The Role of Managers' Work Experience in the Perceived Effectiveness of Management Accounting Techniques: Evidence from Manufacturing Firms in Toos Industrial Town, Mashhad
Keywords:
management accounting techniques; managers' work experience; strategic cost management; total quality management; organizational performance; external organizational relationshipsAbstract
Management accounting techniques are increasingly viewed as strategic information tools rather than merely cost-control instruments, yet their perceived usefulness may depend on how managers with different levels of professional experience interpret and apply management accounting information. This applied descriptive-survey study with an exploratory causal-comparative orientation examined experience-based differences in the perceived effectiveness of selected management accounting techniques in relation to organizational performance indicators among financial managers, heads of accounting, and financial experts working in manufacturing firms in Toos Industrial Town, Mashhad, Iran. The statistical population consisted of approximately 95 large manufacturing firms, and 70 usable questionnaires were analyzed. The questionnaire was adapted from prior management accounting research and measured perceived effectiveness using a five-point Likert scale; face validity was reviewed by academic and professional experts, and internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = .98). Because the variables were ordinal and normality assumptions were not met, Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare work-experience groups. The results showed that work experience significantly differentiated perceived effectiveness for strategic cost management and total quality management in relation to external organizational relationships (p = .004 for both techniques). For strategic cost management, the highest mean rank was observed among respondents with 10-15 years of experience, whereas for total quality management, the highest mean rank was observed among respondents with 5-10 years of experience. No significant experience-based differences were reported for other organizational performance indicators. The findings suggest that managerial experience should not be treated as a universal determinant of management accounting effectiveness; rather, its role appears technique-specific and performance-domain-specific. Because the study used nonparametric group comparisons and self-reported perceptions, the results should be interpreted as exploratory evidence of experience-based differences rather than definitive causal moderation.
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