This study aims to describe the status of contemporary management control research in Japan, focusing on research that mentions Japanese business practices explicitly in individual papers. To do so, we investigate management control papers published in major Japanese accounting journals from 2011 to 2015 by applying the bibliographic study methods. Specifically, we examine research objectives (Japanese particularities, areas, industries, organizations, and management accounting tools) and approaches (research methods and theories) to identify the properties of current management control literature in Japan.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between cost-system functionality and financial performance of organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on the moderating role of mangers’ management ability in deriving the financial performance benefits correlated with the functionality of costing systems. Based on data from 160 social welfare corporations, we find that the relationship between cost-system functionality and financial performance is partially moderated by the management ability. Thus, this study contributes to literatures of cost-system design by providing insights into the moderating effect of managers’ management ability on cost-system functionality and financial performance.

In this paper, we show how the characteristics of industry and management philosophy are reflected in the structure and practices of amoeba management through the case of Sun Frontier Fudousan Co., Ltd., which conducts real estate revitalization. As incentive compensation, such as commission is commonly used in the real estate industry, it is considered that the employees tend to pursue the interests of the individual. In Sun Frontier Fudousan, however, the management practices based on altruism were realized by amoeba management. In addition, Sun Frontier Fudousan excluded fixed earnings, namely sunk profit, from the performance measurement of the departments by using the in-house fund.