This study aims to find empirical evidence of causal relationship between strategy type, market orientation, strategic management accounting (SMA) strategic costing technique, and financial sector performance of private universities in Indonesia. The research object in this study are private universities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Yogyakarta is chosen because universities there are one of the barometers of higher education in Indonesia, and the city has quite a number of universities. The respondents in this study are the leader (manager) of private universities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The data analysis is done using SEM-PLS with WarpPLS 3.0 software. The results of this study show that market orientation has significant influence on the development and implementation of SMA strategic costing technique, while strategy type does not have significant influence on the development and implementation of SMA strategic costing technique. This study also finds that the implementation of SMA strategic costing technique significantly influences the financial sector performance of private universities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This study provides theoretical implication regarding SMA development in universities that consider that contingency factors (market orientation) can encourage increased organizational performance. It indicates support for contingency theory that states there are no general principles that apply to all situations.