Responsibility accounting in plastic manufacturing enterprises in Northern Vietnam: Current status and solutions

Responsibility accounting supports cost control, managerial decentralization, and performance evaluation. This study assesses its implementation in plastic manufacturing enterprises in Northern Vietnam through a survey of 455 managers and chief accountants from 240 firms. The findings show that enterprises have initially established responsibility centers, budgets, and internal management reports. However, managerial decentralization remains unclear, responsibility centers are incomplete, performance evaluation relies mainly on financial indicators, and information technology applications remain limited. Cost centers are the most widely adopted, whereas investment centers are rarely established. The study recommends clarifying managerial authority and accountability, developing comprehensive responsibility centers, applying flexible budgeting, combining financial and non-financial performance indicators, improving responsibility reports, adopting ERP systems, and strengthening management accounting competencies. These measures can improve information quality, cost control, operational performance, and competitiveness.