The appropriateness of RAPM: toward the further development of theory

One of the few areas in management accounting and control research that has attained critical mass concerns the organizational and behavioral effects of budgeting. Many studies in this area focus on the use of budgets for managerial performance evaluation, and revolve around the construct Reliance on Accounting Performance Measures (RAPM). Despite the volume of the RAPM literature, concern has been expressed about its current state in terms of both theoretical progress and methodological practice. This paper provides an overview of the RAPM literature, and explains some important points of critique. In response to this critique, the last part of the paper explores the possibility for a further development of RAPM theory that is based on the concept of uncertainty. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.