Transformation of Management Accounting in Agricultural Holdings: From Local Fragmentation to Corporate Unification

The transformation of management accounting in agricultural holdings is becoming particularly relevant in the context of the growth in the scale of agricultural business, the territorial expansion of production, and the complication of corporate structures, which require a transition from locally fragmented approaches to unified mechanisms for the formation, processing, and use of management information. The article aims to develop theoretical and methodological principles and practical recommendations for the organization, unification, and centralization of the management accounting system in corporate business structures of the agricultural sector of the economy, based on the implementation of a single accounting policy and modern ERP systems. Research methodology is based on a systemic approach, which allows considering the agricultural holding as a holistic, multi-level organizational structure that functions in an unstable external environment. The empirical tools of the study are based on a questionnaire survey conducted among management personnel of LLC “Ukrprominvest-Agro”. The results of the study show that a decentralized approach to management accounting leads to data fragmentation and complicates strategic decision-making. Although decentralization allows for the unique features of each business unit to be taken into account, it has significant drawbacks, especially for corporate structures that strive for effective centralized management and strategic planning. The article outlines the sequence for building a management accounting system in integrated companies and describes the stages of implementing ERP systems to centralize accounting functions. The conceptual model of centralizing management accounting in agricultural holdings proposed by the author, based on a sequential algorithm for implementing integrated ERP systems, enables minimizing information gaps, eliminating methodological data incomparability across business units, and ensuring the formation of a single corporate information space. In practice, the algorithm for organizing management accounting can serve as a roadmap for top management of agricultural holdings during the technical and methodological transition from decentralized accounting models to centralized ERP solutions.