Management Accounting Practices in Vietnamese Enterprises

The objective of this chapter is to study the current evolutionary stage of management accounting practices (MAPs) in Vietnam. It explores the extent to which various MAPs are implemented in Vietnamese enterprises using a survey to collect information and the IFAC model as an international measure. Of the 700 companies that received the questionnaires, 250 provided usable responses, a 35.7% response rate. The results indicate that the majority (66.8%) of Vietnamese enterprises are in the first two stages of the IFAC model. Fewer enterprises (33.2%) have reached Stages 3 and 4, the higher evolutionary stages of the IFAC model. It is found that the most widely adopted MAPs in Vietnamese enterprises are standard costing, absorption costing, budgeting for product cost controlling, budgeting for revenue, financial ratios analysis, profitability ratio analysis, and profit analysis for products. Additionally, the respondents report that the most important roles of management accounting in their enterprises are to evaluate enterprise performance, to use for planning and controlling, and to help make decisions on production or investment. Few enterprises appreciate the roles that modern management accounting play in enhancing resource efficiency and reducing waste. Therefore, this research provides empirical evidence on the advancement of MAPs as employed by Vietnamese enterprises. For researchers and managers in Vietnam and other countries, it sheds light on the current stage of Vietnamese management accounting practices based on an international measure.