Intellectual Capital and Management Accounting Practices: Evidence from Iran

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to investigate the association between the level intellectual capital (IC) and management accounting practices (MAPs) within the Iranian public listed companies. In particular, it aims to examine whether companies with higher level of IC are more likely to place importance on more contemporary management accounting (MA) approaches. The premise of “fit as mediation” of contingency theory is borrowed to explore the potential association between the level of IC and the use of specific MA perspectives in terms of performance measurement and budgetary control techniques. This model brings more useful insight in linking IC to MAPs and those techniques which tend towards strategic-oriented approaches within Iranian context, thereby suggesting that some evolution in MAPs stems from focusing too intently on IC and intangibles. The Iranian public listed companies from Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) are selected as the ideal setting to examine the relationship between IC and MAPs since most of them are medium to large-sized companies that plausibly enjoy greater resource available for investment in knowledge-based resources and also actively engaged in more innovative and strategic MAPs. This study provides insights into the way practitioners and organizations adopt appropriate MA approaches, to be aligned with the level of IC in a company, with the ultimate purpose of taking full advantage of those knowledge related resources.