The aim of this course is to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of contemporary management accounting research, which emanates from different philosophical perspectives and employs different theories and research methods. Research is divided into two broad streams: work that seeks (a) to explain and design , and (b) to understand and interpret the practice of management accounting in organisational societies. Topics covered include design approaches using behavioural decision theory, contingency theory, institutional theory, and others and interpretive approaches using symbolic interactionism and theories of culture. There is also brief coverage of national differences in management accounting practice and of critical analyses of the development and operation of management accounting systems.