The impact of management accounting research: an analysis of the past and a look at the future

This paper aims to explore the impact of management accounting research through a review of the literature on the issues related to this topic; some new avenues of research are also identified. In so doing, the paper contributes to both theory and praxis. In fact, in suggesting new areas of research it promotes research in this field which, up to now, has been mainly focused on the determinants of the loss of impact rather than on the nature of the impact of management accounting research and its assessment. Moreover, this work aims to stimulate new research focused on tools and methods for measuring the impact of management accounting research; such tools can be useful to funding institutions and evaluation agencies which can be better equipped to carry out an ex-ante and an ex-post evaluation of the impact that management accounting research projects can have on society.