Comprehensive analysis of digitalization in management accounting: a bibliometric and coding analysis

Purpose This paper aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric and coding analysis of the literature on digitalization in management accounting. The authors explore how digital technologies transform the management accounting field, identify key trends and issues, influential works, forecast future directions and develop an exploratory framework that explains the digitalization of management accounting. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a mixed methodology that combines bibliometric analysis and coding analysis. Data was collected from the Scopus database from 1991 to 2024, with 54 articles and processed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Findings The results showed that the conceptual framework of management accounting digitalization includes three groups under the overarching category of digital technologies: (1) the impact of analytics and big data, (2) digital technologies as an integrated concept comprising multiple tools and (3) the role of artificial intelligence in decision-making. The intellectual framework includes four groups: the impact of digitalization, enterprise resource planning systems, the impact of digital technologies on management accountants and the impact of big data and analytics as integral tools within digitalization. Digital technologies and digital transformation also emerged as emerging trends. The co-authorship network revealed weak collaboration among researchers. The coding analysis showed a lack of a theoretical framework, weakness in qualitative methodologies and limited coverage of the requirements and challenges of digitalization. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive bibliometric and coding analysis of management accounting digitalization. It provides insight into conceptual, intellectual and social structure and has developed an exploratory model that explains the digitalization of management accounting through a technology-organization-environment framework with dynamic capabilities theory. Accordingly, the findings guide future research for academics and provide practical guidance for practitioners to advance management accounting in the digital age.