Changing Roles of Management Accountants in Malaysian Companies: A Preliminary Study

lobalization, intense competition, governmental regulations and innovation in technology have greatly changed the business environment. Organizations demand for more proactive management accountants, who can continuously steer the business to success. This definitely changes the roles and tasks of management accountants. The objective of this study is to explore past and future management accountants’ tasks and skills in Malaysian organizations. A survey was conducted on registered management accountants with CIMA Malaysian division. The survey findings revealed that future management accountants are required to have a broad view of the business it is in and therefore spend less time dealing with accounting issues. Management accountants are also expected to have a more strategic focus, which included the use of a range of performance measures such as non-financial measures to enhance business performance. Overall, the findings revealed that management accountants’ roles and tasks changed overtime and they are facing ongoing transformation.