The achievement of better performance from municipal administrations is an ongoing challenge. We use the contingency theory perspective, which concentrates on the specific environmental settings of organisations, to examine the influence of management accounting departments within German municipal administrations. Our findings indicate that as the size of municipalities increases, the level of their administrative performance decreases. We additionally show that this negative effect can be mitigated when management accounting is seen as being highly relevant and when the management accounting department performs well. Furthermore, a comparison of the accounting systems (cash versus accrual accounting) used in municipal administrations reveals that a successful working management accounting department can only exert a positive effect when the municipal administration acts under an accrual accounting regime.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how balanced scorecard (BSC) users change their judgement processes according to qualitative changes in the BSC. Prior experimental studies have found that decision-makers do not fully adapt their judgements according to changes in financial reports, known as functional fixation. Although previous research has examined functional fixation in several management accounting-related disciplines, the research has not been completely successful in developing a deeper understanding of the cognitive processes that are responsible for the occurrence of this judgemental bias. Design/methodology/approach – To fill this gap, a combination of structural modelling and a process tracing method that monitors participants’ information acquisition to better understand the underlying cognitive processes that affect BSC users’ judgements is used. Findings – Overall, the results indicate that functional fixation is present both from an input–output (structural modelling) and a process tracing perspective. Stable general individual differences, particularly in terms of intuitive versus deliberative preferences in decision-making, influence the probability of functionally fixated behaviour. Additionally, previous findings concerning the over-reliance on financial information in the BSC setting is replicated. Using process data, it was found that BSC users rely more on financial measures than on non-financial measures in the pre-decisional phase of exercising their judgement. Originality/value – This paper contribute to management accounting research on the BSC by investigating two cognitive biases (functional fixation and overreliance on financial measures) from an input–output and a process tracing perspective.

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War die verpflichtende Verwendung der International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) durch kapitalmarktorientierte Unternehmen in Europa durchaus umstritten, wird sie seit einiger Zeit aber nicht mehr in Frage gestellt. Inzwischen gibt es eine Reihe von Studien, die die Konsequenzen der Anwendung der IFRS auf die Attraktivität für Investoren aufzeigen. Zwei dieser Studien werden im Folgenden vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus wird eine dritte Studie vorgestellt, die die Bedeutung einer hohen Qualität von Rechnungswesen-Informationen für die Finanzierung von Unternehmen untersucht.