SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

Maia BAJAN Academia de Studii Economice a Moldovei

Abstract

Management accounting has evolved from cost accounting that put emphasis on the determination of the production cost, to a distinct accounting domain, directed towards analysis and prevision, with a strong focus on management. The analysis of researchers’ opinions, presented in local and foreign literature, allows the identification of three types of scientific approaches to the definition of management accounting, namely: conservative, moderate and radical. The conservative approach on managerial accounting has the basic task of collecting and analyzing productions costs; the moderate approach is considered as a system of transmitting the required information for the management decisionmaking process, and the radical approach can be recognized in an entity’s general management system, as well as in its separate subdivisions. Keywords: management accounting, conservative approach, moderate approach, radical approach.