THE PROVISION OF EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL INFORMATION FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Financial information plays a key role in strategic and operations management. Management accounting can provide this financial information: traditional management accounting provides information for tactical and operations management and strategic management accounting should provide information for strategic management. In strategic management, external information about competitors plays an important role; managers consider such information exceedingly important although the source of such information is generally not the management accounting and controlling departments but special analytical departments or external consulting firms. Managers' intuition is also important in decision making and management control.