Management Accounting Practices in Universities: A Bibliometric Review and Future Research Directions

This paper employs bibliometric methods to systematically review and analyze relevant literature on the application of management accounting in higher education institutions from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science. The research findings reveal that both domestic and international studies in this field show a growing trend. Domestic research started slightly earlier and entered a rapid growth phase after 2015, while international research has been continuously increasing since 2015. The research themes primarily focus on university financial management, management accounting applications, budget management, and performance evaluation, covering dimensions such as fundamental exploration and budget management practices, system construction and innovative tool applications, informatization and financial transformation driven by technology, and deepened development of performance evaluation under systematic perspectives. Meanwhile, this paper identifies current research gaps, including insufficient research on the integration pathways between emerging technologies and management accounting, the need for improvement in performance evaluation systems, and the lack of differentiated research across different types of universities. It proposes a future research agenda including: deepening innovative applications driven by technology, improving differentiated performance evaluation systems, expanding application research for specific types of universities, and advancing collaborative research between management accounting systems and university governance. The aim is to provide directional guidance for in-depth research development in this field and offer theoretical support and practical reference for universities to enhance their financial management levels.