Management accounting and decision making: Two case studies of outsourcing

Abstract

Highlights• The Management Accounting and Decision Making: Two Case Studies explore the production and use of accounting information in complex and strategic significant decision settings.• We draw on two case companies that make outsourcing decisions based on accounting calculations.• Two methods for outsourcing decision-making are uncovered: an analytical and an actor-based.• The two methods have substantially different ways of managing information uncertainty, of fostering interaction among the coalition of decision-participants and of making use of management accounting.• The findings reveal that management accounting can be produced and used in relation to complex and strategic decision situations.