The role of accounting in the management control system: a case study of a family‐led firm
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 3 October 2008
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to add to the knowledge of the formation of social positions and power of individuals and their effects on the role of accounting in the development of management control systems (MCSs).
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on institutional and the mobilization of power frameworks, the case analysis explores the development of the role of accounting in the MCS.
Findings
The results show that loose coupling between management control routines and formal accounting leaves room for individuals whose roles are important in the development of the MCS. These individuals with central social positions are the glue which enables loose coupling to persist through changes. The organizational culture of a family‐led firm may facilitate the individuals to mobilize power, so that they with central social positions mediate the encoding of institutions into rules and routines as well as the reproduction of the formal rules and informal routines and the relationship between them. Similarly, their own social positions may reproduce.
Originality/value
The paper is of value in showing how the power of an individual over (and in) accounting can be constructed in the MCS. In addition, the discussion is linked to operating in certain transitional economies.
Keywords
Citation
Moilanen, S. (2008), "The role of accounting in the management control system: a case study of a family‐led firm", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 165-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/11766090810910209
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited