Relevance Lost: Are Johnson & Kaplan’s claims valid outside the U.S.? - A systematic literature review of over three decades

Abstract: This paper aims to give evidence on the external validity of Johnson and Kaplan’s claims of management accounting having become subservient to financial accounting. A mixed pattern of confirmation of validity has been identified. Nearly half of the countries agreed with Johnson and Kaplan (1987), while the other half did not. The most important identified contingent factors determining the validity of the claim are on average a high power distance in the country’s organizational structure, a strongly regulated stock market and the degree of globalization and digitalization of the respective country.