Towards fluid role identity of management accountants: A case study of a Finnish bank
Rautiainen, A., Scapens, R., Järvenpää, M., Auvinen, T., & Sajasalo, P. (2024). Towards fluid role identity of management accountants: A case study of a Finnish bank. The British Accounting Review, In Press, Article 101341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101341
Published in
The British Accounting ReviewDate
2024Discipline
Accounting ChangeResponsible Management, Learning, Digitalization & StrategyJohtaminenDigitaalinen liiketoiminta ja talous (painoala)LaskentatoimiKestävä liiketoiminta ja talous (painoala)Accounting ChangeResponsible Management, Learning, Digitalization & StrategyManagement and LeadershipDigital Business and Economy (focus area)AccountingSustainable Business and Economy (focus area)Copyright
© Authors
In our case study of a Finnish bank, we found that the role identity of management accountants is becoming fluid, i.e., it is constantly adjusting to accommodate shifting role expectations and changing context-specific demands. Digitalization and information technology (with such tools as artificial intelligence and robotic process automation) are key drivers of change. Furthermore, banking is also a regulated field with an increasing amount of data to be interpreted. The combination of these rather different trends is challenging for management accountants as they strive to cope with multiple pressures. We explore the role identity of management accountants (called ‘controllers’ in our case), and we find varying and fluid roles, including the roles discussed in the existing accounting literature, including the traditional ‘bean counter’ role and the ‘business partner’ role, as well as new, typically IT-related, specialist roles. We suggest that their fluid role identity enables controllers in our case to cope with continuously evolving tasks, and with changing role expectations. In this context, controllers are increasingly working in agile teams with specialists with diverse educational backgrounds and expertise.
...
Publisher
Academic PressISSN Search the Publication Forum
0890-8389Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/202798967
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Kauppakorkeakoulu [1353]
Additional information about funding
The Finnish authors acknowledge the following research grants: OP Group Research Foundation grant number 201600095 in 2016; Foundation for Economic Education grant number 200123 in 2020; and Hannes Gephard Fund grant in 2020.License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
From vernacular accounting to standardized PMS : Logic multiplicity in a cooperative bank
Kinnunen, Anniina; Järvenpää, Marko; Rautiainen, Antti (Routledge, 2023)In this chapter we analyze how local member banks shifted from local, vernacular, accounting, and performance measurement systems to centralized and standardized performance measurement systems in a cooperative bank ... -
The role of big data in Finnish companies and the implications of big data on management accounting
Kuurila, Jemmi (2016)Yrityksillä on valtavat määrät dataa, josta saadaan analytiikan avulla arvokasta informaatiota, jota yritykset käyttävät päätöksenteon tukena. Tässä tutkielmassa tutkitaan miten laajasti suomalaiset yritykset hyödyntävät ... -
Elements of perceived good physician leadership and their relation to leadership theory
Huikko-Tarvainen, Sari (Emerald, 2022)Purpose The research task is to discover elements of good physician leadership as perceived by physicians and to find out how the findings connect to the leadership theory. Design/methodology/approach The subjects (n=50) ... -
Strategic thinking and accounting : potentials and pitfalls from a managerial perspective
Aaltola, Pasi (Springer, 2019)This study explores the strategic thinking of managers from an accounting perspective. By building on interview data from managers working with strategic roles in various organizations, an understanding is offered of the ... -
From individuality towards co-operative culture : New direction for professional development in Finnish teacher education
Rautiainen, Matti; Kostiainen, Emma (Beltz Juventa, 2021)