Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting
The agriculture sector in Sweden is undergoing a fast reformation. Due to different policy changes, the competition from foreign agriculture has increased and the number of Swedish dairy farm businesses is steadily decreasing. Sweden has got good conditions for agriculture and the Swedish food produ...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | H3 |
| Language: | Inglés Swedish |
| Published: |
SLU/Dept. of Economics
2017
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1855571690514284544 |
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| author | Jonsson, Filip Sandlund, Marcus |
| author_browse | Jonsson, Filip Sandlund, Marcus |
| author_facet | Jonsson, Filip Sandlund, Marcus |
| author_sort | Jonsson, Filip |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | The agriculture sector in Sweden is undergoing a fast reformation. Due to different policy changes, the competition from foreign agriculture has increased and the number of Swedish dairy farm businesses is steadily decreasing. Sweden has got good conditions for agriculture and the Swedish food production is an important sector of the Swedish economy that employs 240 000 people throughout the production chain. The increased competition has enlarged the focus on business management within farm businesses to secure a competitive agriculture in Sweden.
In the farm management literature, the manager has previously been acknowledged as an important factor in determining farm performance based on the background that the economic performance differs among farms, even though they face similar conditions. In the business literature, management accounting is highlighted as a set of important practices for decision-making and control within the business. In the agricultural sector, the importance of management accounting has also been acknowledged, however, previous studies suggest that the usage of formal management accounting practices is low among farm managers. Instead, studies have shown that farmers tend to use their social network and experience to evaluate financial decisions. In contrary, previous studies have also shown that more successful farmers think in terms of business management. Therefore the aim of this study is to explore how Swedish dairy farm managers perceive management accounting and use it in order to manage their companies with respect to decision-making, and control.
The results of this study is based on the analysis of nine interviews with farm managers on large Swedish dairy farms. During the interviews, the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique was used to obtain knowledge and understanding of farmer’s perception regarding management accounting. The data was coded with the means-end chain theory and was displayed in a hierarchical value map, allowing for an analysis of the central attributes, consequences, goals and values of management accounting.
The results indicate that management accounting is perceived as an integrated part of farm management practices. However, instead of using formal management accounting practices, farmers rely on informal and simplified management techniques for decision-making and control. The main contribution of this study is the novel use of the chosen method and an increased understanding of management accounting in farm management practices. This increased understanding can be used to develop the field of farm management further and to secure the long-term competitiveness of Swedish agriculture. |
| format | H3 |
| id | RepoSLU10438 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU104382017-07-10T13:00:20Z Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting Jonsson, Filip Sandlund, Marcus farm management farmer perception management accounting means end-chain Swedish dairy farming ZMET The agriculture sector in Sweden is undergoing a fast reformation. Due to different policy changes, the competition from foreign agriculture has increased and the number of Swedish dairy farm businesses is steadily decreasing. Sweden has got good conditions for agriculture and the Swedish food production is an important sector of the Swedish economy that employs 240 000 people throughout the production chain. The increased competition has enlarged the focus on business management within farm businesses to secure a competitive agriculture in Sweden. In the farm management literature, the manager has previously been acknowledged as an important factor in determining farm performance based on the background that the economic performance differs among farms, even though they face similar conditions. In the business literature, management accounting is highlighted as a set of important practices for decision-making and control within the business. In the agricultural sector, the importance of management accounting has also been acknowledged, however, previous studies suggest that the usage of formal management accounting practices is low among farm managers. Instead, studies have shown that farmers tend to use their social network and experience to evaluate financial decisions. In contrary, previous studies have also shown that more successful farmers think in terms of business management. Therefore the aim of this study is to explore how Swedish dairy farm managers perceive management accounting and use it in order to manage their companies with respect to decision-making, and control. The results of this study is based on the analysis of nine interviews with farm managers on large Swedish dairy farms. During the interviews, the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique was used to obtain knowledge and understanding of farmer’s perception regarding management accounting. The data was coded with the means-end chain theory and was displayed in a hierarchical value map, allowing for an analysis of the central attributes, consequences, goals and values of management accounting. The results indicate that management accounting is perceived as an integrated part of farm management practices. However, instead of using formal management accounting practices, farmers rely on informal and simplified management techniques for decision-making and control. The main contribution of this study is the novel use of the chosen method and an increased understanding of management accounting in farm management practices. This increased understanding can be used to develop the field of farm management further and to secure the long-term competitiveness of Swedish agriculture. Den svenska lantbrukssektorn genomgår en omfattande struktur-rationalisering. På grund av en rad politiska beslut har konkurrensen från utländska livsmedelsproducenter ökat. Detta har medfört att antalet svenska mjölkproducenter minskar i antal och de kvarvarande blir allt större. Generellt har Sverige goda förutsättningar för att bedriva livsmedelsproduktion och den svenska livsmedelssektorn sysselsätter 240 000 personer genom hela produktionskedjan. Den ökade konkurrensen har inneburit ett ökat fokus på företagsledning i lantbruksföretag för att säkerställa en god långsiktig konkurrensförmåga. Tidigare litteratur har uppmärksammat företagsledaren som en viktig faktor för lönsamheten i lantbruksföretag av litteraturen. Detta baseras på vetskapen att lantbruksföretag med liknande förutsättningar skiljer sig gällande lönsamhet. I företagslitteraturen har ekonomistyrning uppmärksammats som en viktig faktor för att bistå företagsledaren med information vid beslut och uppföljning. Detta gäller även inom lantbruksliteraturen även om det har uppmärksammats att användningen av ekonomistyrning inom lantbruksföretagen är låg. Istället tenderar lantbrukare att värdesätta sitt sociala nätverk och sin erfarenhet som viktiga beståndsdelar i sin företagsledning. En paradox är dock att tidigare studier visar att framgångsrika lantbrukare tänker i banor av företagsledning. Syftet med den här studien är därför att undersöka hur svenska mjölkproducenter uppfattar ekonomistyrning och hur ekonomistyrning används för att fatta beslut och utöva intern kontroll. Empirin i studien är baserat på nio stycken djupintervjuer med företagsledare på stora svenska mjölkgårdar. Vid intervjuerna användes Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique för att skapa kunskap och förståelse för lantbrukarnas uppfattning gällande ekonomistyrning. För att koda datan användes means-end chain teorin och resultaten sammanfattades i en hierarkisk värdekarta. Den hierarkiska värdekartan visar de centrala länkarna mellan uppfattade attribut, konsekvenser, mål och värden. Kartan möjliggör en analys av hur lantbrukarna använder och uppfattar ekonomistyrning. Resultatet indikerar att ekonomistyrning ses som en integrerad del av företagsledningen. Dock används informella och förenklade ekonomistyrningstekniker för beslutsfattande och kontroll. Det huvudsakliga bidraget från studien är sättet att använda den valda metoden samt en ökad förståelse för företagsledning inom lantbruksnäringen. Den ökade förståelsen kan användas för att ytterligare utveckla företagsledning inom lantbruksnäringen vilken i sin tur kan bidra med att stärka konkurrenskraften i det svenska lantbruket. SLU/Dept. of Economics 2017 H3 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10438/ |
| spellingShingle | farm management farmer perception management accounting means end-chain Swedish dairy farming ZMET Jonsson, Filip Sandlund, Marcus Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting |
| title | Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting |
| title_full | Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting |
| title_fullStr | Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting |
| title_full_unstemmed | Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting |
| title_short | Farmers’ Perception of Management Accounting |
| title_sort | farmers’ perception of management accounting |
| topic | farm management farmer perception management accounting means end-chain Swedish dairy farming ZMET |