Management accountants work in a computerized workplace with information technology (IT) being used for financial ledgers and reporting. Thus, the role of the management accountant has shifted from capturing and recording transactions to analyzing business issues. This paper examines the IT knowledge and skills that employers require of management accounting graduates. An exploratory field research approach was used to gather data. Chief financial officers (CFOs) and their subordinates at some of New Zealand's largest firms were interviewed. These respondents were consistent in their requirements. In particular they emphasized intermediate proficiency with some Microsoft tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and familiarity with the structure and navigation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to be able to process transactions such as accounts receivable or accounts payable. Of those requirements, Excel for analysis was by far the most important. Our contributions update and augment the literature by clarifying the perceptions of employers regarding the IT competencies required of management accounting graduates.

Purpose Budgets are commonly viewed as a central component of management control systems (MCS). The beyond budgeting literature argues that managers can develop other controls to replace budgets. The purpose of this paper is to examine the MCS package of an organisation which has never in its history had a traditional budget. Design/methodology/approach The authors carry out an ethnomethodology informed case study at Mainfreight, a large multinational logistics company headquartered in New Zealand. Data were collected from interviews with managers and accountants, internal company documents, published corporate histories, a company presentation, the corporate Web site and site visits. Findings The authors found that Mainfreight’s MCS package was explicitly designed based on cultural and administrative systems which supported the planning, cybernetic and reward systems managers used to monitor key drivers of short-and long-term performance with a focus on profitability. Research limitations/implications The implication of the finding is that a more holistic view of the MCS package is necessary to understand how control is achieved within organisations that have moved beyond budgeting. Practical implications The authors show that organisations can operate without traditional budgets and still maintain a high level of control by developing appropriate cultural and administrative control systems that are internally consistent with their planning, cybernetic and reward systems. Originality/value The scarcity of organisations that have never had budgets limits opportunities to investigate an MCS package intended to function without budgets. This unique case setting reveals the design of an integrated non-budgeting MCS package.

Purpose This paper aims to consider the enabling and coercive features of formal control in non-hierarchical settings and the factors influencing perceptions of controls. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a qualitative case study of a single organization. Data are collected via semi-structured interviews, a range of published materials and a management presentation. Analysis considered the features of coercive and enabling control at the level of individual controls. Findings In this highly decentralized organization, internal and global transparency predominate and help managers respond to contingencies in flexible ways. Managers cannot repair certain elements of controls to ensure there is stability in an otherwise flexible system. The existence (absence) of enabling features combined with the type of controls (e.g. action or results controls) lacking enabling features influence managers’ perceptions of control. Research limitations/implications Few studies have considered formal controls in non-hierarchical organizations. The findings reveal the importance of minimally coercive control features in creating a stable structure for controlling performance. The findings may not be relevant to other hierarchical organizations. Originality/value The study is conducted in a highly decentralized context where managers have extensive autonomy (flexibility). The context allows the role of minimally coercive control features to be explored in an essentially enabling organizational setting.

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