Introduction

Abstract

This volume of Advances in Management Accounting (AIMA) begins with a paper by Neumann, Cauvin, and Roberts on the issue of information overload and multiple constituency values. Stakeholder advocates call for including more environmental and social disclosures but do not consider how these additional disclosures might lead to information overload and impair the use and interpretation of corporate performance measures. As we know, shareholders and boards of directors are most concerned with market data such as earnings per share, dividend rates, and market value growth. The authors suggest here that management control system (MCS) designers must consider information overload, primacy, and information markers before expanding the MCS to include social and nonfinancial disclosures. Management accountants are accustomed to providing performance measures within an organization and MCS usually have an internal focus. CFOs are often not accustomed to balance the needs of stakeholders with those of managers and owners. Companies and CFOs will face an information overload dilemma in making these determinations, and the users will be overloaded in sifting through the multiple dimensions of information that are increasingly being provided. The bias toward financial performance measures will distort both the provision and use of sustainability performance measures.

Citation

Epstein, M.J. and Lee, J.Y. (2012), "Introduction", Epstein, M.J. and Lee, J.Y. (Ed.) Advances in Management Accounting (Advances in Management Accounting, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. xv-xviii. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7871(2012)0000020006