The Impact of Lean Accounting on Achieving Competitive Advantage For Companies: An Analytical Study of A Sample of Industrial Companies In Iraq
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56956/h0bpbh03Keywords:
lean accounting, value stream costing, target costing, kaizen costing, competitive advantageAbstract
This paper investigates the effect of lean accounting techniques (value stream costing, target costing and kaizen costing) on competitive advantage of Iraqi industrial companies in terms of cost reduction, quality improvement, time efficiency, operational reliability and innovation. Quantitative cross-sectional design was used with data collected between April and July 2025 by electronically distributed questionnaire using five-point Likert scale. The sample consisted of accountants, financial staff and auditors from Iraqi industrial companies selected purposively (n = 136). Data were analyzed using SPSS through reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and simple and multiple linear regression. Both lean accounting and competitive advantage are perceived at high level while target costing is the most applied tool. Quality improvement, operational reliability and cost reduction were strongest dimensions of competitive advantage whereas time efficiency and innovation were moderate. Lean accounting was positively and significantly correlated with competitive advantage and had significant positive effect on it (explained almost half of variance). Value stream costing, target costing and kaizen costing each had a significant positive effect; target costing and kaizen costing were nearly as strong and stronger than value stream costing. Iraqi industrial companies can increase competitiveness by expanding the use of lean accounting tools (target costing and kaizen costing) more generally and paying more attention to time efficiency and innovation. Empirical evidence from the Iraqi industrial context on how each lean accounting tool affects competitive advantage is lacking (where it does exist).
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