6201 17605 1 PB
6201 17605 1 PB
6201 17605 1 PB
Abstract Keywords
accounting information system;
Environmental management accounting has received increasing
interest in recent years. However, despite increasing interest, contingency factors;
reference concerning the current state of environmental environmental management
management accounting development remain scarce. The objective accounting practices; Indonesia.
of the research presented here is to extend current knowledge by
investigating whether accounting information system design could
be used to develop a greater understanding of environmental
management accounting use by Indonesian organisations. A
research framework was developed from contingency theory to
identify the circumstances under which organisations were more
likely to develop a sophisticated accounting information system
design and ultimately to investigate its impact to environmental
management accounting activities. In order to test this framework,
a web-based survey of Indonesian accountants in business was
conducted. This research exploits the quantitative research
methodology to understand the relationship between contingent
factors, which are firm size, firm age, organizational structure,
uncertainty environment, and manager profile that influence
accounting information system design and environmental
management accouting practice among various companies in
Indonesia. The survey was conducted on companies located in
Jabodetabek area. 100 questionnaires were received from various
companies and the finding highlights that the firm age,
environment uncertainty, and manager experience significantly
affect accounting information system quality and environmental
management accounting practice. In light of the results, it would
also be valuable to employ qualitative research methods and
attempt to develop a deeper understanding as to why such lack of
engagement is the case.
I. Introduction
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/birci.v5i3.6201
Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal)
Volume 5, No 3, August 2022, Page: 21903-21914
e-ISSN: 2615-3076 (Online), p-ISSN: 2615-1715 (Print)
www.bircu-journal.com/index.php/birci
email: birci.journal@gmail.com
quality environmental management; and material and energy flow accounting (Schaltegger
et al., 2012; Yakhou and Dorweiler, 2004).
EMA provides a pragmatic response to criticism that conventional management
accounting has failed in its ability to provide explicit consideration of environmental issues
with environmental costs frequently ‘hidden’ in general overhead accounts and potential
environmental benefits often downplayed or ignored (Jasch, 2003; Papaspyropoulos et al.,
2012; Xiaomei, 2004). By providing data on the physical and financial elements of
environmental performance, it has been suggested EMA will provide information that can
be used by corporate management to assess opportunities for economic and environmental
improvement (Gale, 2006; Schaltegger and Burritt, 2000). With environmental degradation
expected to maintain its prominence on both the national and international stage, it has
become clear that failure to collect data on the environmental impacts associated with
business operations will result in information that is insufficient to serve the needs of
corporate management as they strive to meet the changing requirements of the
contemporary marketplace (Jasch, 2003). The economic condition of the population is a
condition that describes human life that has economic score (Shah et al, 2020). Economic
growth is still an important goal in a country's economy, especially for developing
countries like Indonesia (Magdalena and Suhatman, 2020).
While substantial effort has been devoted to normative arguments and commentary
extolling the benefits to be obtained from the ‘greening’ of management accounting, a
small but growing academic effort has been extended to investigating EMA in practice
(Burritt, 2004; Ferreira et al., 2010). However, theoretical explanations for the current state
of EMA development are still lacking (Bouma and van der Veen, 2002; Qian et al., 2011).
Motivated by the need for theory informed explanations concerning EMA in practice, the
present study offers an empirical survey-based project that seeks to extend current
knowledge about the organisational characteristics behind EMA development. Specifically,
Accounting Information System (AIS) design which is one of the most important
organization characteristics will be discussed in this study.
The study of the accounting information system is one of the privileged themes in
the field of research in management control and in management in general (Merchant and
Van der Stede 2011). It is a vital tool in the organization which provides the necessary
information used by professionals for effective decision making, planning, and control
functions that ensure the competitiveness of the organizations (Saganuwan et al. 2013).
Past research has uncovered that EMA is related to information system. To improve EMA
practice, information system (IS) is one of the current solutions for evaluating, monitoring,
and planning to manage the environment and performance, particularly in the
manufacturing industry (Gimenez et al., 2015; Habidin et al., 2018a). stem. Stanciu et al.
(2011) conducted research in Romania and indicated that EMAP is part of the practice in
implementing environmental management accounting and it has a
relationship with IS to address environmental issues. Furthermore, Mohd Fuzi et al (2020)
revealed that there is a positive and direct significant relationship between Environmental
Management Accouting Practice and Information System.
Nevertheless, accounting information system constitutes a subject of controversy
mostly because of the absence of a universal definition and in the presence of mixed and
contradictory results (Chapellier et al. 2013). Despite the increasing number of literatures
on AIS, a sound theoretical foundation is still missing, which is also true for the concept of
accounting information system itself in which the abovementioned past articles refered.
For a better understanding of the accounting information system, this study use theory of
structural and behavioral contingency adopted from a model developed by Ghorbel (2016).
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In previous study by Ghorbel (2016), the factors that influence the design of the
accounting information system in the Tunisian SMEs is identified through the
characteristics of information, accounting management tools, and degree of formalism. The
examination of structural contingency showed that there is a positive and significant effect
of the firm’s size on the degree of formalism. Besides, a positive and significant effect of
the organizational structure on the characteristics of the accounting information systems
was observed. Furthermore, investigating the behavioral contingency showed that the
manager’s profile affects in part the use of accounting management tools.
Through the adoption of the integrated contingency factors, the purpose of this
research structured around the following questions: What is the effect of structural and
behavioral contingency factors towards the design of the accounting information system?
How are they impacting environmental management accounting practice in Indonesian
organisations?
Few studies have examined the degree of EMA practice in the Indonesian context
and, to our knowledge, there is no research involving all of these contingency factors
influencing the design of the accounting information system and environmental
management accounting in the same study.
Our study extends the AIS and EMA literature and can enrich the reflections and
analyses of professional accountants in shedding light on the AIS. In addition, this work
can assist managers and leaders to have a frame of reference and ameliorate their ability to
understand and design a satisfactory accounting information system for their needs and
then help them to improve the EMA practice.
This paper is structured as follows: Section 1 includes the theoretical framework and
hypotheses. Section 2 shows materials and methods. In section 3, the results are presented.
Section 4 contains the research discussion. Finally, the research implications and
limitations as well as the future prospects are presented in the conclusion
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internal controls, the enhancement of decision-making procedures and assessment of
business performances (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2020). Without quality AIS, there will be no
high-quality accounting information.
b. Age of Firm
Little research has focused on the relationship between the age of the firm and its
accounting practices (Bonache et al. 2015). In this context, one of the asked questions is
the difference between the accounting practices of the older organizations and those of the
younger ones. The study of Davila (2005) showed the relevance of the age on the
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management control systems. Actually, the results indicated that low age is associated with
a dominance of rather informal control systems, while high age leads to rather formalized
and mechanistic management control systems. For several authors, age evolving into more
bureaucratic forms is often associated with the growth of the organization. Mintzberg
(1982) explains that as the age of the firm increases, its behavior becomes formalized. The
model of growth phases of Greiner (1972) revealed that the emergence of the management
control systems will intervene after a number of years. During the first phase, the
entrepreneurial organization is characterized by informal ties, whereas in the second phase,
it is characterized by a more formalized and standardized structure. However, Holmes and
Nicholls (1989) showed that the acquisition or the preparation of a relatively detailed level
of accounting information decreases as the firm’s age increases. They explained that in the
early years of the company’s existence, the manager is requesting information because it is
a learning situation but that over time, this demand will fall before stabilizing. Therefore,
we side with Mintzberg in his statements and hypothesize that:
H2: There is a positive relationship between the Firm Age and Accounting Information
System Quality.
H2a: Accounting Information System mediates the relationship between Firm Age and
Environmental Management Accounting Practices.
c. Organizational Structure
One of the more common operationalisations of structure in the management
accounting literature is the mechanistic/organic continuum (Burns and Stalker 1961;
Chenhall 2003; Christ and Burritt 2013). Burns and Stalker (1961) advocate that
organizational efficiency and effectiveness would be best served by what they termed a
mechanistic structure when the environmental conditions are stable. However, when the
environmental conditions are uncertain or in a state of flux, an organic structure would
produce superior results. Given the context of our study, we adopted the organic structure.
Choe (1998) argues that organic structures have higher information processing capabilities
and more interdependence among sub-units. Previous studies have demonstrated the
relationship between organizational structure and the characteristics of the accounting
information system (Chang et al. 2003;
Therefore, an SMI with an organic organizational structure needs more information.
As a consequence, the following hypothesis is put forward:
H3: There is a positive relationship between the organicness of organization structure and
Accounting Information System Quality.
H3a: Accounting Information System mediates the relationship between the organicness of
organization structure and Environmental Management Accounting Practices.
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on the management control system. Indeed, when uncertainty increases, the need to collect
information also increases (Daft and Macintosh 1981; Daft and Lengel 1986). Chenhall
and Morris (1986), Chia (1995) and Chong and Chong (1997) believe that the increase of
perceived uncertainty of the environment leads to a high recourse of firms to external and
non-financial information. Several authors (Chenhall and Morris 1986; Gordon and
Narayanan 1984) showed that perceived uncertainty of the environment can be diminished
if managers provide information on a wider scope.
Post and Epstein (1977) argue that their effective management is linked to the
availability of adequate and timely information. On the other hand, Mintzberg (1973)
found that managers were concerned not only by obtaining accurate and complete
information, but also by having it quickly. Therefore, if the environment is uncertain and
dynamic, managers need to have a useful broad scope, timely and aggregated information
for the decision-making process. Hence, our hypothesis is as follows:
H4: There is a positive relationship between the environment uncertainty and Accounting
Information System Quality.
H4a: Accounting Information System mediates the relationship between the environment
uncertainty and Environmental Management Accounting Practices.
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Figure 1. Research Framework
The data for this study were collected through a survey technique, using an adopted
and adapted instrument from previous studies to measure variables specified within the
suggested framework.
Tabel 1. Operationalization of variables
No Variables Measure
1. Size of firm (SIZE) Number of employees
2. Age of firm (AGEF) Number of years of existence
3. Organic organizational Items are measured on a Likert scale of 5 points
structure (STRU) adopted the work of Hage and Aiken (1969), Gordon
and Narayanan (1984), Kalika (1987).
4. Uncertainty of the environment Items are measured on a Likert scale of 5 points
(ENVI) adopted the work of Govindarajan (1984).
5. Age of Manager (AGEM) 20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–60, more than 60 years
6. Experience in the same EXP1: Experience 1: Number of years in this
business business: (<1 year, 1–3; 3–10, >10 years)
7. Experience in the different EXP2: Experience 2: Originally from experience: he
business has always worked in the current business or he has
worked elsewhere
8. Accounting Information Items were measured on a Likert scale of 5 points
System Quality adopted the research instrument developed by
Romney et al. (2018)
9. Environmental Management Items were measured on a Likert scale of 5 points
Accounting Practice (EMAP) adopted the research instrument developed by
Ferreira et al. (2010)
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IV. Result and Discussion
Based on the analysis shown in Table 3, H2, H4, H5.2, and H6 of this study are
supported, whereas H1, H3, and H5.1 are not. H6 is supported by the R2 value of 0.388,
which suggests that 38.8% of the variance in environmental management accounting
practice can be explained by the extent of accounting information system quality, and there
is a positive relationship (t = 14.365, p < 0.01) between the extent of accounting
information system quality and environmental management accounting practice. In this
study, it was found that manager experiencce in different business is the most significant
predictor of the extent of accounting information system quality, followed by environment
uncertainty. At the same time, firm size, organization structure, and age of manager were
measured with p values of 0.321, 0.329, 0.758. Thus, in this study H1, H3, and H5.1 are
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not supported due to the weak correlation with accounting information system quality and
environmental management accounting.
4.3 Discussion
The primary purpose of this study was to identify the contingent factors that
influence accounting information system quality and environmental management
accounting practice. The current study found that firm age, environment uncertainty, and
manager experience, have a significant relationship with AISQ and EMAP. Firstly,
uncertain environment seems to be driving organization from having a high-quality
accounting information system. Secondly, the firm age and manager experience are also
important determinant in building accounting information system with better quality.
Thirdly, it is found that it is also important to have accounting information system with
good quality as it will ultimately determine the higher degree of environmental
management accounting practice.
V. Conclusion
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