Management Accounting Practices and Performance of SMEs in the Hotel Industry: Evidence from an emerging economy

This paper focuses on hotel SMEs in Buenos Aires province to assess the spread of management accounting systems and their impact on business performance. We have selected companies with a stratified method to have a more meaningful sample based on an economic criterion. The data were collected through the use of a questionnaire organized into three sections. We used a quantitative approach to analyze MAP systems' influence on the user and non-user companies' performance. The results highlighted positive and statistically significant relationships between most management accounting tools and hotel business performance, suggesting that MAP users perform better than non-users. Finally, companies that already use management accounting techniques have shown a strong interest in the new Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) tools, even if they consider budgeting techniques fundamental. On the other hand, MAP non-adopting companies strongly focus on traditional management accounting tools, such as cost accounting systems and budgeting.