An empirical analysis of the relationship between cost accounting systems structure and cost reporting attributes: evidence from Syria

To be useful for decision making, costing reports produced by the cost accounting system should be characterized by various attributes (relevance, summarization, accuracy, etc.). This paper aims at exploring the associations between cost systems and the quality of costing reports attributes, specifically the cost accounting systems structures in terms of level of details, level of disaggregation, variances calculation, and frequency of reporting. It also intends to explain the variance in report attributes. Data collected from Syrian Corporations listed in the Syrian Commission of Financial Markets & Securities using the survey strategy. Questionnaires were sent by email and data was collected during the first three months in 2014. The empirical analysis supported the theoretical argument between cost accounting systems structure and costing report attributes. However, explaining the variance in report attributes by cost systems structure has not yet been studied in management accounting literature, which is the main contribution of this study. It is believed that managerial reporting has not got sufficient attention comparing with financial reporting by accounting researchers.