Management accounting systems have been criticised for being excessively focused on shortterm
performance. As a result long-term strategic direction and goals may have been neglected.
To help overcome this problem it has been suggested that organisations should adopt strategic
management accounting techniques and management control systems which are orientated
towards the achievement of strategic goals. This paper argues that integration with strategic
control would significantly enhance the relevance of management accounting systems. In
developing such an approach this paper first integrates the salient features of the extant strategic
control models in a framework that recognises the needs of the current business environment.
And second, it examines how strategic control could be used as the basis for developing
management accounting systems that have a stronger strategic focus.