In this paper, we examine parallel accounting developments that have t
aken place in the late 1980s and early 1990s to complement and support
the changing manufacturing environment. As a background to understand
ing the process of change that has taken place in accounting, we use t
he industrial innovation model, recognizing that it also has evolved [
6]. Material obtained from an ongoing research programme that is aimed
at examining the development and deployment of new accounting techniq
ues and practices is presented and discussed. This material suggests t
hat several comparable features of contemporary industrial product inn
ovation are also present in accounting innovation activity. These feat
ures include, inter alia, a multidiscipline team involvement and impro
ved dialogue between lead 'users' and 'suppliers'. The improved dialog
ue cart result in useful feedback on new innovation trajectories. The
importance of top management support for innovations in accounting can
not be underestimated if the innovations are to be successfully develo
ped, implemented and become 'good currency'. There is evidence that ac
counting innovations are taking place in a rich yet complex environmen
t of multi-inputs, increased mutual understanding of all the key playe
rs and with extended use of parallel rather sequential processes of de
velopment. A particular focus of the paper is the way that ideas assoc
iated with activity based costing have been widened and deepened to fa
cilitate business process redesign.