima SYLLA DOUCOURE, 2023. "Facteurs de contingence et choix des outils de contrôle de gestion dans les petites et moyennes entreprises," Journal of Academic Finance, RED research unit, university of Gabes, Tunisia, vol. 14(1), pages 2-15, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:8:p:366-:d:1458483. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.