Just-in-Time manufacturing, management accounting systems and profitability

Abstract

Managers working in just-in-time manufacturing environments have little or no slack resources available to them to cushion against the difficulties caused by defective raw materials, production errors, irregular supply and demand schedules or to mask inefficiencies (Griffin and Harrell, 1991). This makes the performance-related information provided by management accounting systems critical in such environments. This paper reports the results of a study that empirically tested the above statement. It was done by evaluating the impact of adoption of just-in-time manufacturing (JIT) and the information provided by the management accounting system on organisational performance (profitability). Data for the study were collected through personal interviews with financial controllers of 55 organisations located in Australia. Of these organisations, 28 adopted JIT at least three years prior to the study and the rest were non-adopters at the time of the study. The results suggest that the JIT adopter organisations with high (low) provision of the information earn high (low) profit. The study supports the argument that adoption of JIT and provision of the information together can assist an organisation in improving its profitability.