Hussain, Md. Mostaque (2000). Management Accounting Systems in Services: Empirical Evidence with Non-financial Performance Measurement in Finnish, Swedish and Japanese Banks and other Financial Institutions. Acta Wasaensia No. 78, 316 pages.

The rapid advancement of enormously expanding information technologies and vigorous global competition have caused the irrelevance of conventional Management Accounting Systems (MAS) in providing useful information to assist management's decision making, planning and control in both service and manufacturing organizations. The inadequacies of conventional MAS increase the need for up-to-date Management Accounting information, but there are a number of studies that report gaps between recent ideas and the practice of MAS. At the same time, critical non-financial success factors are emerging in highly competitive, technologically advanced, modern business organizations, especially in the service sector with its increasing contribution to advanced economies and employment markets. As a result, the role of MA in measuring emerging Non-financial Performance (NFP) becomes increasingly important in services. Thus, taking into consideration the usefulness of recent MAS, the need for studying the nature of MA practice and the increasing role of MA in measuring NFP in service, this study attempts to investicate (A) the usefulness of recent developments in MAS; (B) the nature of MA practices; and (C) more particularly, the role of MA in NFP measurement in service organizations in the three, following, phases: The first part, Part A, demonstrates the shortcomings of traditional MAS and the usefulness of the relatively new ABC approach in services with a particular reference to the financial industry. It is entitled "Activity-Based Costing in Service Management ".

The nature of MA practice with a particular reference to Finnish service firms has been investigated in Part B, prior to choosing the cases. This pilot study is entitled "Management Accounting Systems in Finnish Service Firms".

Finally, Part C, field study has been conducted to investigate the role of MA in measuring increasingly important NFP in a particular service type (Financial Institutions, Fitzgerald et al. 1991). This study is frameworked within 'New Institutional Sociology' (NIS) theory, and is entitled "The Role of Management Accounting in Non-financial Performance Measurement in Finnish, Swedish and Japanese Banks and other Financial Institutions". The empirical study, Part C, examines the factors that influence MA practice in the subject organizations. Several factors have been identified (within NIS) that affect NFP measurement, of which economic impact is the most influential, followed subsequently by coercive, normative and mimetic pressures. The empirical findings of this research are evaluated in the context of relevant extent theory and used to modify theory for further research that fits with the dynamic/changing nature of NFP measures in the financial services industry under different circumstances/ environments.

Md. Mostaque Hussain, Faculty of Accounting and Industrial Management, University of Vaasa, Wolffintie 34, FIN-65101 Vaasa, Finland

Key Words: Performance Measurement; Management Accounting; Service Management; Banks/ Financial Institutions; Activity-Based Costing; Finland, Sweden and Japan