Structured abstractPurpose: While the number of women working in management accounting has increased, the percentage of female executives in this area remains low. Previous studies examining the underrepresentation of women in accounting leadership positions have analyzed factors that hinder women from reaching these positions. The aim of this paper, by contrast, is to identify factors that support the advancement of those female executives who have reached a leadership position. Further, this paper highlights the self-reported obstacles and difficulties faced by respondents in reaching their current positions.Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with 10 female executives in the management accounting departments of Austrian firms. The interview transcripts were analyzed by using the general inductive approach. Findings:The results of the study show that most women classified their social skills and professional expertise as the key factors leading to their successful advancement; however, they also highlighted that ambition and luck played important roles. We found that support from both life partners and superiors was essential for these women in reaching their current positions and in handling difficulties when in a leadership position. Further difficulties include working time, work-life balance, and motherhood. Research limitations/implications:As the findings are based on interviews conducted with female Austrian executives in large (more than 250 employees) manufacturing-or servicesector firms, they are not readily generalizable. Practical implications:This study identifies factors that may help prospective female management accounting executives reach leadership positions. Furthermore, less senior female management accountants may learn from this paper that women who have already reached leadership positions in management accounting may have had to cope with problems similar to those that younger and less senior female management accountants currently experience.Originality/value: This article is among the first to address gender in the field of management accounting.

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This paper examines the relationship between characteristics of chief financial officers (CFOs) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system adoption. Following upper echelons theory, we theorize that CFO age, education, tenure, and recruitment influence ERP system adoption and that this relationship is moderated by the CFO being responsible for firm-wide IT functions. Design/methodology/approach: Our empirical analysis is based on a survey of 296 large and medium-sized Austrian firms. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between CFO characteristics and ERP system adoption. 2 Findings: We find that firms with externally recruited CFOs have adopted ERP systems significantly more often than firms with internally promoted CFOs. Surprisingly, our results indicate that firms with less-educated CFOs more often adopted an ERP system and that the relationship between CFO characteristics and ERP system adoption is not moderated by the CFO being responsible for IT. Research limitations/implications: Our paper adds to the literature by corroborating case-based evidence that CFOs and their characteristics influence ERP system adoption. Extending previous research which indicates that CFO characteristics influence accounting practices, we show that CFO characteristics also influence technological innovation such as the adoption of ERP systems. Future research on technological innovation may therefore pay closer attention to the influence of CFOs. Originality/value: This article is the first to quantitatively test the influence of CFO characteristics on ERP system adoption.

PurposeDue to globalization and digitalization, the world of work is undergoing comprehensive change. These trends are challenging management accounting (MA) and pressuring individuals and organizations to change. The literature postulates a replacement of traditional organizational careers by “new” career models characterized by dynamism and flexibility. However, the state of the art on careers in MA lacks empirical evidence and has disparate research interests.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors investigate the status quo of careers in MA, key influencing factors and assumed change in such careers. To do so, the authors conducted a quantitative empirical study, based primarily on the careers of 83 graduates of a department offering a MA major at a German-speaking university. Nine qualitative empirical interviews supplement the quantitative findings.FindingsThe authors’ findings indicate that while MA careers are changing, the characteristics of the profession are continuing to concur with the traditional organizational understanding of careers. Accumulated professional experience is the key factor to achieving a management position although management accountants tend to become more dynamic in terms of career paths and career understanding. Thus, employment in various functional areas opens new career paths in MA.Research limitations/implicationsThe methodology of analysing quantitative and empirical cross-sectional data and the resulting final sample size is too small to guarantee robust statistical inference. Moreover, further interviews would lead to greater data saturation.Practical implicationsThe study sheds light on the under-researched question of how careers in MA proceed and develop. This could be of interest for practitioners working with management accountants such as personnel consultants.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the field through its comprehensive consideration of careers in MA in this changed context, thus providing new insights for academia and business practice.

Research into the field of management accounting practices in family businesses is growing. A considerable number of publications in this field are now dedicated to exploring the differences between family and non-family businesses. This paper investigates stakeholder satisfaction and stakeholder information, which have thus far been neglected fields, both in management accounting and in family business research. Based on both contingency and stakeholder theory, we find that the contextual factors - firm type and firm size - cannot be regarded as determining factors in firms stakeholder goals.