From management controls to the management of controls
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 15 June 2012
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the dynamic development of technical controls in different companies and to interpret the observations using Van de Ven and Poole's typology of change process theories.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study data were obtained through semi‐structured interviews, observation and document analysis in three organisations (Company A, Company B and Company C).
Findings
The paper highlights the life‐cycle development of technical controls, where controls are implemented, improved and eventually removed. It highlights the fact that the progression through the life‐cycle can follow either a dialectical motor of change based on conflict or a teleological motor of change based on consensus.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the paper enhance the theory of rules developed by March et al., by providing insight into how change actually occurs, i.e. how inertia is broken.
Practical implications
The paper offers practitioners some guidelines for the management of their control systems to help them maintain more effective and efficient control systems.
Originality/value
The paper explains that under a teleological motor of change, inertia is broken more easily than under a dialectical one, because there is less tolerance for control obsolescence, hence improvement and removal of obsolete controls are more likely to occur. This is important for listed organisations having to implement more and more technical controls to comply with laws such as SOX. The paper also suggests that the life‐cycle is not a “motor” of change as suggested by Van de Ven and Poole, because it cannot explain how inertia is broken.
Keywords
Citation
Tessier, S. and Otley, D. (2012), "From management controls to the management of controls", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 776-805. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513571211234259
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited